This shrimp chopped salad is bursting with color and flavor thanks to lots of fresh produce and a citrus cilantro vinaigrette. Ingredients may be chopped ahead of time to make this salad a simple one to throw together for a light weeknight dinner or delicious summertime cookout side dish! Thank you to Food Lion for teaming up with me for this recipe!
Chopped salads are the best salads. I’ve been saying it for years and it’s a statement I’m pretty sure I’ll stand by forever and ever. There’s something about a fresh chopped salad I love and I’m pretty sure it centers around the fact that so many flavors burst in your mouth with every bite.
Now that the weather is warming up, soups and stews will often be replaced by salads and sandwiches and this shrimp chopped salad with a citrus cilantro vinaigrette simply screams summer. Sunshine and salads all day long!
I was recently invited to shop at a local Food Lion grocery store to check out their fresh produce. As former Floridians, we didn’t have a Food Lion nearby when Ryan and I lived in Ocala. Since I’m kind of a grocery store nerd and love checking out new-to-me stores, Chase and I hit up Food Lion to shop for our groceries earlier this week. I had no trouble filling my cart with fresh food for the week ahead, including lots of beautiful organic greens, fruit, whole grains and plenty of natural and organic food selections. Plus all of the ingredients I needed to make this chopped salad!
So many colors!
Food Lion recently launched a “How Refreshing” campaign centered around raising their standards without raising their prices. It includes expansion of their natural, organic and gluten-free product offerings. Food Lion also has a “fresh guarantee” and will give customers double their money back if they ever leave the store unsatisfied after purchasing any of the items from their produce, meat, deli, and bakery departments. Now for the salad! As the name implies, this salad does require a fair amount of chopping, but the extra effort is more than worth it because every single bite of this produce-packed salad is bursting with vibrant flavor.
And there’s something to be said for making your own salad dressing. I love knowing exactly what is in my salad dressing, especially since many of the commercial brands are filled with crazy ingredients, and this one is just about as simple as they come. And if you’re a cilantro lover like me, you must make this one soon! (Side note: It’s also fabulous as a marinade for chicken breasts!)
Shrimp Chopped Salad with Citrus Cilantro Vinaigrette
Makes four side salads
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 1 ear sweet corn, kernels removed from cob (raw kernels)
- 1/3 cup thinly sliced and chopped fennel
- 1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 English cucumber, chopped
- 1 dozen cooked shrimp, deveined with tails removed pound cooked shrimp
- 1 avocado, pitted and sliced
- salt and pepper to taste
For the vinaigrette:
- 1 cup fresh cilantro
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium orange
- 1 lime
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss.
- To make the vinaigrette, place cilantro, olive oil and the juice of one orange and the juice of one lime in a small food processor or a high-powered blender. Blend until smooth. Some small flakes of cilantro may remain, but the vinaigrette should be smooth when poured onto the salad.
- Pour vinaigrette onto salad and toss to coat everything in the vinaigrette. Divide salad into four salad bowls and enjoy!
This salad works well as a light summertime entrée, or serve it as a side dish at a family cookout! And if you’re not a shrimp or seafood lover, simply replace the shrimp with chicken or omit it altogether.
Enjoy! I really hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did! For more great recipes visit the Food Lion Recipe Hub.
Food Lion Giveaway
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I love to make a mexican-style salad with fresh pico de gallo!
I love raw vegetable salads . Can picture doing a raw zucchini noodle version of this! Gorgeous!
https://twitter.com/hills14337/status/722369113956352000
I tweeted!
I love making fresh salsas. You can put them on top of any type of meat protein and it is so good!
I love to make fresh salsa.
I love to make tacos with freshly made guac, tomatoes, red onion and any other fresh ingredients I have on hand that sound good!
This salad not only looks yummy but is absolutely beautiful! You did a great job with the photography! I could definitely see myself making this salad for my next picnic. I love seeing grocery stores start to put more of an effort into their produce and organic sections.
I love pairing any fresh veggies with veggie burgers. Fresh guac on top is the best!
I love making salmon with fresh sides. Thanks for the giveaway!
I love to pair pita bread with homemade hummus!
You can’t have a fresh meal without an avocado!
