Greek Shrimp Quinoa Salad

This easy and healthy 10 minute Greek Shrimp Quinoa Salad is the perfect lunch or dinner recipe filled with seasoned shrimp, feta, fresh crunchy vegetables, wholesome quinoa and a simple lemon dressing on a bed of greens.

Healthy Shrimp Quinoa Salad

This Greek Shrimp Quinoa Salad is full of so much healthy goodness, flavor and crunch! It starts with a bed of mixed greens and is topped with fresh vegetables, feta cheese, Mediterranean seasoned shrimp, leftover quinoa and a light lemon vinaigrette.

Quinoa Lettuce Salad

We love quinoa around here. It is so simple to make, especially quinoa in a pressure cooker, and it is a fantastic whole grain that adds lots of fiber and crunch to any dish. We love a good quinoa salad and here are just a few of our favorites,

u003ca href=u0022https://www.thecreativebite.com/harvest-chicken-quinoa-salad/u0022u003eHarvest Chicken Quinoa Saladu003c/au003e – One of our all-time favorites!
u003ca href=u0022https://www.thecreativebite.com/quinoa-beet-orange-salad/u0022u003eQuinoa Beet u0026amp; Orange Saladu003c/au003e – A great side dish or vegetarian meal
u003ca href=u0022https://www.thecreativebite.com/roasted-pineapple-ham-quinoa-salad/u0022u003eRoasted Pineapple u0026amp; Ham Quinoa Saladu003c/au003e – The sweetness of the pineapple paired with salty ham is fantastic!
u003ca href=u0022https://www.thecreativebite.com/fruit-quinoa-salad-citrus-poppy-seed-dressing/u0022u003eQuinoa Fruit Saladu003c/au003e – This sweet and savory dish combined fresh fruit with quinoa and a citrus poppy seed dressing for the perfect bite.

When most people think of quinoa salads, they think of a bowl of quinoa with some vegetables and proteins mixed in. Quinoa is also a great addition to lettuce salads though. Much like this Chopped Caesar Salad, we use quinoa in this Greek Shrimp Salad as a nice crunchy texture with added nutrients to fill you up.

Can I use pre-packaged quinoa?

Absolutely! While quinoa is very simple to make, it does require at least 20 minutes. So when time is of the essence and you want a quick dinner salad in just 10 minutes, you can grab a container of pre-cooked quinoa. Often you will find it mixed with other grains, which are also a great addition to the Greek salad.

Just heat the quinoa enough to soften it. You don’t want piping hot grains on top of the shrimp salad or it will wilt the greens.

Can I substitute quinoa?

If you don’t have any cooked quinoa on hand, most grains are good substitutes. Whole grains like barley and buckwheat work great as well as brown rice.

If you are wanting to keep this Greek Shrimp Salad really low-carb, you can leave off the grains all-together. You will still get great crunch from the fresh veggies, but it won’t be quite as filling. So just add some more shrimp and you will be good to go.

Mediterranean Seasoned Shrimp

My absolute favorite seasoning in my spice cabinet is this Greek Freak spice blend from Spiceology. It is a fantastic mix of herbs, dried onion, sun-dried tomato, a touch of chili pepper, and orange peel powder. I use it to make Greek Meatballs, Greek Chicken Noodle Soup and so much more.

It is fantastic on these shrimp to add great Mediterranean flavor as well. If you don’t have this particular spice blend on hand, any Greek or Italian spice blend will work.

Perfectly Cooked Shrimp

Something many people are guilty of, including far too many restaurants I’ve ate at, is overcooking shrimp.

When cooking shrimp to perfection, you only need the shrimp to hit the hot pan for a minute on each side until they are no longer translucent and a nice pink color.

They will curl up when they are done and you will want to remove them from the hot pan immediately. If you just remove the pan from the heat, the delicate shrimp will continue to cook in that heated pan.

If you overcook them, they will become tough and rubbery. No one wants that! A nice tender and well seasoned bite of shrimp is so delicious, so keep a close eye on your shrimp when cooking.

Can I make the shrimp ahead of time?

Of course! Salads are great with chilled or warm shrimp. If you make the shrimp ahead of time, just store them in an airtight container before tossing them with the salad.

Can I use pre-cooked shrimp?

I am not the biggest fan of pre-cooked shrimp as they tend to be bland, but they work good in a pinch. If you use pre-cooked shrimp from the store, just add the seasonings that would have gone onto the shrimp in the the salad dressing.

Vegetables for Greek Salad

We are really loading this salad up with lots of fresh vegetables for so much crunch and great flavor. Here is what you will need,

Mixed greens
Grape tomatoes
Red u0026amp; yellow bell pepper
Cucumber
Black olives
White onion

Top the mixed greens with all of the vegetables along with some crumbled feta cheese, parsley and the cooked shrimp.

Easy Lemon Vinaigrette

When it comes to dressing this Greek Shrimp Salad, we are keeping it very simple with an easy 5 ingredient vinaigrette. Whisk the following and pour over the shrimp quinoa salad.

3 Tablespoons olive oil
Juice of one lemon
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar (red wine, white balsamic and rice vinegar are good substitutes)
1 Tablespoon honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt u0026amp; Pepper to taste

If you really just hate the idea of whipping up your own homemade vinaigrette, you can certainly grab a bottle of lemon or Greek vinaigrette from the refrigerator section at the grocery store.

Meal Prepping Greek Shrimp Quinoa Salad

The great part about this salad is that it can be made ahead of time and works great for meal prep. Just leave off the salad dressing until you are ready to serve it. I like using these disposable 2 ounce containers to add the dressing on the side to my meal prepped salads.

This assembled and undressed salad will hold in the refrigerator for 4-5 days depending on the freshness of your ingredients.