Honey Ginger Shrimp Salad

Today, all 14 are getting published at once. WOOT! It’s been a lot of work, and I’m excited to finally share them.

It’s been about a year of sharing photos of our ridiculous salad photos on my personal Facebook, so now I’ll feel like less of a tease.

Anyway.

This honey shrimp salad is one of our absolute favourite main dish salads EVER.

It’s evolved over the years, starting out as an AIP recipe, and eventually being tweaked from there.

The sweetness of the honey, the bite of the ginger, the richness of the sesame - it’s an amazing combo.

Throw it all on top of an easy base salad that’s been topped with a rainbow of veggies, and you’ve got one amazing entree salad.

This one is in regular rotation for us, and it’s sure to become a family favorite for you, too!

Let’s get to it...

Ingredients

This honey ginger shrimp salad is a fairly simple recipe, and you’ll definitely be able to find all the ingredients in almost any grocery store.

I tend to look at this in 4 parts - the base salad, the toppings, the dressing, and the shrimp. Some notes for you:

Base Salad

I like to meal prep several days worth of salad base bowls on grocery day - some sort of fresh greens, along with some fairly neutral fresh vegetables - Usually shredded broccoli stems, carrot, green onions, cucumber, and radish.

1 batch makes 10 salads, so we’ve got a few days worth of base salads to adorn all kinds of different ways. (They tend to last 6-7 days in the fridge.

It’s a pretty slick way to get a lot of vegetables into our diet, and feels like SO much less work than making full salads individually.

See my Salad Meal Prep post for full details on how I do it.

Want to make this salad as a standalone thing?

You can use a base of salad greens, spring mix, baby spinach, and/or romaine lettuce. I’d add some cucumber and green onions in, for good measure.

Toppings

Because the shrimp is a fairly blah / neutral colour - brown - I like bringing a TON of colour into this main dish salad through the use of the topping veggies used.

I like to use:

Red Cabbage
Watermelon Radish
Small carrot
Cilantro
Green Onions

These give a great mixture of colour, flavour, and textures - the salad is a pleasure to eat!

Honey Ginger Salad Dressing

This flavourful salad dressing comes together in just minutes, using the following ingredients:

Lime juice
Gluten Free Soy Sauce or Coconut Aminos
Olive Oil
Sesame Oil
Honey
Ginger Garlic Paste,
Salt
Pepper

In terms of substitutions:

You can use calamansi juice, yuzu juice, or Rice Vinegar in place of the lime juice. I generally use calamansi juice.

If you don’t have ginger garlic paste, you can use 2 teaspoon ginger puree + 1 teaspoon garlic paste, or 2 garlic cloves.

Honey Ginger Shrimp

Start out with raw shrimp when making this recipe - if you use precooked shrimp, they’ll end up overcooked.

I like to use relatively large shrimp, 8-12 oz worth.

How much we use depends on what we have on hand - I tend to use half a bag. So, I use 8 oz when we have a 16 oz bag, or about 12 oz when we have the 1.5 lb bag.

The shrimp needs to be thawed, drained, and even patted dry with paper towels (if necessary), before it’s marinated for a short time.

The marinade is then cooked into a thick glaze, before the shrimp is added back to it to be cooked. This allows for a good thickness to the sauce, without overcooking the shrimp.

The marinade is made of mostly the same ingredients as the dressing:

Honey
Gluten Free Soy Sauce or Coconut Aminos
Ginger Garlic Paste
Sesame Oil
Salt
Pepper

Once cooked, it’s topped with Toasted Sesame Seeds.

Like with the dressing, if you don’t have garlic ginger paste, you can use 2 teaspoon ginger puree + 1 teaspoon garlic paste, or 2 garlic cloves.

How to Make Honey Ginger Shrimp Salad

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post. Here is the pictorial walk through, with some more detailed information where necessary.

Honey Ginger Shrimp

Remove the shells from the shrimp, if applicable. Blot shrimp dry with paper towels, transfer to a ziplock baggie.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together honey, soy sauce, ginger garlic paste, and sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Pour marinade over the shrimp, seal bag. Transfer to fridge to chill for 30 - 60 minutes.

Honey Ginger Salad Dressing

Whisk together the juice, oil, soy sauce, honey, and ginger garlic paste until mixture is thick and emulsified.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Set aside, or cover and chill until ready to use. (You may need to re-whisk it before using!)

Salad Assembly

Strain the marinade off the shrimp, into a nonstick frying pan. Cook over medium high heat until it reduces a bit and starts to look a bit syrrupy.

Add shrimp to the pan, reduce heat to medium and cook - flipping occasionally - until shrimp is pink, opaque, and cooked through.

Remove from heat, generously sprinkle with sesame seeds, stir to coat.

Arrange cabbage, watermelon radish, carrot, cilantro, and green onions over your base salads.

More Main Dish Salad Recipes

Looking for more healthy salad recipes that are substantial enough to serve as a meal? Look no further!

Asian Chicken Salad with Lychee Vinaigrette
Balsamic Chicken & Peach Salad
Balsamic Chicken Salad with Pears and Cranberries
Balsamic Chicken Salad with Grapes & Grape Vinaigrette
Balsamic Salad with Chicken & Berries
Big Mac Salad
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad
Cobb Salad
Curried Chicken Vietnamese Noodle Salad
Grilled Halloumi & Peach Salad
Harvest Chicken Salad
Hazelnut Crusted Chicken Salad
Honey Calamansi Mango Shrimp Salad
Italian Sub Salad
Keto Taco Salad
Mandarin Glazed Chicken Christmas Salad
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Salad Meal Prep
Seafood Cobb Salad
Seared Tuna Salad
Sesame Ginger Chicken Salad
Shawarma Chicken Salad
Steak Salad with Creamy Wasabi Dressing
Teriyaki Chicken Salad
Thai Pesto Salmon Salad