This Shrimp Pasta Salad is the perfect dish to pass at potlucks and barbecues. Or use it as a fast weeknight dinner in the summer! It comes together with easy to find ingredients and the most delicious sauce.
I really can’t get enough of easy pasta salad recipes. They come together so fast, there are a million great different ways that you can make them, and they are always a hit with parties and crowds.
This shrimp pasta salad recipe is no exception. It is a riff on my mom’s amazing Crab Pasta Salad with two simple tweaks that address common questions I get about that recipe. It is made with shrimp instead of imitation crab for those who are imitation crab averse. Second, it uses Old Bay Seasoning instead of Spike. While I love Spike, Old Bay Seasoning is also delicious and tends to be easier to find. And when you can’t find it, I have a great homemade recipe for it.
All of this brings you a cold shrimp pasta salad that is easy to make with easy-to-find ingredients. The ingredients come together perfectly to make an irresistible pasta salad.
I just love it, is fresh simple and delicious, thank you! Love the way you explain everything so well in each recipe.
How to Make Cold Shrimp Pasta Salad
Here is a brief overview of how this pasta salad comes together. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe including all ingredients and measurements.
- Cook the pasta. See below for all my tips and tricks on cooking pasta.
- Prepare the vegetables. Read below for all the reasons I picked what I did for this recipe.
- Mix together the dressing. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing. Below you can read everything about what makes this dressing special.
- Finally, mix everything together. Mix the cooked pasta, shrimp, peas, red peppers, green onions, and celery. Pour the dressing overtop and stir to combine. Serve immediately, cold. Or let it sit in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours before serving.
Shrimp Pasta Salad Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
- Salad Shrimp: These are also sometimes labeled “baby shrimp.” They are small, sold in the frozen seafood section, and generally speaking just need to be thawed and not cooked before use as they come pre-cooked.
- Cooked Pasta: You can really use any type of pasta that you like. I used elbow macaroni, but any small pasta would be perfect here.
- Frozen Peas: When I was tweaking my crab pasta salad to make this, I replaced the olives with frozen peas for everyone who doesn’t like olives. You could swap them back, but I love the texture of the peas in this salad. Add them right to the salad while they are frozen, don’t cook or thaw them. They will thaw perfectly in the salad.
- Red Bell Peppers: These fresh peppers are in the salad raw and add color and taste.
- Celery: I love the crunch and flavor that celery adds to this recipe.
- Green Onions: These add a zip to this recipe that can’t be beat. You will want to use all of the white and about an inch into the green.
Dressing Ingredients
- Plain Yogurt: This is the foundation of the dressing. I use nonfat to cut out some calories and it works great. I do not recommend replacing it with Greek yogurt, it will result in an unenjoyable texture.
- Mayonnaise: I used fat-free mayo for this as well. If you don’t like mayonnaise, I would still suggest using it. It adds a great layer of flavor without an overwhelming taste of mayo.
- Old Bay Seasoning: This is a seasoning mix sold in the United States that is often used with seafood. I have a homemade Old Bay Seasoning if you live overseas or if you need to tweak the recipe to accommodate for allergies.
- Yellow Mustard: This is another ingredient that I recommend you use even if you loathe mustard. It brings in more zip and you really can’t taste a mustard flavor in the final recipe.
- Soy Sauce: I truly love using soy sauce as a way to bring in salt to a recipe because it adds such great other flavor, too.
- Italian Salad Dressing: As mentioned, this recipe is based on my mom’s crab pasta salad, and it was her work of genius to add salad dressing. It’s amazing. You can buy Italian salad dressing or make it from scratch using my Recipe for Italian Dressing.
Homemade Old Bay Seasoning Recipe
How to Make Pasta for Pasta Salad
There are a few things to keep in mind when cooking pasta in general, and especially for pasta salad. Good pasta is the backbone of a good pasta salad.
- Use enough water. We are using a full pound of pasta for this recipe, so you want to be sure to use four to six quarts of water.
- Bring the water to a full boil. For the pasta to cook properly, you need the water at a full boil – I mean big giant bubbles – when you add in the dry pasta.
- Salt the water. You will get the most flavor out of your pasta if you add one to two teaspoons of kosher salt to the pasta water before you add in the dry pasta.
