Chipotle Shrimp Salad has spice to warm you up and creamy avocado to cool you off. It’s a great, easy-to-make, summer salad. It has a variety of salad greens as a base, with black beans, Cotija cheese, tomato, and avocado.
Using Canned Beans for Salad
It’s fine to use canned beans for salads. They’re already cooked and all you have to do is drain them and wash them well. I don’t like the sauce that comes in canned beans so I drain them and then run water over them until the water runs clear. If you are concerned about wasting water, do this over a large bowl and let your plants have the bean water, they’ll love it!
Mexican Cotija Cheese
You can usually find this cheese in the Mexican refrigerated section of your supermarket. Cotija is often called the Parmesan of Mexico, and it is indeed a salty, crumbly cheese, but not as assertive. It’s as if Cotija whispers instead of yells like parmesan. It is also the preferred cheese for Street Corn. If you can’t find it, feel free to substitute Feta instead.
Chopped Salad Base
I really like chopped salads, and the best tool for that is a *Mezzaluna, or moon-shaped knife. They make quick work of chopping lettuce, cabbage, spinach, herbs, and a variety of other foods. Simply hold the handle in your hand and rock it back and forth.
My favorite chopped salad base is a mixture of salad greens, cabbage, and spinach. I use whatever salad greens I happen to have on hand, red leaf, romaine, and even the freshest, most crisp iceberg works fine. For cabbage, I recommend green cabbage. Bagged spinach leaves are fine unless you are lucky enough to have them growing in your garden.
Avocado Do’s and Don’ts
- Despite whatever trends on are social media, you cannot turn a green avocado into a ripe one without waiting a few days. Trying to hasten ripening using the oven only gives you warmed, hard avocadoes. Don’t do it!
- Avocados will ripen a little faster if you leave them with a banana. The gases that the banana gives off encourages ripening. My mother used to put them in a brown paper bag with a banana.
- If you’re worried that the avocado will get too ripe before you can eat it, you can put it in the vegetable drawer in your refrigerator which will slow the ripening process considerably. You can even freeze them, but they will lose texture, so only for future guacamole.
- Don’t try to peel the avocado and then slice it. All that does is create a dangerous slippery mess. To cut an avocado without hurting yourself, hold the fruit in portrait mode then cut it in half. Turn one of the sides and pull that side off. You can then cut the inside with a knife, and scoop the whole thing out with a spoon. Don’t throw away that skin! For the other half, use the knife and hit the seed with it, then lift it out, and use the skin to remove the seed from the knife.
What Dressing for Chipotle Shrimp Salad
Caesar Cardini invented Caesar Salad in Mexico in 1924. Cardini was an Italian immigrant who lived in San Diego and was chef at his restaurant at Hotel Caesar in Tijuana, Mexico. I couldn’t think of a better dressing for this than Cardini’s Caesar dressing, available at your supermarket. I recommend serving the dressing on the side.
Quick Tip for Chipotle Shrimp Salad
When I originally created this salad, I used Aldi’s Chipotle Sea Salt Shrimp Skewer. They were easy to prepare and tasted great. They are not overly spicy. If you have shopped at Aldi before, you know that they often have items for a few months, and then they’re gone, until they come back. So, if you have an Aldi near you, get these and keep a few in the freezer. No Aldi? Follow the recipe and make your own Chipotle Shrimp.
Chipotle Shrimp Salad Recipe
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Chipotle Shrimp Salad
Tips from the Chef
Equipment
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Ingredients
~~ For the Shrimp ~~
- 8 oz shrimp, raw, peeled and deveined
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- 1 tbsp *olive oil
- 1 tsp chipotle powder
~~ Base ~~
- ½ cup Romaine, leaves
- ½ cup Spinach, leaves, fresh
- ½ cup Cabbage, leaves, fresh
~~ Additions ~~
- ¼ cup Green onion, diced
- 1 Tomato, diced
- 10 ounce Black beans, canned
- 2 tablespoon Almonds, slivered
- 2 tablespoon Cojita cheese, crumbled
~~ Topping ~~
- 2 Avocado, sliced
- 1 tablespoon Parmesan, grated
Instructions
For the Shrimp
- 8 oz shrimp, 1 clove garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp chipotle powderToss the shrimp with olive oil, garlic, and chipotle powder. Let the shrimp marinate in the refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes.
- While the shrimp are marinating, soak the skewers in water.
- Preheat the grill to high heat. While that is happening, thread the shrimp on the skewers.
- Carefully place the shrimp on the grill and cook them for about 3 minutes on one side, then flip them and let them cook until they are pink and have reached 140 °F (60 °C) on an instant-read thermometer.
- Immediately remove the shrimp from the grill and put them in the refrigerator. Allow them to cool, then remove them from the skewers. Toss the skewers.
Make the Base
- 1/2 cup Romaine, 1/2 cup Spinach, 1/2 cup CabbagePut the lettuce, cabbage and spinach in a large bowl and use a meza luna or very sharp knife to chop the salad finely. The pieces should be between 1/4 and 1/2 inch square.
Add Additions
- 1/4 cup Green onion, 1 Tomato, 10 ounce Black beans, 2 tablespoon Almonds, 2 tablespoon Cojita cheeseDrain the beans and wash them under running water until the water is clear. Dice the tomato and green onion. Add the tomato, green onion, black beans, cojita cheese, and slivered almonds to the base. Toss the ingredients together then put the mixture in a large pasta or other large shallow bowl.
Toppings
- 2 Avocado, 1 tablespoon ParmesanSlice the avocados and arrange them in a clockwise pattern on top of the salad. Arrange most of the shrimp at the top of each slice of avocado. Put the remainining shrimp in the center. Grate parmesan cheese over all.
Shrimp on the Barbi! Man was this good.
Thanks very nice recipe!
Wow, amazing! We put some shrimp on the grill for this salad. Great stuff!
Great salad, totally what I wanted to find.