A quick and easy summer salad, shrimp pasta salad comes together quickly and is the perfect pairing for your next cookout (or anytime!). Be sure to check out the how-to video!
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Main Dish, Side Dish
4(110g)stalks celerychopped small (about 1 cup chopped celery)
½(85g)red or green bell pepperdiced, seeds removed (approximately ⅔ cup)
¼(105g)small oniondiced (approximately ¾ cup)
2cups(260g)small salad shrimpcooked¹
For Dressing
1cup(230g)mayonnaise
2Tablespoonssour cream
2teaspoonsdistilled white vinegar
1 ½teaspoonsgranulated sugar
¾teaspooncelery seed
¼teaspoonground mustard
¼teaspoonsaltplus more to taste (I typically need a heaping ¼ teaspoon)
¼teaspoonground black pepper
Instructions
Cook macaroni noodles al-dente according to package instructions. Drain and rinse under cool water, drain again and transfer to a large bowl.
8 oz elbow macaroni noodles
Add celery, pepper, onion, and shrimp and stir to combine.
4 stalks celery, ½ red or green bell pepper, ¼ small onion, 2 cups small salad shrimp
In a separate bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients (mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, sugar, celery seed, ground mustard, salt, and black pepper). Taste test and add more salt or pepper as needed.
1 cup mayonnaise, 2 Tablespoons sour cream, 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar, 1 ½ teaspoons granulated sugar, ¾ teaspoon celery seed, ¼ teaspoon ground mustard, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Pour dressing over macaroni mixture and stir well until all ingredients are coated with dressing. Cover shrimp macaroni salad and refrigerate at least one hour (preferably overnight) for the flavor to fully develop before serving. Always stir before serving.
Video
Notes
¹Shrimp
I am often able to find cooked small “salad” shrimp in the frozen section. Typically I toss these right into the salad frozen and when I go to serve the next day the shrimp has thawed and I just need to stir before serving. If you choose to thaw the shrimp first, do not drain. Alternatively you may cook/steam or use larger cooked shrimp, just coarsely chop the shrimp into small pieces. When my grandmother makes this recipe, she just uses a single (undrained) tin of tiny shrimp.
²Storing
Store shrimp pasta salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. For probably obvious reasons, this salad does not do well in the heat so I recommend keeping chilled or serving on ice for cook-outs etc.