Avocado Lime Shrimp Salad

This Avocado Lime Shrimp Salad is my new favorite to make at home. The lime juice adds a zesty flavor and helps the avocados stay nice, and I always forget how quick and easy it is too cook shrimp.

I’ve made it a goal of mine lately to eat more salads. I love them, but the prep is generally more than I like to invest for my at home lunch. A friend asked me to join a salad swap, so I made this shrimp salad one week to exchange with the 3 others in our group. This is a delicious salad that is equally a healthy lunch recipe, so it’s a double WIN! Just takes a little prep with the items I already have on hand.

I partnered with Spectrum® Organics to share this post, I used their organic coconut oil to cook the shrimp on the stovetop, then I made a dressing with the cold pressed avocado oil, which gives a neutral taste. I LOVE cooking with these oils, they’re sourced from the highest quality ingredients with care and know-how. The brand’s olives are even taste-tested and hand-selected. The Spectrum® brand line of natural and organic culinary oils and vinegars also has more than 30 varieties of seed, nut and plant oils that are good for any type of cooking, including coconut oil, olive oil, canola oil, avocado oil, grapeseed oil, sesame oil and more. Up until a few years ago, I didn’t even realize there were other options besides vegetable oil, and who knew that for some reason that oil really isn’t the best for us. I did not know! Coconut oil is my go-to when cooking anything on the stove top these days, and paired with the shrimp, it has the most subtle of coconut flavors. YUM! Are you ready for my new favorite shrimp salad recipe?

Tips for cooking shrimp:

1. I like to purchase frozen RAW shrimp in shell. There are so many ways to purchase shrimp, but this is my favorite. I can keep it in the freezer, and use when I’d like.
2. Purchasing jumbo shrimp means less shelling, I just cut up for more pieces later.
3. To defrost shrimp, put it in a bowl of cold water for 5-10 minutes to thaw a bit.
4. After it has thawed, keep the shrimp in the bowl and one by one pull from the tail upwards to take off the shell.
5. Put the shell on a paper towel (to throw away right after) and put the shelled shrimp back in the bowl of water.
6. Using jumbo shrimp, cut into 3 or 4 pieces for bite sized pieces.
7. Cook on stovetop on medium heat with coconut oil for 2-3 minutes each side, with a little salt and pepper, until it turns pink.

After setting the shrimp aside, chop the avocado and toss in lime juice

Then I chopped up the red bell pepper into similar sizes

BAM! The 3 main ingredients:

Throw that mixture on a bed of spinach, and you’re golden!

But that’s not all! I’ve got a most delicious salad dressing to share as well. I used Spectrum Organics avocado oil mixed with vinegar, honey, and mustard and it was DELISH! I rarely make my own dressing, but it will definitely be happening more in the future.

If you’re a local Austinite, I’d love to see you at an event this weekend with the brand at the Austin Farmers’ Market Downtown with chef Marcus Samuelson. They’ve partnered with him to help inspire home cooks to make chef-inspired meals at home as a partner in cooking. If you’re at the farmer’s market this weekend, be on the lookout for him (and me!) and see what we’re up to. I’ll be involved in a little cooking demo, eeks…hope I don’t look too silly next to him!

Here is the recipe for the shrimp salad and the honey mustard dressing:

I’d love to hear what you think of the Shrimp salad after you make it!