Shrimp Salad with Tartar Dressing

As the weather gets warmer, we always look for ways to celebrate fresh, crisp ingredients and long, sunny days. This Shrimp Salad with Tartar Dressing is perfect for backyard parties, spring or summer potlucks, or even just family dinners on the patio. 

The combination of flavors in this salad is reminiscent of the popcorn shrimp with tartar sauce that you might get at a seaside restaurant. The shrimp are juicy and lemony, the dressing is creamy, herby, and has just the right amount of sweetness and tang, and the pan fried panko topping gives this salad popcorn shrimp vibes.

Why You’ll Love This Shrimp Salad

• Varying textures and flavors. This salad has easily become one of our favorites around here. It’s bright and flavorful and full of different textures. The shrimp are cooked perfectly and have just the right amount of bite without being overdone. The pan fried panko is crispy and crunchy, and the dressing is creamy and cooling. The other salad ingredients provide additional crunch (lettuce and cucumbers), juiciness (tomatoes), and creaminess (avocado). 
• Fresh and healthy. This salad has a lot of fresh ingredients, like lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocados, plus low-fat, high-protein shrimp. The dressing does contain mayo as do most tartar sauces, but we’ve even scaled that down by replacing some of it with Greek yogurt for additional nutrients, probiotics, and a tangy flavor. 
• Satisfies your craving for popcorn shrimp without the hassle of deep frying. There’s no need to deep fry anything for this salad. The shrimp and pan fried panko breadcrumbs are cooked separately without any need for having hot oil on your stove. The combination of juicy shrimp, crispy fried panko, and a tartar sauce dressing give you all the elements of popcorn shrimp without the hassle. Plus, it all comes in the form of a bright, fresh, and satisfying salad.

Ingredients for the Shrimp Salad with Tartar Dressing

There are a few different elements that make up this incredibly delicious main dish salad.

Shrimp

This salad features shrimp that are baked with fresh dill and squeezed with lemon. The result is a bright and healthy protein that does not skimp on flavor. We recommend cooking the shrimp and letting them cool as you prepare the other salad ingredients. 

Here’s what you’ll need for the shrimp:

• Shrimp – to make it easier on yourself, try to buy deveined shrimp at the store. We usually buy raw, shelled, deveined, and tail-on shrimp for this recipe, but if you can find raw, deveined, tail-off shrimp, that’s great.
• Fresh dill – the dill brings out one of the flavors that is present in the tartar dressing, which you will toss with the salad and shrimp later.
• Lemon – a squeeze of lemon will brighten up the shrimp. If you don’t have lemon, you can use some lime, but it may be a bit more tart. 
• Olive oil – you just need enough to coat all of the shrimp so that they don’t dry out in the oven or stick to the baking sheet.
• Salt and pepper – shrimp love salt, but if you don’t, you can start with a small pinch, taste the shrimp for seasoning when they’re fully cooked, and add more, if needed. The pepper adds a nice smokiness to the shrimp. 

Tartar Dressing

This dressing is modeled after traditional tartar sauce that you might get on the side of the popcorn shrimp you’d order at your favorite seafood spot. Depending on how well-dressed you like your salad, you may end up using all of this dressing in the recipe. If not, though, you can store any leftover dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days. 

Here’s what you’ll need to make it:

• Mayonnaise – many rich, creamy dressings start with mayo. Make sure to use good quality mayo here and not a sweeter variety.
• Plain Greek yogurt – we love cutting back on some of the mayo by using thick Greek yogurt. It brings a delightful tang to the tartar dressing too. You can use nonfat Greek yogurt, reduced fat, or full-fat. They’ll all work well here.
• Dill relish – the dill relish brings a briny flavor to the dressing that pairs well with the shrimp and other salad ingredients. 
• Capers – capers are so good with shrimp and absolutely vital to this dressing. You can leave them whole or chop them if you want smaller bits.
• Herbs  – we love using fresh herbs in dressings. Fresh dill and parsley are necessary parts of this flavor profile, but if you don’t have fresh herbs, you can use dried. The general rule of thumb is to use one-third the amount of dried herbs for the fresh herbs listed in a recipe. In other words, if a recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of fresh dill, you can substitute that for 1 teaspoon (1 tsp = ⅓ Tbsp) of dried dill.
• Sugar – because you’re using so many briny, sour things in this dressing, a little granulated sugar will help mellow out the other flavors and provide balance.
• White vinegar – we like the simplicity of white vinegar here instead of another vinegar. If you don’t have this, you can use lemon juice instead. 
• Water or milk – because this is a dressing instead of a dip, we like to thin it out a bit with water or milk. The exact amount will be determined by how thin or thick you want your dressing.
• Salt and pepper – adding salt to this dressing is optional and will depend on your personal preferences and the salt level of the other ingredients you’ve added. Be sure to taste the dressing before adding more salt. We do recommend adding cracked black pepper, though. Black pepper is so good in creamy dressings.

Crispy Panko Topping

Instead of using croutons, we sometimes like to add crispy, pan fried panko to our salads. They provide just enough crunch without overpowering the other ingredients in the salad. We usually add all of the crispy panko to this salad, but if you don’t want to use them all, you can store any extra crispy panko in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Panko breadcrumbs – we love the crunchy texture of panko. Regular breadcrumbs won’t work the same way. 
• Olive oil – you need just a little fat to help toast up the panko and help them get crispy and golden brown.
• Salt and pepper – just a pinch of salt and a little pepper should be enough to flavor the panko.

Salad

You don’t need a ton of extra things in this salad because the shrimp, dressing, and panko are so flavorful. But a few extra fresh ingredients will turn this salad into a fantastic main dish option!

Here’s what you’ll need to complete the salad:

• Lettuce – green leaf is our preferred type of lettuce in this salad, but feel free to use Romaine, red leaf lettuce, or another leafy green. 
• Tomatoes – we love the sweetness of baby tomatoes and usually use grape or cherry varieties.
• Cucumbers – we often use Persian cucumbers in salads because they have fewer seeds and a thinner skin. Because of this, we don’t usually peel them or remove their seeds, which cuts down on prep time. If you’re using a different cucumber, however, you may need to skin it and scoop out the seeds.
• Onion – red onions bring a nice pungent element to the salad, but if you don’t like onions, you can leave them out. 
• Avocados – we love avocados, but they don’t always survive tossing in a salad, so these are better added at the end.

How to Make This Shrimp Salad with Tartar Dressing

To make the shrimp, first heat your oven to 400°F. Once the oven has preheated, place the shrimp on a parchment lined baking sheet. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper and lightly toss with the shrimp. Arrange the shrimp in 1 layer on the baking sheet and bake for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the shrimp are opaque and pinkish white in color. Squeeze lemon juice over the shrimp and lightly shower them with fresh dill. Set aside to cool until ready to add to the salad.

To make the dressing, place the ingredients into a medium sized bowl and whisk to combine. Season to taste and add more water or milk if you want it thinner. If it’s too thin, thicken the mixture up with more yogurt or mayo. 

To make the crispy panko, first add the oil to a small frying pan set over medium or medium-low heat. Once the oil is hot, add the panko, salt, and pepper to the pan. Toss the panko every 15 to 30 seconds as they toast to keep them from browning too quickly. Cook for about 5 to 8 minutes, or until the panko are deep golden brown in color but not burnt. Remove from the heat. Optional: place the panko in a paper towel lined bowl or plate to remove any excess oil and set them aside. 

To make the salad, add the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion to a large salad bowl and toss to combine. Top the salad with the avocado, shrimp, and crispy panko. Spoon over your desired amount of tartar dressing and gently toss the salad so that it’s lightly coated.