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Refreshing Cucumber and Shrimp Salad is the perfect thing to serve for a light summer meal! Poach shrimp in a flavorful bath then toss it with crisp cucumbers, fresh dill, chives, bright lemon zest, and the mayonnaise brings the creaminess! Such a great main or side dish!
Most summers I get to the point where I want to cook as little as possible.
And forget the hot meals all together.
This creamy cucumber shrimp salad is just that. A cool and refreshing summer salad recipe loaded with fresh ingredients, with protein-packed shrimp, and a lemon and fresh herb dressing.
Heck, if you’re into shrimp rolls, I totally think you could pop this between a buttered brioche bun and it would be out-of-the-park delicious!
Shrimp Cucumber Salad Ingredients:
- Shrimp: You’ll want to use medium to large shrimp for this recipe. Start by peeling and deveining the shrimp or purchase them that way from the grocery store so taht it makes your life a lot easier! I used 20-30 count shrimp (per pound) and found that that size is perfect for this salad recipe.
- Poaching liquid: for the poaching liquid we want it to be super flavorful so you end up with juicy shrimp. I liek to use peppercorns, garlic, flat leaf parsley stems, bay leaves, shallots, and kosher salt to add sodium. Keep in mind that we want the poaching liquid to be ultra flavorful so that it carries through later.
- Mayonnaise: A big dollop of mayo adds creaminess to the salad dressing. We’ll add the drained cooked shrimp and sliced cucumbers to it later once we’ve made the dressing to our taste.
- Lemons: you’ll need both lemon zest and lemon juice. The zest adds a level of freshness while the lemon juice with cut through some of the richness of the mayonnaise.
- Celery: I liek to finely mince the celery once I’ve used a peeler to remove the coarse outter casing. This is optional but I do find little things like that elevate your salad expderience.
- Chives: fresh herbs like chives and dill add blend of flavor to each bite.
- Dill: Fresh dill works so well with seafood recipes. If you have extra dill laying around and want new ways to use it browse here.
- Persian Cucumbers: you can also use English cucumbers or thin Japanese cucumbers if you’d like.
- Umami Seasoning: this is a blend of ground mushroom and a few other seasonings, it gives the salad a deliciously rich and deep flavor. I highly recommend grabbing some umami seasoning if you don’t have some on hand. It really make it yummy! You could even replace some of the kosher salt with this seasoning when poaching the shrimp, however, it is optional!
Bought umami seasoning and looking for other ways to use it? Try my Hungarian Mushroom Soup, Garlic Parmesan Orzo Risotto, and Saucy Lemon Cilantro Chicken.
How to Make Cucumber Shrimp Salad
- Start by poaching the shrimp. Bring the water, peppercorns, garlic parlsey, bay leaves, shallots, and kosher salt to a boil.
- Poach the shrimp. Then using a slotted spoon, lower the shrimp into the poaching liquid and bring back to a boil. Cover the pot with a tightfitting lid and allow the shrimp to poach with the stove turned off.
- Plunge in ice water. while the shrimp poach, prepare an ice water bath by adding equal parts cold water and ice to a large bowl. Once the shrimp are done, drain them using a slotted spoon and immediately plunge them in the cold water bath.
- Make the dressing. To make the dressing, combine the mayo, lemon zestlemon juice, cerely, chives, dill, a fresh crack of black pepper and some umami seasoning in a bowl. Whisk together until the mayo and lemon juice combine.
- Assemble and serve, or cooled down. Once the shrimp are ocold enough to hand, add them to the salad dressing. You could chop them into bite-sized pieces if you’re serving this to a larger group to make the recipe a bit more economically friendly, if you’d like. Then add the cucumbers and stir to combine. They add so much crunch! Taste and adjust with more seasonings as desired. I like to cool the salad down for atleast an hour to help the flavors combine, but this is optional!
Other summer salad recipes to try:
- Summer Blackened Chicken Salad with Feta and Watermelon
- Chopped Halloumi Cheese Salad with Lemon Mint Dressing
- No Mayo Potato Salad
- Sweet Peach Goat Cheese Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Green Thai Mango Salad (Sweet and Tangy)
More shrimp recipes to make:
- Mexican Shrimp Cocktail
- Mediterranean Shrimp Orzo Salad
- 15-Minute Garlic Shrimp in Lemon Butter Sauce
- Glowing Sesame Ponzu Shrimp Rice Bowls
- Crispy Baja Shrimp Tacos with Chiptole Mayo
Refreshing Cucumber and Shrimp Salad
Refreshing Cucumber and Shrimp Salad is the perfect thing to serve for a light summer meal! Poach shrimp in a flavorful bath then toss it with crisp cucumbers, fresh dill, chives, bright lemon zest, and the mayonnaise brings the creaminess! Such a great main or side dish!
Ingredients
Poaching Liquid:
- 2 pounds shrimp peeled and deveined
- 6 cups water
- 6-8 peppercorns
- 12-15 cloves garlic whole
- A few sprigs of parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 shallots roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
Cucumber and Shrimp Salad:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- Zest of 1 lemon +3-4 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ cup celery finely minced
- 2 tablespoons chives finely minced
- 1 tablespoon dill finely minced
- 6-7 Persian cucumbers thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon umami seasoning see notes
Instructions
- POACHING LIQUID: Add the water, peppercorns, garlic, parsley, bay leaves, shallot, and kosher salt to a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, using a slotted spoon, carefully remove all of the poaching ingredients from the water.
- POACH: Carefully add the shrimp into the hot water. Turn the stove off, cover with a tight fitting lid and let the shrimp cook for 2-5 minutes, 2-3 minutes for medium shrimp, 3 minutes for large, and longer for jumbo. They should be opaque and curled into a ‘c’ shape when done. Prepare the ice water bath while the shrimp poach.
- ICE WATER BATH: While the shrimp poach, add 2 cups of ice and 2 cups of water into a large heatproof bowl. When the shrimp are done, carefully use a slotted spoon to transfer them to an ice water bath to cool them down quickly.
- SALAD DRESSING: In a medium bowl, combine the mayo, lemon zest, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, celery, chives, dill and a few cracks of black pepper in a bowl with ½ teaspoon umami seasoning or kosher salt. Whisk together.
- ASSEMBLE: Once the shrimp are cooled down, add them to the dressing and mix. Then add the thinly sliced cucumbers. Taste the salad and adjust with more umami seasoning or kosher salt as desired. Serve immediately or cover and let the flavors meld together for 1 hour.
Notes
- Umami seasoning: is widely available in most grocery stores. It’s usually in the seasoning aisle and often contains ingredients like mushroom powder and red pepper flakes.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 377kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 38g | Fat: 17g | Fiber: 3g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
Made this for lunch and it was absolutely delicious!
So happy to hear you enjoyed this salad, Maggie! Appreciate you circling back to leave a review 🙂