Cucumber Shrimp Salad
This cucumber shrimp salad is a deliciously fresh twist on a classic. Juicy, bite-sized shrimp gets tossed with crisp cucumbers, green onion, fresh dill, and a creamy lime dressing. It will hit the spot for an easy-to-make and protein-packed lunch or dinner idea!
It’s a Chopped Shrimp Salad!
Just when I thought I created the best shrimp salad ever, in comes this cucumber version with a creamy lime dill dressing. As luck would have it, it miraculously came together with leftover veggies in my fridge, plus a new frozen bag of shrimp. But it’s these types of “throw together” recipes that always turn out the best (similar to my salmon salad).
This cucumber shrimp salad is crisp, creamy, and one of those meals you can just keep on eating – yes, it’s that good. Plus, it’s the perfect balance of protein and veggies. So if healthy meal prep is on your mind, consider this a quick-to-make, super tasty shrimp recipe that will elevate your weekly meal prep in a heartbeat.
Cucumber Shrimp Salad Ingredients
Think of this as a classic creamy shrimp salad, with an extra green spin. And with how bite-sized the pieces are, it’s almost like a creamy shrimp ceviche. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Shrimp: You can use freshly caught shrimp (if you live near the water) or a frozen bag of peeled and deveined shrimp. Either works!
- Cucumber: I’m using an English cucumber for a heartier, crunchy bite. But you could also use Persian cucumbers if that’s more your thing.
- Green Onions: A few green onions keep the green theme going!
- Creamy Things: The base of the dressing is a combination of mayonnaise, sour cream, and a hint of Dijon mustard.
- Limes: If you can, grab a bigger lime for this recipe. But if you only have access to smaller limes, grab two.
- Herbs: Fresh dill is the best herb to complement the rest of the flavors happening in this salad. But you could also use parsley, cilantro or tarragon.
Find the printable recipe with measurements below
How to Make Cucumber Shrimp Salad
30-minute meals are something we all love to hear, and this cucumber shrimp salad is just that. Heck, this can even be made in 25 minutes if you’re speedy in the kitchen! Here’s how you make it:
Make the dressing. Stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lime zest and juice, dill, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper. Set aside or place in the fridge.
Cook the shrimp. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Then add the shrimp and cook for a short 2 to 3 minutes, until cooked through and pink.
Chill the shrimp. While the shrimp are cooking, prep an ice water bath. Transfer the shrimp to the ice water bath with a skimmer. Let them cool for 3 minutes, then drain them in a colander.
Stir everything together. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the chilled shrimp, green onion, cucumber, and dressing until it’s all combined. Now, it’s ready to serve!
Ways to Serve Shrimp Salad
This cold shrimp salad works wonders for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I personally love to wrap it with butter leaf lettuce. But here’s some other tasty options to use as the base for this salad.
- Lettuce wraps: Spoon this salad on top of butter leaf lettuce or romaine lettuce. And if you want this as more of a salad, top it on a bowl of your favorite leafy greens.
- Stuffed Avocados: Since this shrimp salad is diced up into smaller pieces, you can stuff a spoonful in avocado slices (just like my tuna stuffed avocados).
- Tortilla wrap: Use any type of tortilla to wrap this up with some spinach or alfalfa sprouts. And if you’re gluten-free, I highly recommend my cassava flour tortillas. They mimic that soft and chewy flour tortilla we know and love.
- Sandwich: Make this into a shrimp salad sandwich with layers of spinach in between.
Storage Tips
Fresh shrimp salad is always best (and will probably get devoured the day you make it). But you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days if you decide to meal prep it.
Helpful tip: Since this has mayo in it, don’t leave it out at room temperature past a few hours. It will spoil quickly!
More Easy Shrimp Recipes
It’s always a good idea to incorporate shrimp into your protein rotation. And if you want more fresh salad ideas for summer, this list of salad recipes won’t disappoint.
- Garlic Grilled Shrimp Skewers
- Shrimp Tacos
- Shrimp Fried Rice
- Garlic Butter Shrimp
- Creamy Chipotle Shrimp
This cucumber shrimp salad is truly a summer staple, or any time of year for that matter. If you make it, let me know how it turned out in a comment below!
Cucumber Shrimp Salad
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 English cucumber, small diced
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
Creamy Lime Dressing
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 1 large lime, zested and juiced (about 2 teaspoons zest and 2 tablespoons juice)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Make the dressing. To make the dressing, stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lime zest and juice, dill, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper. Set aside or place in the fridge.
- Cook the Shrimp. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the shrimp and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until cooked through and pink.
- Make an Ice Water Bath. While the shrimp are cooking, prepare an ice water bath. Remove the shrimp to the ice water bath using a skimmer. Let them cool for 3 minutes, then drain them in a colander.
- Stir it all together. In a mixing bowl, stir together the chilled shrimp, green onion, cucumber, and dressing, until creamy.
Lisa’s Tips
- Make sure you’ve got a good, juicy lime. If you have smaller Mexican or Persian limes, you may want to grab two of them.
This was a great recipe, so easy to make.
I actually purchased precooked shrimp and just took the tails off, so made it even easier and faster. I was able to eat this over a couple days, dinner the first night and then lunches for a few days.
I also added avocado for extra creaminess. I used new avocado every serving, so they didn’t get brown.
Perfect! That’s a great way to speed up this recipe. ;)
Thanks for the delicious recipe. It is the perfect dish for a hot summer day! Your blog and pictures show ground black pepper but it is not listed on the recipe so I missed it the first time.
This truly is the best for a warm, sunny day. Glad you enjoyed it Julie!
I have never EVER put mayo in anything in my life but I knew I could trust you with this.
As I didn’t have enough shrimp, I added some celery and it turned out perfect 😍
Really yummy summer salad!
Yay, I’m happy you loved it, Cristina!
Just made this and it taste so good! I was surprised recipe calls for 2lbs of shrimp but I followed it and it was good with all those shrimps in it!
It’s a good balance between shrimp and veggies! Glad you enjoyed it though Amy.
Oh my gosh! This might be one of my favourite salads! The dressing really pulls everything together. I had my friend take a bite and shes a fan as well!
So glad you (and your friend) are loving this shrimp salad Olivia!
This was a pleasant surprise! The salad is delicious. Crunchy and creamy and light! The dill dressing is fantastic. The only alteration I made was to use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic (due to dietary restriction) and also I added 1 teaspoon of sugar to take the edge off the lime a bit. This recipe is easy to make and it’s a real hit!
So glad you enjoyed this shrimp salad Robin!
Hi Lisa, I love your recipes! What mayonnaise do you use for this salad? Thanks!!
Hi Jessica – I used my homemade mayo for this recipe. :)
We don’t get sour cream here in Nepal. What can I use as a substitute in the dressing?
How about yogurt or creme fraiche?