Pesto Shrimp Salad with Lettuce

This Pesto Shrimp Salad with Lettuce is made with pesto, vinegar, parmesan cheese, butter, shrimp, goat cheese, lemon, and all tossed in chopped romaine.

This was such an easy, delicious, and healthy recipe that can be made in under 15 minutes. The reason why I love buying shrimp and cooking it is because of how little the cooking time it takes to make shrimp. This recipe is simple: you make the pesto vinaigrette, use half to marinate the shrimp and the other half as the dressing. The flavors of this are so delicious and you will be hooked!

If you love this recipe, you will like my Sticky Honey Garlic Shrimp and my Shrimp Scampi.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top tip
• Pesto Shrimp Salad with Lettuce
• Food safety

Ingredients

• Shrimp
• Prosciutto
• Pesto
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Lemon
• Parmesan Cheese
• Butter
• Goat cheese
• Romaine Lettuce

See recipe card for Pesto Shrimp Salad with Lettuce quantities.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F and place the prosciutto on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Set aside on a cooling rack to cool. When the prosciutto cools, it should be able to crumble.

Combine the pesto, vinegar, lemon juice and parmesan cheese and whisk. Add half of it in a bowl with shrimp. Save the other half.

Heat up the butter on another skillet for the shrimp. With a slotted spoon, place the shrimp and then cook 2-3 minutes on each side, until pink and opaque.

In a big bowl, add the chopped romaine, goat cheese, cooked shrimp, crumbled prosciutto and pour the rest of the dressing. Mix well and enjoy your Shrimp Pesto Salad!

Hint: Make sure the prosciutto cools so it can become crusty and crumble easily.

Substitutions

Shrimp: Make sure to buy shrimp that haven’t been previously frozen for best quality, although you totally can use previously frozen shrimp. Ask the fish monger to devein your shrimp before to make your life easier.

Prosciutto: This is completely optional but the combination of the shrimp, prosciutto and goat cheese is absolutely phenomenal. For the baked prosciutto, you could use Jamon serrano instead.

Goat Cheese: Instead of goat cheese, crumbled feta cheese is a great alternative for a saltier cheese.

Variations

Cooking is a chance to be creative! Have fun with it and feel free to make your own variation.

• Spicy - add chili pepper flakes while cooking the shrimp to imbue heat into the dish.
• Deluxe - add guacamole crispy onions on top.
• Kid friendly - add the shrimp salad into a pita or bread to make a sandwich.

Check out this Rock Shrimp Tempura for other shrimp recipes.

Equipment

Equipment can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. Stone bakeware takes longer to heat up than metal pans, and also retain heat for longer, which could make the recipe more watery, or burnt on the outsides.

The beautiful big wooden bowl I used is from Be Home. Feel free to use MAXINE10 for 10% off your next purchase!

Storage

This will be good in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

This Pesto Shrimp Salad with Lettuce ingredients don't stand up well to freezing.

Top tip

Make sure the prosciutto cools so it can become crusty and crumble easily.

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Food safety

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
• Wash hands after touching raw meat
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.