African American Seafood Salad Recipe

Introduction: Love seafood? I absolutely love some seafood. Especially with my favorites being Shrimp and Crab Legs, my top two. Rounding it off with fish. My two favorites are Porgy and Snapper.

This seafood salad is a blend of imitation crab and shrimp in a creamy dill dressing and fresh vegetables. This is a leisurely high-protein lunch or in my opinion, a snack option that only takes a few minutes to whip up. Now, this particular seafood salad recipe is an African American seafood recipe. It would mainly derive from the Soul Food creation. And the beauty about it is that it's effortless, fun to make, and tastes delicious.

This type of meal is perfect if you want a lite lunch. For specific days I love a good seafood salad for my lunch. I often or this irresistible seafood salad. This salad can be served in many ways (which I will showcase later in this post.    

I love a good seafood salad, and it’s so easy to make at home! I would stop and still do at my local deli, or better yet a deli in Manhattan to buy some good seafood whenever I have a craving for it.

So, at the end of the day, this seafood salad recipe is a great way to enjoy fresh seafood without having to cook it. The ingredients are easy to find, and the recipe is simple. The salad can be made and stored in the fridge for an easy meal.

LET US MAKE OUR SEAFOOD SALAD 🦐

The main ingredient for this salad is shrimp and imitation crab meat. The seafood salad recipe is combined with celery, red onion, fresh dill, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice, and mayonnaise. Combine these ingredients together and everything turns into an ultra-creamy and flavorful salad.

WHY USE IMITATION CRAB 🦀?

As stated, this salad's main ingredient is made with imitation crab. That’s because it’s more cost-effective, available year-round, and can be found in almost every grocery store. I didn’t know that Imitation crab is made of mild white fish, typically Alaskan Pollock. It is blended with other ingredients to form a product that looks and tastes like a real thing. As for me, and to satisfy my taste buds, I prefer using real crab meat in my seafood salad. But for some of you, it may be easier to go with imitation crab.

To make this seafood salad recipe, you will need:

I like, when possible, to use real crabs. But imitation crab or crab flakes because they’re already cut into bite-sized pieces. Or to make it simpler for yourself, you can also buy the stick-style imitation crab and slice it yourself. On a side note, you could also purchase a can of crab meat.

It’s recommended that you use fresh dill. The flavor is far superior to dried dill. You can use 1/2 teaspoon of dried for fresh if you need dried dill.

I know there may be some of you who prefer to use low-fat mayonnaise and that’s fine too.

On another note, use small salad-sized shrimp so that they’re bite-sized, buy shrimp that are 51-60 counts per pound.

It would be better to use raw shrimp which are then briefly boiled and cooled in a bowl of ice. This will give it the best flavor and texture. You can use pre-cooked shrimp as well.

I recommend making sure your red onion is finely chopped. That is so you don’t get large pieces in each bite. For a milder flavor, you can also use sliced green onions instead of red onions.

This seafood salad can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days. Anything after must be discarded.

You can use any combination of seafood that you like in this salad. Just be sure that the total weight is one pound of seafood. Other great alternatives are bay scallops or diced lobster meat.

THE OTHER OPTIONS TO SERVE YOUR SEAFOOD SALAD

Lettuce: Have your salad with a lettuce cup.  This goes for most vegans who would rather have this option instead of bread.

Now crackers can be served with this; I no longer prefer the 3rd option on this list.

Sandwich: Add this to your salad with a seedless roll, green leaf lettuce, and tomato slice. This is my favorite to have my salad.

Avocado: Place your seafood into an avocado half. Now I never heard of having it this way.

Pasta: Combine 8 oz. macaroni to make a pasta salad.

Cucumber: Spoon onto cucumber slices for an easy party snack.

Puff Pastry: Fill up cooked puff pastry shells with the salad. I remember making this when I was in high school. This here is awesome; this is astonishing and very good.

Tomato: Hollow out a tomato and fill it with seafood salad.

LET’S LOOK INTO THE INGREDIENTS FOR A SEAFOOD SALAD

3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (another good option would be pasta shells)

6 ounces peeled and deveined cooked shrimp, rinsed and drained

1 can (6 ounces) crabmeat 

2 cups sliced celery

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

3 hard-boiled large eggs, coarsely chopped (this ingredient is optional)

1 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish 

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon paprika (JR Watkins gourmet food products)

Salt and pepper to taste (JR Watkins gourmet food products)

This is a very simple recipe, for this recipe. And it goes as follows:

Cook macaroni in boiling salted water until tender; drain and cool. In a large bowl, combine macaroni, shrimp, crabmeat, celery, onion, and eggs; set aside. Mix the mayonnaise, pickle relish, mustard, vinegar, and paprika in a small bowl. Add to macaroni mixture; toss lightly. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill.

At the end of this post, I will give you my version of a seafood salad recipe😊

Before I link my recipe to you, I want to take the time to acknowledge other soul food seafood salads or also known as African American Seafood salad recipes out there…...

1. DEEP SOUTH DISH: SEAFOOD PASTA SALAD

“Basically, prepping the pasta, drain, then let cool. Place pasta in a large bowl on top of the dressing. Add the seafood to the top of the pasta and sprinkle lightly….” deepsouthdish.com

2. SOUTH YOUR MOUTH: SEAFOOD SALAD

“A quick and easy seafood salad recipe that uses crab, raw shrimp, or lobster to make it your own….” southyourmouth.c

ANGIE SEAFOOD PASTA SALAD 

This here has Ingredients of 2 pounds shrimp (cooked and peeled) 1 box spaghetti (cooked) 2 cucumbers 3 tomatoes carrots (shredded) (this is optional) red cabbage (shredded) (also optional) 2 small packs of powered ranch dressing, you choose the brand that you like- and 2 small packs of powered parmesan Italian dressing…. soulfoodcookbook.com

SOUL FOOD SEAFOOD SALA RECIPES

Cook macaroni in boiling salted water until tender; drain and cool. In a large bowl, combine macaroni, shrimp, crabmeat, celery, onion, and eggs; Then set aside. Mix the mayonnaise, pickle relish, mustard, vinegar, and paprika in a small bowl. Add this to the macaroni mixture; toss lightly. Season with salt and pepper…...  tfrecipes.com

EASY RECIPE FOR SEAFOOD CORNBREAD DRESSING 

This looks like a good recipe. I had never heard of seafood blended with cornbread. Then again who doesn’t love themselves some cornbread? Here’s an excerpt for this recipe as follows:

Make some cornbread from the packaged cornbread according to the directions and bake. When the cornbread's done, crumble it into a large, greased baking pan. Then preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt margarine in a skillet, add chopped vegetables, and sauté … therecipes.info

Conclusion:  Please make sure you take the time to show your support for these recipes. For they all look yummy! There are different ways to make your shrimp and/or crab salad, especially on a hot summer day. As stated earlier, this recipe calls for imitation crab. But you can use fresh crab or lump crab. And if my budget allows I would use large shrimp for my seafood salad sandwich.

Another factor I want to point out is that it’s an excellent source of protein. Seafood salads are a great way to be part of your dinner recipes. This recipe is a favorite of ours, and we hope you enjoy it too!

Make sure to also check my Seafood salad recipe crafted with the JR Watkins product line 😊

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Serve and enjoy!