20-Minute Citrus Shrimp and Avocado Salad - foodiecrush

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This simple but totally flavorful shrimp avocado salad combines pan-seared citrus shrimp, creamy avocado, and the crunch of sliced almonds. It’s the perfect high-protein lunch or dinner salad that’s great for meal prep, too.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Loved the recipe! It was so easy to put together for unplanned dinner when I was feeling too lazy to cook.” -Shruti, FoodieCrush reader

This Might Be My Favorite Salad of All Time

I grew up with a mother who 99% of the time ordered two things when we ate out at finer dining establishments. It was like she didn’t even need to look at the menu, yet she always did and still does.

So when it’s my mom’s turn to answer the usual round of “What are you going to have?” questions because we all want to be 100% sure we’re ordering just the right thing on the menu, my husband and I always share a knowing grin when we hear her reply, “Oh, I think I’ll try the shrimp. Or maybe .”

My mom. She’s predictable that way. And to prove we share the same DNA, I unapologetically share her menu-choosing tendencies. Man, I LOVE shrimp!

That’s why when I made my friend Robyn’s I was totally stoked there were leftovers to be had, because that meant that I could repurpose the leftovers into a perfect weekday salad.

Enjoy!

PS. If you don’t have enough leftover citrus sauce from the batch of shrimp, use quality olive oil and a generous squeeze of fresh lemon or orange to finish off this simple lunch salad. There will be plenty of gusto from the shrimp to carry it through!

The Main Ingredients

The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.

— The shrimp serves as the protein source, and the citrus sauce serves as the salad dressing. Use smaller shrimp in this salad to ensure every forkful is packed with protein. Just remember that the smaller the shrimp, the faster they cook.
Greens — The greens in this shrimp and avocado salad could very well vary on your tastes and what you have available. Spring mix salad greens offer a neutral-flavored bite, arugula lends some peppery flavor, baby spinach leaves are earthy and tender, and romaine lettuce gives a substantial crunch.
Lemon juice — Can be swapped with freshly squeezed orange juice for a different flavor profile.
Avocado — Press the top of the avocado (gently!) with your thumb. If it gives a little, it’s nice and ripe.
Shallot — For a salad as simple as this, a little onion is always a favorite addition of mine. I used minced shallots this time around, but you could always use red onion or even green onion if that’s what you have on hand.
Sliced almonds — I typically toast my almond slices to give them a little more oomph in flavor, but I was lazy so I just tossed them on naked. Guess what? They still tasted great.

Heidi’s Tip: Consider this avocado shrimp salad a blank canvas for your favorite salad fixings. I kept things light and breezy, but you can load it up with croutons, nuts and seeds, veggies, and more.

How to Make Shrimp and Avocado Salad in 3 Steps

Cook the citrus shrimp. The shrimp can be made in under 30 minutes so if you haven’t made it for meal planning, or have leftovers in the fridge, it really doesn’t take much doing to cook up a fresh batch. A quickly-prepared protein is one of the essential parts of composing a salad like this.
Prep the dressing. I had plenty of sauce left over after making the shrimp and because there’s no butter or cream in the sauce, it doesn’t coagulate into a gooey goop, but instead stays rather liquified when refrigerated, making it a perfect solution for creating a salad dressing. I drizzled a bit of olive oil on the greens and then mostly used the dressing I had to finish off my salads.
Toss to combine. Add the avocado, almonds, and shallot to the shrimp and leafy greens and toss to coat everything in the dressing.

What to Serve With This Salad

This leafy shrimp and avocado salad could easily be served all on its own because it really does make a meal. But sometimes a little extra something is nice to nibble or slurp alongside.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo and with #foodiecrusheats.

Citrus Shrimp and Avocado Salad from foodiecrush.com on foodiecrush.com

4.41 from 526 votes

Citrus Shrimp and Avocado Salad Recipe

Juicy citrus shrimp, leafy greens, and creamy avocado combine to make the perfect meal prep salad that can be enjoyed for lunch or dinner. Feel free to make this recipe your own by adding your favorite salad fixings, or trust the process by keeping it super simple like I did. Course SaladCuisine AmericanKeyword shrimp avocado salad, shrimp salad Prep Time 10 minutes minutesCook Time 10 minutes minutesTotal Time 20 minutes minutes Servings 4 salads Calories 374kcal

Ingredients ½x1x2x3x

1 pound medium , (I use 31/40 shrimp)
8 cups greens , (such as arugula, spinach, lettuce, or spring mix)
Extra virgin olive oil (I prefer a fruity or lemon-flavored oil)
Juice of ½ lemon or ½ orange
1 avocado , sliced or diced
1 shallot , minced
4 ounces sliced almonds , toasted
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Prepare the recipe for the citrus shrimp. Or, gently warm the leftover shrimp. You can also serve the shrimp chilled.
Assemble the salad. Toss the shrimp with the salad greens in a large bowl. Lightly drizzle with olive oil, and if desired, some of the sauce remaining from the shrimp with a generous squeeze of citrus, and toss lightly to coat. Add the avocado, shallots and sliced almonds and then season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve.

