Succulent prawns marinated in a punchy gin and lime marinade and balanced by creamy avocados, ruby grapefruit, peppery radishes and fresh lamb’s lettuce. This grilled prawn salad recipe is calling for you all summer long.
Jump to:
- Why You’ll Love Prawn Salad with Avocado
- Is There A Difference Between Prawn And Shrimp?
- How Do You Cook Prawns For A Salad?
- What Do You Eat With Cold Prawns?
- Recipe Overview
- Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- Instructions
- How to Make This Salad Perfectly (Expert Tips)
- Great Mains for This Salad
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Recipe
- Prawn Salad with Avocado
Why You’ll Love Prawn Salad with Avocado
Throwing prawns (AKA shrimp) on the barbecue is something we often do all summer long. And because our Australian Christmas is during summer, you will often see prawns at Christmas lunch.
With that in mind, I wanted to create a summer salad for barbecues that showcases succulent fresh prawns and is also stunning enough to share on the festive table.
Prawns are a natural pairing with avocado. The succulent fresh flavours of prawn meat marry so well with creamy avocado. To balance the prawn salad recipe, I added tangy ruby grapefruit and crunchy radish, all layered on a bed of lamb’s lettuce.
What about the prawn salad dressing? Classic tangy Marie Rose sauce would actually go well with this salad combination. However, I decided to add my own little twist.
One of my favourite summer drinks is definitely a good gin and tonic. A punch of pepperiness with zesty citrus and sweetness of the tonic water. It’s so refreshing!
So I thought, why not use this combination for a prawn salad idea? Amazingly, it worked out deliciously well. There is no official salad dressing as the punchy gin and lime marinade help tie the flavours together.
This prawn avocado salad recipe is everything you would love for a warm summer evening.
Is There A Difference Between Prawn And Shrimp?
The terms prawn and shrimp are often used interchangeably.
In Australia, we usually say prawns, but shrimp is the more common term in the US. In most cases, when we say prawn salad or prawn cocktail, it means the same thing in the US as shrimp salad or shrimp cocktail.
Australians generally refer to prawns as the larger kind, while shrimp is reserved for the smaller fella.
However, is there a difference between prawns and shrimp more than just size? Yes, there is!
Scientifically they are different sub-species of the crustacean family. Prawns and shrimps have different anatomies and live in different environments. Another main difference between prawns and shrimp is the way they reproduce.
So next time you throw a shrimp on the BBQ, you might be throwing a prawn!
How Do You Cook Prawns For A Salad?
There are various ways you can cook prawns for a salad.
In this prawn salad recipe, I decided to grill the prawns. This is a great recipe to make, especially when you already have the barbecue grill on. Otherwise, the griddle pan works well too.
You can also pan-fry the prawns, just like in our Thai Prawn Salad recipe or Chimichurri prawn recipe.
Another quick way to cook prawns for salad is to blanch them in boiling water. Do be careful not to overcook the prawns this way. Depending on the size of your prawns, a couple of minutes in boiling water will generally be sufficient.
Alternatively, I do buy pre-cooked prawns for salad. I know they are perfectly cooked, ready to go and save time.
What Do You Eat With Cold Prawns?
We adore having a big bowl of shrimp and cocktail sauce for summer dinner. Simple, delicious and satisfying. Seriously, one of the best prawn recipes.
You can also try fresh prawns with our sriracha aioli recipe. The spicy, garlicky flavours go perfectly with prawns as a dipping sauce. For a more Asian twist, use our yuzu dressing for a citrus ginger condiment.
For extra protein, you can also add prawns to our classic caesar salad recipe. Or serve with our array of Korean banchan side dishes. Plenty of options to eat with cold prawns.
One of my favourite cold prawn salad combinations is our Prawn, Avocado and Kiwi salad. So easy to make as a meal, and I love how red wine shallot vinaigrette adds extra zing.
Recipe Overview
Flavour/Texture: Succulent and crunchy all in one bite with this prawn salad recipe. The gin and lime marinade dials up the flavours with the prawns as I combine it with chilli flakes, crushed garlic and coriander roots.
Fresh lamb’s lettuce, creamy avocado, ruby grapefruit and crunchy radishes give wonderful texture and mouthfeel.
Ease: A little more effort is required when presenting this prawn salad for a festive meal or special gathering. I like to slice my avocado into fan shapes and layer them in between the prawns. Also, try not to overcook the prawns.
