SHRIMP SALAD | No Cook Dinner Recipe

Hey guys, Taylor from The Grill & Bloor here. Welcome back to my channel. In case you're new here, I show you how to make healthy easy recipes that are perfect for meal prep so that you can get back to living your best life. And speaking of living your best life, summer is on the horizon and we're all looking for those fresh flavors to get us excited for patios, picnics, and beach days. I'm so excited for today's easy no-cook dinner idea because you don't need to turn on the oven and heat up your whole house. It comes together in just 15 minutes flat so that you can get back to living it up in the sun. Perfect for lunch or dinner and I'm going to show you a couple different ways to serve it up, carbs or no carbs. What am I talking about here? Why shrimp salad, of course. Lately I've been craving lobster rolls but we all know how expensive lobster is and how much of a pain it is to get out of the shell and all that. While I was drooling over the idea of the light dressing with fresh dill and the soft brioche buns you serve a lobster roll in, I got the brilliant idea to use shrimp. You can buy it pre-cooked at the grocery stores, there's no cooking involved, and all you have to do is whip up the dressing, toss your shrimp, then serve. Today I'll be showing you how to make a classic creamy shrimp salad served two ways. You can either do the lobster roll hack and serve in a fresh brioche bun with some kettle chips or you can turn them into healthy low-carb lettuce wraps. Either way the shrimp salad is just the epitome of summer flavors. I can totally see myself enjoying this at a picnic this summer, can you? Okay so without further ado let's dive into how to make it. First let's assemble our ingredients. You'll need cooked shrimp, celery, green onions, light mayo, sour cream, a lemon, fresh dill, fresh chives, and salt and pepper. That's it. Then of course whatever you'd like to serve your shrimp salad with whether you decide to go the lettuce wrap route or the shrimp rolls. So first up squeeze your lemon for the lemon juice. Since this whole recipe is about fresh summer flavors I really do recommend fresh lemon juice for the dressing because it's just a whole vibe. To get one tablespoon of lemon juice which is what you need for this recipe you'll be squeezing about half a lemon. Now don't come for me if the ratios are a tiny bit off because lemons do vary in shapes and sizes but this is a general rule of thumb. Now of course you can use the bottled stuff if you're in a pinch but you already have to buy fresh dill and chives for this recipe so it's more than likely you're going to the grocery store anyway to specifically get the ingredients so you may as well grab a lemon while you're there. Okay now that you're done that you'll want to grab a large bowl and then make your dressing. Add one third of a cup of light mayo to the bowl. If you need to you can use vegan mayo which you can find at most local grocery stores. We'll also be using sour cream in this recipe to cut the mayo so you're not eating a bajillion calories but you do need some mayo in there to lend some richness to the dressing and give it that distinct lobster roll flavor. Once you've added that measure out and add a quarter cup of sour cream and add that to the bowl. You can use greek yogurt or vegan greek yogurt instead but the flavor will be slightly different. I honestly find plain greek yogurt to have a slightly bitter aftertaste and it's not really worth the calorie trade-off to me. Per serving you're only adding 22 more calories to your meal by using sour cream in the dressing but the flavor will be so much better. Alright moving on add one tablespoon of your fresh squeezed or bottled lemon juice then you'll add your herbs. Be sure to use fresh herbs with this recipe because dried really won't be the same. Again you can try using dried dill and chives you can use one teaspoon of each dried but you've officially been warned by the flavor queen herself that it won't be as good. So if you're deciding to listen to me get your fresh dill and chives out and finely chop them both. You want about two teaspoons of each. I don't typically measure the herbs out I just eyeball them but if you're new to cooking I recommend that you do measure until you start feeling more comfortable with the eyeball method. The only thing you need to add now is salt and pepper. Add three quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon pepper. Mix the dressing together really well and now it's time to add your shrimp. You'll need one pound of cooked shrimp. You can usually buy it frozen in the seafood section of your local grocery store. Worst case scenario you can buy a shrimp ring but most stores should have pre-cooked shrimp. You can also buy a bag of frozen raw shrimp and then boil them in water for two minutes before draining and letting them cool. Honestly that's entirely too much work for me especially if I'm looking to keep this a 15 minute no cook meal so I do recommend buying your shrimp already cooked so you can save a ton of time and hassle. One pro tip make sure to defrost your shrimp in the fridge overnight the day before you go to make the shrimp salad. There's nothing worse than trying to defrost shrimp from frozen. You usually have to run them under cold running water for 20 minutes and that's just no good especially if you're hungry. So let your current self take care of your future self and don't forget to give yourself enough time to defrost. Once your shrimp are in tip-top shape and ready to go you'll want to cut each shrimp into three or four pieces so that they are able to soak up more of that dressing. You can leave the shrimp whole if you'd like but I find cutting them helps to emit some of that seafood-y flavor and the little pieces are also easier to eat and really give you that salad feel. This is just a matter of personal preference though. From there all you need to do is chop up two celery stalks and three green onions then you're ready to toss everything together. Add your shrimp, celery, and green onions to your large bowl with the dressing and then gently toss. You can technically eat right away but I prefer to let the whole thing sit for at least 15 minutes so that the flavors can come together and the herbs have time to release their magic. Yes herbs are magical I've officially decided. In fact I think dill alone is my favorite summer herb. It just tastes like the season itself. Now if you're wondering how to serve this shrimp salad I've totally got you. You can take some brioche buns and lightly toast them in the oven or just serve them as is and add some of the shrimp salad to them before eating as a sandwich. The ultimate lobster inspired roll. I hope I'm allowed to make that comparison. All you need now is a beer and some kettle chips and bam summer. You can also add the shrimp salad to some romaine lettuce or Boston lettuce leaves and eat them that way. Either way you go this salad is just so delicious and I know you're going to be making this all summer long. Bring it to a potluck, bring it to a picnic, just get outside with it and enjoy. But not for too long because fresh mayo. Anyway you get the point. If you love this no-cook shrimp salad you'll also be obsessed with my shrimp sushi stacks with mango salsa. They're another great almost no-cook dinner idea that are perfect for hot summer nights. I've linked to them along with this shrimp salad recipe in the caption of this video. If you end up trying this recipe be sure to tag me on Instagram so that I can share your picks and be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more delicious healthy recipes. I've got a ton of summer info coming your way so stay tuned. I had so much fun making this shrimp salad with you so thanks for being here. I'll see you again next week with another delicious recipe.