The Simple Perfection of a Classic Shrimp Louie
If you love shrimp, like we do, we’re betting that your idea of heaven on earth is a big platter of it that you get to call dinner. That’s basically what shrimp louie is. Shrimp louie is a descendent of the equally wonderful crab louie, and seems to have likely originated in California sometime in the very early 1900s. This classic cold seafood salad is simple and retro-elegant (is that a thing? Can we just say that it is?) and really showcases shrimp in all its meaty, bright pink glory! At once light and celebratory, it just begs to be paired with a chilled glass of rosé or bubbly and a warm summer night. You can also serve it with some good bread (maybe a crusty baguette?) but you certainly don’t have to—it’s an event in and of itself.
Start With: Classic Shrimp Louie Salad Ingredients
Oh man. We told you we didn’t mess with anything, and that’s true in spirit. But in practice, we did swap romaine lettuce for iceberg, which is arguably a little bit more traditional than romaine. The thing is, people have been making and serving shrimp louie salads for more than a hundred years now, and it’s hard to say that there’s one exact way to make one! If you keep the shrimp louie toppings simple, keep the shrimp as the centerpiece, serve it with a creamy, mayo-based dressing, well, that sounds like a louie to us! So ours is as traditional a recipe as any, and that seems fair enough, right? OK, without further ado, here’s everything you’ll need to make our shrimp louie recipe:
For the salad:
Romaine lettuce
Hard-boiled eggs
Cherry tomatoes
Avocado
Capers
For the shrimp marinade:
Medium shrimp
Tabasco
Lemon
Garlic powder
Olive oil
Worcestershire
Honey
Paprika
Top Them With: A (Pretty) Traditional Shrimp Louie Dressing
In lesser establishments, shrimp louie dressing is basically just Thousand Island dressing. But more creative cooks—and more louie-obsessed restaurant chefs—like to take things a little further, and make a louie dressing that’s truly worthy of a salad as perfect as this one. For our shrimp louie dressing, we kept it mayo-based—to us, that’s a must—and drew the rest of our dressing inspiration from the shrimp marinade and the general spirit of this salad! Bright, bold, classic flavors that satisfy without demanding much of us other than pure enjoyment. Here’s what’s in our creamy shrimp louie dressing:
Mayonnaise
Dijon
Lemon
Tabasco
Honey
Worcestershire
Capers
Garlic powder
Paprika
How to Make the Best Ever Shrimp Louie Salad
Not only is this salad super easy, you can prep a lot of the ingredients ahead of time. Hard-boil the eggs and whip up the dressing a few days ahead of time, and you’ll be ready to quickly cook the shrimp and assemble the salad just about anytime the mood strikes (or the company shows up!). Here’s how easy it is to make a shrimp louie:
Begin by marinating the shrimp—just while you make the dressing and assemble the other ingredients, no more than 10-15 minutes. The shrimp will soak up the flavor quickly, and you don’t want the shrimp meat to begin to break down too much before cooking.
Use a food processor to mix up the shrimp louie dressing.
Pan-fry the shrimp until it’s cooked and let it cool for a few minutes.
Toss the lettuce with dressing, lay it out on a platter and top it with eggs, cherry tomatoes, avocado, capers, and shrimp. Salt & pepper to taste, and dig in!
Tools You’ll Need:
More Easy Shrimp Recipes to Try
We’re on a Shrimp Bender and Please No One Stop Us
We’re so in love with shrimp right now—it’s fast, it’s easy, it’s sort of healthy, and everyone loves it. What’s not to love?! And this shrimp louie is the perfect summertime dinner. We know it’s going to be showing up on repeat all summer long, and we’re here for it. We hope it finds its way into your heart, too! If you make it, let us know how you like it! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!
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