5-Ingredient Shrimp Avocado Salad Ready in 15 Minutes
Creamy avocado, juicy shrimp, done in 15 min — no stove required.
It's a weeknight, you're tired, and the last thing you want is to stand over a hot stove. This shrimp avocado salad is the answer. Pre-cooked shrimp means zero cooking — just chop, toss, and eat. The lime juice and olive oil pull everything together into something that actually feels like a real dinner, not a sad desk lunch. Expect creamy, fresh, and satisfying. It won't keep well once dressed, so eat it right away, but honestly that won't be a problem.
Ingredients
- 12 oz cooked peeled shrimp — thawed if frozen, tails removed, patted dry
- 2 unit ripe avocados — pitted and diced into ¾-inch cubes
- 2 unit limes — juiced (about 3 tbsp total)
- 2 tbsp olive oil — extra-virgin
- 0.5 tsp kosher salt
- 0.25 tsp black pepper — freshly cracked
Method
- 1 Pat the thawed shrimp dry with paper towels and remove any tails. Cut larger shrimp in half crosswise so every bite has some shrimp.
- 2 Halve and pit the avocados, then dice the flesh into ¾-inch cubes directly in the skin before scooping out with a spoon.
- 3 In a large bowl, whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- 4 Add the shrimp and avocado to the bowl and gently toss until everything is coated. Taste and adjust salt or lime as needed.
- 5 Serve immediately — straight from the bowl or spooned over lettuce leaves if you have them.
Variations
- Vegetarian Swap — Replace the shrimp with one 15 oz can of white beans (drained and rinsed) or cubed firm tofu. The lime-olive oil dressing works just as well and the salad stays filling.
- Faster Swap — Buy pre-diced avocado from the produce section and use pre-squeezed lime juice from a bottle — you can be eating in under 5 minutes.
- Add a Little More — Stir in a handful of halved cherry tomatoes and a few tablespoons of chopped red onion if you have them — it still feels like a minimal-effort dinner and adds freshness.
Notes
Use the freshest, ripest avocados you can find — they're doing most of the flavor work here. If your shrimp are very large (16/20 count), halving them helps with texture. Don't dress this salad until you're ready to eat; the avocado will brown and the texture goes soft fast. A pinch of red pepper flakes or a few dashes of hot sauce are great if you want heat.
Equipment that helps
- Large mixing bowl — Gives you room to toss the shrimp and avocado without smashing the avocado chunks.
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