Time: I estimate this recipe will take about 30 minutes. You can prepare the salad whilst waiting for the prawns to marinade in the gin and lime mixture.
Ingredients
These are the main ingredients you need for Prawn Salad with Avocado:
Prawns: For this prawn salad recipe, I bought prawn cutlets already deshelled, which still have the tail intact. However, you can purchase them without. I always make sure they are deveined before using the prawns.
Avocado: I selected Gem avocado for its creamy texture to offset the charred prawns and citrus flavours. Gem avocado is a relatively new variety in Australia and is only available through licensed growers. For a quick and easy gem avocado salad, try our Gem Avocado and Watercress Salad.
Ruby Grapefruit: I prefer using ruby grapefruit in salads over yellow grapefruit. The blush pink colour and the sweet-sour flavours are a match made in heaven in this prawn salad with avocado.
Radish: Peppery radishes offsets the flavours and texture of ruby grapefruit.
Lettuce leaves: I chose lamb’s lettuce for the salad because it was available at the greengrocer, and I also love the interesting shapes of the leaves.
Gin: I am using the gin to uplift the savoury notes of the prawns. The quantity of gin required is not a lot as I don’t want the prawns to be overpowered by the alcohol.
Lime: A good squeeze of lime to balance the gin in the marinade. Plus, lime is a great pairing with seafood.
Garlic: A little crushed garlic goes a long with prawns.
Coriander: I am using coriander roots in the marinade and coriander leaves in the salad to tie the flavours together.
Chilli flakes: A hint of chilli to accentuate the overall flavours. If you don’t like heat, then omit the chilli flakes in the marinade.
Variations and Substitutions
Gin substitute: If you prefer to make a non-alcoholic version, omit the gin but add a tablespoon of fish sauce and ½ teaspoon of sugar to balance the flavour.
Lamb’s lettuce substitution: You can easily substitute the lamb’s lettuce in the salad. Choose your favourite green salad mix. Spring mix salad leaves, baby spinach leaves, little gem lettuce or
even torn romaine lettuce leaves would also work.
Ruby grapefruit variation: If you can’t find ruby grapefruit, try blood orange segments or even substitute with mango. Prawns, mango and avocado are a classic combination.
Instructions
Step by step instructions for how to make Prawn Salad with Avocado
How To Marinate and Cook The Prawns.
Let’s create the gin and lime marinade for the prawns first.
Wash and finely chop coriander roots. Keep the leaves for the salad later.
In a large mixing bowl, add gin, chilli flakes, minced garlic, chopped coriander roots, olive oil and lime juice. Mix well together.
Wash and devein prawns.
Add prawns to marinate for 15-20 minutes.
Heat grill pan over high heat and cook prawns for 1-2 minutes on each side.
Prawns are cooked when flesh turns opaque, and there is nice golden char on each side.
Remove from heat and set aside for assembly.
How to Prepare the Salad
Wash and rinse lettuce leaves.
Cut avocado into half and remove skin and seed. Slice avocado into long slices. Set aside for assembly.
Peel ruby grapefruit and slice segments out.
Wash and thinly slice radish.
Wash and roughly chop coriander leaves.
How to Assemble the Prawn Salad
On a large serving plate, start with layering the lamb’s lettuce or mixed leaf salad.
Then scatter prawns, radishes and ruby grapefruit amongst the lamb’s lettuce.
I then layered the avocado in fan shapes throughout the salad to add interest.
Scatter with chopped coriander leaves.
Before serving, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a good squeeze of lime.
Serve.
How to Make This Salad Perfectly (Expert Tips)
Do not ignore your prawns whilst cooking: Prawns cook very quickly, so there is a fine line between undercooking and overcooking them. We want juicy and tender prawns. Here are some tips on how to cook prawns perfectly:
Start with a hot griddle pan so you can quickly sear them.
Try not to overcrowd the griddle pan with too many prawns as this will cause the juices to mingle, and then broil the prawns versus frying them.
Similar sized prawns will help the process, so they have the same cooking time.
Watch the prawns as they grill until the crevice of the prawn curls up, and the flesh turns opaque.
Remove from heat once cooked.
Use a ripe but firm avocado: To check if the avocado is ripe or not, check under the brown nub of the stem. If the nub comes off and is green underneath, then it is ripe. If it is hard to come off, then your avocado is not quite ready.
Avoid using an overripe avocado as it is harder to cut into a thin slice and maneuver into a fan shape.
Serve on a large platter vs salad bowl: To showcase the prawns along with the avocado, I chose a large plate versus a deep salad bowl for this recipe.
