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Seafood Salad

4.81 from 31 votes
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posted: 07/19/20

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy

This Seafood Salad recipe only takes about 10 minutes to throw together and is so much better than what you buy at the grocery store.

side view of a seafood salad garnished with fresh dill in a blue ceramic bowl

Seafood Salad is one of my weaknesses. You will note, that as a food blogger and generally weird person, I have odd weaknesses. Croutons, Spicy V8, and pickles are also on the list.

While it is so simple to buy Seafood Salad from the grocery store deli, I would urge you to make your own instead. It is so incredibly easy and a recipe that you will fall in love with.

Seafood Salad Ingredients

This salad comes together with just a few simple ingredients.

  • Imitation Crab Meat
  • Salad Shrimp
  • Red Onion
  • Celery
  • Mayonnaise
  • Lemon Juice
  • Old Bay Seasoning
  • Dill
  • Salt & Pepper
the ingredients for seafood salad separated by ingredient in a glass bowl, garnished with fresh dill

How to Make Seafood Salad

This seafood salad recipe is very simple to make.

  1. Mix together the main ingredients: Imitation crab meat, shrimp, onion and celery.
  2. Mix together the dressing ingredients: mayonnaise, lemon juice, old bay seasoning, dill, salt and pepper.
  3. Mix the dressing into the main ingredient.

What Shrimp to Buy

When making this salad we always just buy frozen salad shrimp. You can buy it pre cooked and all you have to do is thaw it. It is already perfectly cooked

croissant sandwich with seafood salad on it, garnished with fresh dill, tomatoes in the background

Imitation vs. Real Crab Meat

I have dealt with a lot of criticism over using imitation crab meat in my Crab Pasta Salad. Guys, I’m fine with it. I love the stuff.

That being said, I also love real crab meat. It’s delicious! The reason for using imitation crab meat in this and my other recipes is twofold.

  1. Imitation crab meat is cheaper than real crab meat. Using imitation means more people can make my recipes.
  2. It hold up better in salads like this.

All of that being said, if you would like to use lump crab meat, go for it! Buy it fresh or by the can, and just make sure that you pick over it really well for shells before adding it to the salad.

Old Bay Seasoning

Old Bay Seasoning is a great seasoning that is really popular in New England cooking, specifically related to seafood. I love it in my Shrimp Pasta Salad and often people use it to replace Spike in my Crab Pasta Salad.

You can usually find it with the spices and seasonings and it contains:

  • Celery Salt
  • Red Pepper
  • Black Pepper
  • Paprika

Or you can make Homemade Old Bay Seasoning.

seafood salad in a lettuce cup garnished with fresh dill

How Long Does This Last

This recipe will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days when stored in an airtight container. I do not recommend freezing this recipe.

How to Eat Seafood Salad

I think that seafood salad is great on it’s own. But it is also delicious eaten on a croissant or a bun as a seafood salad sandwich. You could also serve it in lettuce or endive cups as an appetizer.

overhead view of a seafood salad in a ceramic bowl garnished with fresh dill

Other Great Salads

If you are putting out a spread some other great salad recipes are:

If you make this Seafood Salad recipe or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I love hearing from you.

side view of a seafood salad garnished with fresh dill in a blue ceramic bowl
4.81 from 31 votes

Seafood Salad

Serves: 8 servings
(tap # to scale)
Prep: 10 minutes
Total: 10 minutes
This Seafood Salad recipe only takes about 10 minutes to throw together and is so much better than what you buy at the grocery store.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, combine the crab meat (broken up), shrimp, red onion, and celery.
  • In a small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, Old Bay Seasoning, fresh dill, and salt. Taste and add pepper to taste.
  • Stir the dressing into the main ingredients and serve. This recipe can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four days in an air tight container.

Notes

I have had a few people mention this is too salty. I think it is perfect as written, but tastes absolutely vary. You might want to leave out the salt and then add a little at a time to the sauce until you hit a taste you like.
Serving: 0.5cup Calories: 108kcal (5%) Carbohydrates: 7g (2%) Protein: 7g (14%) Fat: 7g (11%) Saturated Fat: 1g (6%) Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g Monounsaturated Fat: 2g Cholesterol: 54mg (18%) Sodium: 660mg (29%) Potassium: 32mg (1%) Sugar: 1g (1%)
Author: Lisa Longley
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
side view of a seafood salad garnished with fresh dill in a blue ceramic bowl

did you make this

Seafood Salad

I’d love to see what you made! Tag me @lisasimplejoy and hashtag it #simplejoyrecipes!

Hi! I'm Lisa Longley, and I am committed to giving you simple dinner ideas and recipes that are easy to make; recipes that will fill your home with joy. I am the owner and author of SimpleJoy.com and I'm so glad that you are here.

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  1. Kathy says

    4 stars
    Thanks 👍 I recently made this for a Church potluck didn’t have any leftovers!!! Used gf products but wanted you to know how much I appreciate the recipe and also that you mentioned Spike seasoning in your notes. I usually use Spike in Tuna salad and stuffed mushrooms and also on a lovely avocado and mushroom sandwich but hadn’t thought of using in a crab salad also. If you don’t have any Old Bay seasoning in your pantry I’ll be the first to say get Spike or even Vegit seasoning!!! WOW 😳

    • Lisa Longley says

      I’m so glad that you liked it!

  2. Jack says

    5 stars
    Excellent seafood salad. It’s virtually the same as we have at our favorite high end seafood restaurant, included in their “seafood tower”. We actually use a 50/50 blend of imitation and fresh crab meat. The fresh meat adds some flavor an and leaves us enough extra crab to make some crab cakes. And as you say, the imitation crab holds up very well.

    Thanks for sharing your recipe!

    • Lisa Longley says

      I’m so glad you like it!

  3. Lovey says

    Delicious! Made open faced, seafood salad, cheese toast, sandwiches on garlic Parmesan sourdough bread. Out of this world!

    • Lisa Longley says

      Sounds amazing!

  4. Marion Cascarella says

    What is salad shrimp? Is it canned or frozen?

    • Lisa Longley says

      I always find it in the freezer section. It’s really tiny shrimp.

  5. Michele says

    Love the recipe, except for waaaaay too salty, AND I left out all the salt, but kept the Old Bay as is. Would recommend 1/4 or 1/2 Old Bay and testing.

    • Lisa Longley says

      Is there any chance that you used table salt instead of kosher salt? That would totally account for the difference.

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