This post may contain affiliate links. Read disclosure policy
Our Grilled Shrimp Salad features seasoned grilled shrimp, plenty of fresh greens, and loads of salad favorites like cherry tomatoes, bacon, and avocado. All dressed up with our homemade honey mustard vinaigrette! This grilled shrimp salad recipe with a homemade honey mustard vinaigrette is a fresh, flavorful, and nutritious way to enjoy salad!
When we need a quick dinner, shrimp tends to be one of our go-to options!
It’s easy to keep shrimp on hand for busy nights and they cook up in minutes, which makes them a total life saver!
We make our garlic shrimp pasta and shrimp alfredo for quick weeknight meals quite a bit, but with summer approaching, we thought we’d share our grilled shrimp salad with the world.
This grilled shrimp salad recipe is a nutritious and tasty way to enjoy salad. Nothing boring about it, because we load our salad greens with all kinds of goodies, like cherry tomatoes, boiled eggs, crispy bacon, and creamy avocado!
We’re topping all this goodness off with a simple homemade honey mustard vinaigrette. It brings all the bright, citrusy, summer flavors that I’m craving right now and goes perfectly with the grilled shrimp!
Serve this with a slice of our beer bread or dutch oven bread for a heartier meal.
What We Love About This Recipe:
- Flavor: The honey mustard vinaigrette really adds lots of great flavor to this dish and brings all the other ingredients together. We love this simple homemade dressing but you can switch it up with other kinds too!
- Toppings: Personally, I think the lettuce is the least important and tasty bit of a salad, so I’m always sure to make our salads exciting by adding in loads of toppings. In this case that’s juicy tomatoes, creamy avocado, crispy bacon…and of course, grilled shrimp!
- Quick: I love how quickly shrimp cooks – just about 5 minutes on the grill! This salad comes together in about 15 minutes.
Ingredient Notes:
For the shrimp salad:
Shrimp – You’ll start with some small or medium shrimp that are peeled, deveined, and tails removed. You can use fresh or frozen and thawed shrimp for this recipe.
Salad Greens – Feel free to use whatever mix of salad greens you prefer, or any variety of lettuce. Kale, romaine lettuce, chard, spinach, leaf lettuce. They’re all nutritious and tasty here.
Salad Mix-Ins – We like lots of variety in our salads, so we’re adding it all! Sliced avocado, halved cherry tomatoes, crispy crumbled bacon, thin slices of red onion, and boiled eggs.
For the honey mustard vinaigrette:
Lemon – You’ll need freshly squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest. This really brightens up the dressing.
Honey – Simple and sweet, use your favorite brand of honey or some local honey if you can find it!
Dijon Mustard – A must in any good vinaigrette, if you ask me. We use Grey Poupon, but use whatever brand you like.
Red Wine Vinegar – This will help bring the dressing together and adds some bright, zippy flavor.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Salad Topping Suggestions:
I’m using cherry tomatoes, avocado, bacon, red onion, and boiled eggs to top these grilled shrimp salads but you can use any sort of toppings you like.
Here are some other good topping suggestions:
- Grilled Corn
- Bell Peppers
- Olives
- Cucumbers
Dressing Options:
And if you want to switch it up with a different dressing consider making one of my other favorite homemade dressing recipes! Some good ones for this salad would be:
Step by Step Instructions:
Season the shrimp by tossing it in the olive oil with some salt and pepper. If you have more time and would like, you can marinate your shrimp in a bit of the honey mustard vinaigrette before cooking. Just 10 minutes will add a bit of zippy flavor.
Grill the pan in a grill pan on the stove or in a basket on the grill for just 2-3 minutes per side. The shrimp will be pink and opaque when cooked through. Let them cool about 10 minutes while you work on the rest of the recipe.
This dressing is quick and easy to prepare. Just add all of the vinaigrette ingredients to a small bowl and whisk together until they are smooth and creamy!
Add your salad greens to a bowl, pile on your toppings, and drizzle the vinaigrette over the top. Add as much or as little dressing as you like.
Helpful Tip!
You can use any type of dressing you prefer for this salad. If the honey mustard vinaigrette isn’t something you enjoy or if you’re in the mood for something else you can switch it up with any dressing you like! Our Greek dressing recipe or cilantro lime dressing would be really good here!
My Favorite Grill Basket!
This grill basket makes grilling smaller foods, such as shrimp, chunks of chicken, or veggies, a total breeze. It’s dishwasher safe too!
FAQ’s:
If you’ve got leftovers you’ll want to try and store the salad separately from the dressing. The salad should last for a day or two in the fridge, and up to a few days for the dressing.
For the best results, we recommend fully thawing your shrimp before cooking it on the grill. Frozen shrimp can turn out a bit tough, chewy, and unevenly cooked.
Shrimp can be grilled with the shell on or off. In this recipe, we purchased peeled, deveined shrimp with the tails off to keep things quick and easy.
More Shrimp REcipes!
Grilled Shrimp Salad
Ingredients
For the shrimp salad:
- 1 lb small or medium shrimp peeled and deveined, tails removed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 avocados thinly sliced
- 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
- 8 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
- 1 red onion thinly sliced
- 4 boiled eggs halved
- 8 cups salad greens
For the honey mustard vinaigrette:
- Lemon juice from one large lemon
- Lemon zest from one large lemon
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 cloves garlic pasted see notes
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup olive oil
Instructions
- Toss the shrimp in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
For the salad:
- Heat the grill to medium high heat. Once hot add the shrimp to the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes per side, until shrimp is pink and opaque. Let the shrimp cool for 10 minutes while you prep the dressing and salad.
- To make the salad, divide and arrange the salad greens between 4 bowls. Top with the avocado, cherry tomatoes, crumbled bacon, onion, and halved (or diced) boiled eggs.
- Top the salads with the shrimp and drizzle with the dressing.
- Serve immediately.
For the dressing:
- To make the dressing, add all of the ingredients to a small bowl and whisk well until smooth and creamy.
SusieJ says
I don’t care for anything with lemon. No, not lemonades, lemon candy, nothing with lemon.
However I really wanted to try this Grilled Shrimp Salad. So I bought everything that was needed (if I didn’t have any, like lemons).
This salad and especially the dressing was the BEST EVER!! It was the best dressing I’ve had in a long time. Forget Ranch dressing. Delicious, delicious, delicious ? ?
I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow!!!
Karly Campbell says
Oh, I’m so glad you liked this so much and gave it a try! New love of lemons forming!! 🙂