Grilled Shrimp Louie Salad

Grilled Shrimp Louie Salad is classic shrimp louie salad with smoky grilled shrimp and fresh, creamy homemade louie salad dressing! {GF, DF}

In my last post, I shared my Homemade No Mayo Louie Salad Dressing, so you must’ve known a salad was coming next right?  I forgot to mention it, which may have had you all on the edge of your seats in suspense.

That’s silly because the only logical recipe I could post for louie dressing is louie salad.  The only suspenseful part would be whether I chose to top it with crab, shrimp or go rogue and do a vegetarian spin.

When I was developing my dressing, I tried out every variation I listed above.  I enjoyed it with grilled shrimp, fresh crab and ate the leftovers with chickpeas.

While I loved each variation, I finally went with my original plan for this Grilled Shrimp Louie Salad.  🙂

Grilled Shrimp Louie Salad

I’ve loved shrimp louie salads for years.  Normally the shrimp is bay shrimp and I used to be happy with that until I came across the Grilled Prawn Louis Salad at Chow Food and Market.

The smoky, succulent prawns are so much better to me than cold bay shrimp, and now I only want grilled shrimp atop my louie salad.

You just have to try it and see for yourself. 🙂

You may be wondering…what is a Louie Salad?

Crab Louie Salad (also known as Crab Louis Salad or the King of Salads) originated in the early 1900’s on the West Coast of California.  There were a few restaurants on record in San Francisco that served the crab louie salad as early as 1914.

Louie salads are typically served cold or at room temperature with fresh crab meat or bay shrimp, hard boiled egg, olives, tomato and sometimes asparagus.

They’re normally served with a creamy dressing similar to Thousand Island, but it’s not as sweet.

If you’re in a really fine restaurant, you may even get lucky and come across a lobster louie salad. 🙂

Recipe Tips/Substitutions

I realize that this recipe has a few different components to prep, but it’s all completely doable, especially if you tackle them separately.  Prepare the beets and hard boiled eggs a day or two in advance to make salad prep much quicker.  You can certainly opt to use pre-cooked beets instead of roasting your own.

The shrimp can be handled a number of ways.  Prep and skewer in advance then douse in lemon juice, salt and pepper before you’re ready to grill them, or cook them a day ahead.  If grilling isn’t your thing, you can sauté them in a pan or use cold bay shrimp.  Crab meat is also a delicious option!

I highly recommend that you use my homemade louie dressing recipe — the link is included in the recipe below.  My dressing includes lots of fresh ingredients and you can taste the quality.  It may also be made in advance…just stir and serve!

Normally louie salads are served with cold ice berg lettuce, but I prefer to use lettuce that has more nutritional value.   I used a spring – butter lettuce blend.

This salad is very customizable — omit the ingredients that you don’t care for and pile on the ones that you love!

More scrumptious salad recipes!

Greek Panzanella Salad

Kale Salad with Goat Cheese, Cranberries and Orange

Salmon Nicoise Salad

Santa Fe Chicken Salad with Tangy Lime Dressing

Grilled Shrimp Louie Salad

Yield: 4 servings

Total Time:1 hour 15 minutes

Prep Time:15 minutes

Cook Time:1 hour (includes roasting time for beets)

Grilled Shrimp Louie Salad is classic shrimp louie salad with smoky grilled shrimp and fresh, creamy homemade louie salad dressing! {GF, DF}

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

• (4) 2″ diameter wide beets (or pre-cooked beets)
• 4 large eggs
• 16 ounces large uncooked, thawed shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 large lemon, halved and divided
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• (4) large metal or wooden skewers
• 6 ounces lettuce mix (I used spring and butter lettuce)
• 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 avocado, pitted and sliced
• 1 cup black olives, drained
• Homemade No Mayo Louie Salad Dressing

Directions:

Prepare the beets:

1. If using fresh beets, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Trim the top and bottom of the beets and wrap tightly in aluminum foil.  Place on a baking sheet and roast for 45-60 minutes until tender.
2. Once cool enough to handle, rub the skins off of the beets with paper towels and cut into wedges.

Prepare the hardboiled eggs:

1. Place the eggs in a small sauce pan and fill with enough water to cover by 2″.  Place a lid over the pan and heat over medium heat until boiling.  Once boiling, immediately remove from heat and keep covered for 10 minutes.
2. After 10 minutes, remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and place in a colander.  Rinse with cold water to cool them slightly and place in a bowl of ice water until cool.  This will make the eggs much easier to peel!
3. Peel and slice lengthwise into quarters when ready to serve.

Preheat the grill to medium.

1. Place the shrimp in large bowl and toss with the juice from half of the lemon (reserve the other half), and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
2. Place the shrimp on the skewers and grill for 2-3 minutes per side or until pink.  Remove from heat and remove from the skewers once cool enough to handle.

Assemble the salads:

1. Cut the remaining half a lemon into (4) wedges.
2. Divide the lettuce, beets, hard boiled egg, cherry tomatoes, olives and avocado between (4) large plates.  Top with the shrimp then drizzle with the desired amount of dressing.  Serve with lemon wedges and enjoy!

 

Recipe Notes:

• Nutrition information was calculated using My Fitness Pal and is meant to be an estimate only.  The information will change based on the quantity consumed, brands used and substitutions that are made.  The dressing is not included in the calculations listed as that information is in a separate post.
• The beets, hard boiled eggs and shrimp may all be made a day or two in advance to make the salad much easier to prepare the day that you’re serving it.
• If you prefer not to grill your shrimp, you can either sauté it on the stove top, roast it on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, or serve it with bay shrimp.  This salad is also wonderful with crab meat!
• For a vegetarian option, omit the seafood and serve with chickpeas or white beans.

Recipe source:  Flavor the Moments

// All images and text ©Flavor the Moments.

Nutrition Information

Yield: 4 servings, Serving Size: 1 salad

• Amount Per Serving:
• Calories: 294
• Total Fat: 10g
• Saturated Fat: 2g
• Cholesterol: 359mg
• Sodium: 641mg
• Carbohydrates: 16g
• Fiber: 6g
• Sugar: 8g
• Protein: 38g