With avocado, tomatoes, eggs, and shrimp all topped with a well-seasoned, creamy dressing Shrimp Louie Salad makes a fresh, easy low carb lunch or light dinner. It’s bursting with flavor and oh-so-good!

Love shrimp recipes like we do? A few other ways to enjoy shrimp include our shrimp wedge salad, shrimp po boy, and shrimp boil foil packets.

Healthy & Easy Shrimp Louie Salad Recipe

If you love shrimp and have never heard of Shrimp Louie salad, or maybe you’ve only enjoyed this outstanding salad in restaurants, be prepared to be wowed. This shrimp salad recipe is easy to make but each bite is bursting with flavor. Plus it’s packed with protein and makes a healthy lunch or light dinner for any occasion.

What Is Shrimp Louie Salad?

Shrimp Louie is a cold seafood salad said to have originated in California (San Francisco, specifically) in the 1900s. While there are many variations, it always features tomatoes, avocado, and hard boiled eggs on a bed of lettuce, along with a big serving of shrimp. Sometimes the shrimp itself is cooked and seasoned but other times, as is the case with my recipe, the flavor is all left to the dressing.

The dressing poured over a Shrimp Louie salad is a spicy pink mayo-based dressing, similar to our homemade Thousand Island dressing. It features spicy mustard, horseradish, lemon juice, and a handful of other seasonings for a creamy, semi-spicy salad topping.

Ingredients Needed

Gather these ingredients and get to making Shrimp Louie for lunch or dinner!
(Scroll below to the printable recipe card for details and measurements.)

For the Dressing

• Mayonnaise – The creamy base to the dressing.
• Spicy brown mustard – Or, if you prefer, just regular brown mustard.
• Horseradish – Adds a bit of sharp bite to the dressing.
• Seasonings – Paprika, fresh parsley, Creole seasoning, garlic, and black pepper add lots of flavor to the sauce.
• Lemon juice – Adds a light hint of citrus.
• Sweet pickle juice – For a nice tang!
• Hot sauce – For even more heat. Use your favorite.

For the Salad

• Romaine lettuce – Or any other greens you want to use as your base.
• Shrimp – Cook and chill the shrimp before adding it to the salad. Be sure to remove the tails.
• Eggs – Again, hard boil and cool them before assembling the salad.
• Avocado – Fresh ripe avocado adds a nice buttery element.
• Tomatoes – Halved grape or cherry tomatoes are the perfect size.
• Chives – For delicate onion flavor.

More Topping Ideas:

While pretty much any Shrimp Louie salad is made with tomatoes, avocado, and hard-boiled eggs, you can also add in some pickled beets or olives. Cut and blanched green beans or asparagus are also delicious additions.

Variation: Make Crab Louie Instead

For a variation on this Shrimp Louie salad, try making Crab Louie instead! All you need to do is swap the shrimp for lump crab meat. Everything else stays the same. You can even find this variation on some restaurant menus.

How to Make Shrimp Louie Salad

This shrimp salad comes together easily, just be sure to cook the shrimp and egg in advance so they have time to cool. Here’s a summary:
(Scroll below to the printable recipe card for details and measurements.)

1. Make the dressing. Add all ingredients to a jar with a lid. Shake vigorously until all ingredients are well combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Assemble the salad. Divide the lettuce among 4 bowls. Arrange the remaining ingredients in rows, with the shrimp in the middle.
3. Serve. Drizzle dressing over the top and enjoy.

Serving Suggestions

Shrimp Louie salad is typically served as the main course, either for lunch or dinner. You could, however, serve smaller portions as a side salad as well and in that case, I would likely toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl to allow each person to serve their own portion. You can also pair this with your favorite soup for a soup & salad combo.

Can I Make This in Advance?

As with most salads, Shrimp Louie should be enjoyed as soon as the dressing is added. Otherwise, the lettuce can wilt and it just won’t have the fresh, crisp texture a salad should have.

That said, certain elements of the salad can be prepared in advance. The salad dressing will last for 4 days when stored in a glass jar in the fridge. Likewise, the hard boiled eggs can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and since the shrimp is enjoyed cold, it can also be cooked a day or so in advance.

More Fresh Salad Recipes:

• Big Mac Salad
• Caesar Salad
• Pear Salad
• Caprese Corn Salad
• Shrimp Wedge Salad
• Cobb Salad

I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!