- Cook the pasta for the correct amount of time. Look at the time on the box and set a timer as soon as you add the dry pasta to the boiling water. This will ensure that your pasta is al dente.
- Drain the pasta and rinse it with cold water. This will stop the pasta from cooking and will keep it from sticking to itself until it is used.
Make Ahead
This shrimp and pasta salad can be made up to 24 hours ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator. In fact, I actually think this recipe is better when you make it in advance and the flavors have time to combine.
Storing Leftovers
Please keep in mind that this pasta salad should only be kept out for two hours at the most before it is put back in the refrigerator. Leftovers can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to four days. Give it a good stir to mix everything after it has been sitting. I do not recommend freezing this recipe.
FAQ
To make this gluten free, you will need to use gluten free noodles. But you will also need to swap the soy sauce for liquid brags. Soy sauce does contain gluten.
I do not recommend freezing this (or really any) pasta salad recipe. The consistency of the pasta, vegetables, and sauce will change while freezing and I don’t think you will enjoy it as much.
Shrimp pasta salad will last in the refrigerator for between four and five days when stored in an airtight container. As with all food, use your best judgment when it comes to leftovers.
What to Serve with Shrimp Pasta Salad
If you are looking for other great sides and appetizers to bring with you to a party, may I suggest:
If you make this pasta salad with shrimp or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment below the recipe card and let me know what you think!
Shrimp Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound elbow macaroni
- 1 pound cooked small shrimp 100 – 200 count size
- 3 stalks celery diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 3 green onions sliced thin, about two inches into the green
- 1 cup frozen peas
For Dressing
- 1 1/2 cups plain low fat yogurt see note (375 grams)
- 1/4 cup fat free mayonnaise (60 grams)
- 1/4 cup Italian salad dressing (59.14 ml)
- 1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard (not ground mustard)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water. While the pasta is cooking, dice the vegetables and prepare the sauce.1 pound elbow macaroni
- In a small bowl whisk together the yogurt, mayo, Old Bay, yellow mustard, soy sauce, and salad dressing. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings as desired. More Old Bay will make it spicier, more soy sauce will make it saltier, and another teaspoon or two of dressing will give it more tang.1 1/2 cups plain low fat yogurt, 1/4 cup fat free mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning, 1 tablespoon yellow mustard, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1/4 cup Italian salad dressing
- In a very large bowl, mix the cooked pasta, shrimp, peas, red peppers, green onions, and celery.1 pound cooked small shrimp, 3 stalks celery, 1 red bell pepper, 3 green onions, 1 cup frozen peas, 1 pound elbow macaroni
- Pour the dressing over the pasta and veggies and stir to combine. Serve right away, or refrigerate and serve within 48 hours.
Notes
Steve Goetz says
Since I retired and my wife is still working. I do all the cooking. We like pasta salads and shrimp. I am eager to give this a try. Thank you.
I hope you enjoy it, Steve!
Pat Davis says
I have a bag of salad shrimp will that work
Yup!
C says
Delicious and my family enjoyed it. I subbed sour cream for the plain yogurt and it worked great. My typical suburban chain grocery store has an incredible variety of yogurt, but not non-greek plain yogurt.
I’m so glad that you liked this one!
April says
Can I leave out the yougart? And use more mayo
Unfortunately, I haven’t tested that. I’m sure it will work, it will just be personal taste if you like the dressing that way.
Pam says
I hesitate to tell you that there are very few things I don’t like but the dressing recipe just wasn’t quite what I wanted for my shrimp. I altered the recipe by adding about 1/4 cup Chili sauce, 2 tbsps. sweet relish, and about 1/2 cup of thousand island dressing. In the future I will probably try my own dressing of thousand island dressing, pickle relish, ketchup and mayonaise with some fresh dill and parsley. But the combination of red pepper, green onions, celery, and peas worked very well with the shrimp and pasta – just the right amount of crunch! Thank you for the recipe.
cathie says
I like your recipes but I would love to smaller size recipes, as I’m a single person..
I can totally appreciate that Cathie. Wherever possible, I try to talk about how to freeze leftovers, but that being said, there is a sliding scale within all my recipes (you just have to click on the serving size), and the quantities of the recipe will increase or decrease based on how many servings you want. Most of my recipes are easy to cut in half.