I love to grill any fresh veggies in the summer with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
i LOVE LOVE LOVE chopped salads – just don’t love making them haha
I love fresh tomatoes in the summer! With balsamic or onions, they always do the trick.
Chopped salads are the best! Especially when cilantro is involved! Cant wait to make this next week for dinner!
This looks fantastic! I love to pair fresh veggies with some delicious hummus or use fresh avocados to make some guac! Thanks so much for the giveaway Julie! 🙂
I love making fresh bruschetta to serve on warm bread!
Veggie pizza!
yum!! I love putting shrimp, salmon or grilled tofu on my salads for extra protein!
Summer time means grilled pizza w arugula and tomatoes with balsamic. With a chopped side salad
I do a lot of fresh roasted veggies the most, but recently my husband has been obsessed with growing and making all the ingredients for salsa!
I’ll add different proteins to meals to really round out my meal! Chicken, beans, salmon….yum!
I love adding fresh herbs to my foods, summer time I love fresh dill on salmon with some fresh tomatoes & sliced cucumbers. MMM!
I love to make cobb salad.
tweet–https://twitter.com/mami2jcn/status/722410996703358976
I love to make my fresh Shrimp Tacos with my Mango salsa on top! They are so delicious!
tweethttps://twitter.com/JewelWood/status/722412260983836672
This looks delicious! Love the addition of shrimp to anything – it just feels perfect for a warm weather night on the patio. (Although, this is one of the rare days where I’ll complain about Denver weather… it’s raining/snowing here. WTF mate?!)
Hope we get a Food Lion nearby in the near future. I’ll definitely have to check it out!
Thanks for the tips. 🙂
Salads are my go-to lunch now that the warmer weather has arrived!! I love making my own dressing and my faves are (1) olive oil, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar & mustard or (2) cilantro, avocado, greek yogurt & lime 🙂
This dressing sounds like something I could make in advance and add to my daily salad to switch up the flavors a bit. Totally trying this soon!!
So fresh and yummy! This will be on our summer menu!
I love making a fresh green salad to go with a nice steak, grilled chicken, or a delicious piece of fish!
That salad looks delicious! I love making healthy stir fry with fresh veggies in the spring and summer.
I love to pair chicken with fresh ingredients! Thank you for the wonderful giveaway.
Erin
ErinLoves2Run at gmail dot com
Tweet:
https://twitter.com/ErinLoves2Run/status/722422804302274560
Erin
ErinLoves2Run at gmail dot com
Cilantro + avacado…sign me up! Yum!
I love to make colorful salads, topped with roasted almond slices and feta cheese. I’m also making an effort to eat more organic foods, so that makes eating a salad doubly good for me!
i love using fresh-grown cilantro to make homeamde guac…and put it on ALL THE THINGS! this dressing (and salad) sounds delish!
I’ve found people either love cilantro or hate it…I’m a lover of it! My husband and I are trying to eat meatless 3x/wk so this would be a great recipe to make!
xo, Kristina
I have never been to Food Lion and there’s actually one right down the street from me. Publix all the way….lol. But definitly trying this dressing recipe! I quit buying bottled dressings a few months back and I am getting a bit bored of the combos I’ve been using. And yes to allllll the salads right now! Summer = salads to me 😉
I love Mexican salads with salsa as dressing!
I make an amazing watermelon and feta salad with fresh mint and olives and a very aged fig balsamic. I get asked to bring it to pretty much every gathering!
Fresh herbs picked from a garden are my favorite pairing with just about any food!
We love Mexican food so homemade salsas and guacamole to top our burritos/tacos for sure! I have made a Cilantro/Lime Vinaigrette before and its a favorite but I like the addition of the orange!
Love chopped salads! I really like pairing fresh grilled veggies with fish in the summer. Yum!
I love making guac with fresh avocado, cilantro, lime, and tomato. It hits the spot every time!
Fresh spinach leaves and avocado are my favorite things to add to my lunch salads now. Yum!
I love to turn chicken into anything. It can be used in salads, plain with veggies, tacos, wraps or stir fry!
We love using fresh veggies on pizza! Making it colorful makes it good!!
I am all about the salads! I’ve been adding Zatar to my salads too and it adds so much flavor!
Pairing foods like whole wheat pasta or mac & cheese with yummy veggies, like spinach, asparagus and tomatoes!