Notes

Use some of the citrus sauce from the shrimp as a double duty dressing. If you don’t have enough sauce for the dressing, simply use a good extra virgin olive oil (I like the lemon flavored varieties) with an additional squeeze of citrus.

Nutrition

Citrus Shrimp and Avocado Salad in a bowl

More Easy Shrimp Salad Ideas

More Filling Lunch Salads

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this was outstanding! can’t believe how much flavor it had. thank you for the great recipe!
17-22 shrimp per persons’s salad seems like a lot. Is that right? 1 lb of medium shrimp is approximately 70-90 shrimp.
Loved the recipe! It was so easy to put together for unplanned dinner when I was feeling lazy to cook.
- I’m glad you enjoyed!
Oh my goodness, this was wonderful and so easy to make. My husband loved it. I can’t wait to try it with linguini. Thank you for sharing.
- Thank you for sharing with us, Anne! We’re so happy you and your husband enjoyed it!
Hi, what protein can I use instead of shrimp? I am allergic to shrimp.
Thanks
- Hi Celsa! We would suggest using this recipe for for salmon: (We think it would accompany the salad well). Hhope this helps and that you enjoy! :)
Did you try to make the citrus shrimp and avocado salad with caramelized shallot?
- Hi Kat! No, we don’t caramelize the shallot (it’s raw). We hope you enjoy the recipe!
I am not a saad person, I only eat them a few times a year. But I love shrimp so this recipe intrigued me. I’m so glad I tried it, this salad was amazing!!! Wow I love it and will make it often! Thank you for the recipe!
- We’re so glad you gave it a try, Lilli! We appreciate you taking the time to rate and review the recipe and we’re glad it’s a keeper for you. :)
What is Kosher Salt, Heidi?

PS I’ve just subscribed….thanks!
- Awesome, thanks Angela! And kosher salt is a type of salt that contains sodium chloride but not iodine. Just note that not all kosher salts are the same. For example, if using Morton’s brand, it’s a lot more concentrated, so you’d actually want to cut the salt amount in half. We like using Diamond Crystal brand because we like the size and consistency of the salt crystal. Hope this helps!
  - Hello again, Heidi, I am not aware of the Morton or Diamond Crystal brands because, I take it, they are American brands, right? I am from New Zealand. I have table salt (fine) and Sea Salt (crystals) in the pantry. Can you tell me from this which is which?
    - Hello Angela from NZ! Yes, both are American brands. Look for Kosher salt in your area. If you can’t find that, sea salt would be closer than the fine table salt. If using table salt, add less since the crystals are finer and make food a lot saltier.
Hi Heidi,
Your recipe ingredients show “juice of 1/2 lemon or 1/2 orange”, but nowhere in the instructions does it specifically show when to add this juice. Could you clarify please. Thank you
- Hi there Richard—it’s in step 3: Lightly drizzle with olive oil, and if desired, some of the sauce remaining from the shrimp with a generous squeeze of citrus, and toss lightly to coat.
  
  We hope you enjoy!
This was delicious, easy and pretty. Everyone loved it
- Thank you Diana! I’m glad it was a success!
This was freaking delicious. I ate the entire bowl of salad.
- Happy to hear you enjoyed it Deeana!
This was DELICIOUS! I admit, I was skeptical because it seemed simple- not a lot of ingredients and nothing premade. The sauce from the citrus shrimp with some avocado oil was a perfect dressing this salad and the citrus shrimp will be in my meal rotation. Soooo yummy. Thank you for both recipes
- Happy to hear it Lisa!
Can you cook the shrimp without the tails?
- You certainly can! We like leaving the tails because the impart more flavor, but that’s totally optional. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Looks delicious
I used this recipe as the basis to cook some shrimp in a hurry as well as get an idea of what to put in it to make a salad. I used far less orange juice since I didn’t have time to cook it down. I used the extra sauce as a salad dressing and the flavors were so delicious! I’m definitely saving this recipe and making it again. It took less than 10 minutes to have my lunch ready to go! Thank you so much for sharing.
- Happy to hear it was a success Sarah!
HI Heidi!
recipe looks great! I am having a dinner party and plan on making this along with steaks and chicken. do you think this recipe could be tossed with orzo to incorporate a starch into the dinner menu?
Thank you!
- Hi Nina! Sorry for the delayed reply! Yes, orzo would be a yummy addition to this for sure!
This was delicious! Made as written! Will be making again!
- I’m glad you enjoyed Jonna!
I made this salad woth a couple variations…Added fresh garlic and pepper while making the citrus shrimp. I didnt have any shallots on hand so I used thin sliced red onions in place of that. Skipped the nuts just as our preference. Perfectly ripe avacado was perfect in this dish as was arugula lettuce. Very refreshing and light meal that was full of flavor!
- I’m glad you enjoyed it Christi!
This recipe was absolutely delicious! My husband said it was better than anything we could have gotten at a restaurant. Will definitely make this again.
- I’m glad you both enjoyed it!