This way, I can layer the different ingredients and display the gin and lime prawns in their full glory, plus the avocado fans add so much more interest.
When serving, everyone will have a chance to have some prawns on their plate without digging through the salad.
Great Mains for This Salad
What to serve with prawn salad with avocado? Try these delicious main dish recipes:
Nothing quite beats a family favourite. This easy meatloaf recipe would go so well with some prawns and avocado.
For those summer cookouts and BBQs, this BBQ tri tip recipe or smoked baby back ribs would make the perfect al fresco meal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next time you are looking for a prawn salad idea, this is one recipe you can put together easily in advance and assemble when you need to serve. I would cut the avocado closer to time to avoid it from going brown.
Gin has seen an incredible boom over the last few years. The Australian market alone has seen an increase in domestic gins grow from approximately 10 varieties to over 700 since 2013. I love a good gin and tonic; it is definitely my go-to aperitif.
The main botanical ingredient in gin is juniper berries. Not only is it the predominant flavour, but juniper berries also have to be the main botanical for the alcohol to be classified as gin by law.
As each gin is flavoured with many savoury botanicals, it can be a little tricky to cook with it as the stronger profile may dominate the delicate ingredients. What goes with gin depends on the botanicals used in the gin itself.
As a general rule, find common ingredients or contrasting flavours to bring out the intensity of the gin or the ingredient you are using.
Pairing gin with seafood can work magic as both have naturally savoury overtones that can take citrus flavours well.
Next time you are looking for a prawn salad idea, this is one recipe you can put together easily in advance and assemble when you need to serve. I would cut the avocado closer to time to avoid it from going brown.
Lamb’s lettuce, also known as corn salad and mache lettuce, is a fantastic salad option throughout cooler months as it provides fresh leaves when others are dormant.
I loved the colours of the prawn avocado salad, and the flavours were just divine.
The charred succulent prawns were actually more savoury than I thought with the gin marinade and all beautifully balanced by the creamy avocados, tangy-sweet ruby grapefruit, peppery radishes and fresh lamb’s lettuce.
Start with G&T or even a jug of cold fruity Sangria; this salad is perfect for alfresco dining and summer barbeques. It will get the friends talking!
That’s all!
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Recipe
Prawn Salad with Avocado
Ingredients
Salad
- 400 g prawns
- 1 garlic clove
- ½ cup coriander, leaves
- 1 tbsp coriander, stalks
- 1½ tbsp gin
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 lime, juiced
- 80 g lettuce, lamb
- 4 radish
- 1 avocado
- 1 ruby grapefruit
Click on the toggle below for conversion to US Cooking Units.
Instructions
Salad
- Wash and devein prawns.
- Finely mince garlic cloves.
- Wash and finely chop coriander roots. Keep coriander leaves for salad later.
- In a large mixing bowl, add prawns, gin, chilli flakes, garlic, coriander, olive oil and lime juice. Mix well together and leave to marinate for 15-20 minutes.
- Heat grill pan over medium-high heat and cook prawns for 1-2 minutes on each side. Prawns are cooked when flesh turns opaque, and there is nice golden char on each side. Remove from heat and set aside for assembly.
- Wash and rinse lamb’s lettuce.
- Wash and rinse radishes thoroughly. Trim the stalks and then thinly slice from top to bottom.
- Cut avocado in half with skin lengthwise. Remove the stone and gently peel the skin. Place avocado cut side down and cut into long slices. Set aside for assembly.
- Remove peel from ruby grapefruit. Carefully cut along the membranes and slice the ruby grapefruit segments out. Once you have all the segments out, cut them into bite-size pieces.
Assembly
- On a large serving plate, layer lamb’s lettuce.
- Then scatter prawns, radishes and ruby grapefruit amongst the lamb’s lettuce.
- Layer the avocado in fan shapes throughout the salad.
- Finish with chopped coriander leaves.
- Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a good squeeze of lime.
Notes
- If you prefer to make a non-alcoholic version, omit the gin in the marinade and add a tablespoon of fish sauce and ½ teaspoon of sugar to balance the flavour.
- You can substitute lamb’s lettuce with regular salad leaves.
- If you can’t find ruby grapefruit, blood orange or regular orange would work too. However, it will be sweeter so add a little more lime juice at the end to finish.
- If you can’t find ruby grapefruit, blood orange, regular orange or even substitute with a mango. Prawns, mango and avocado are a classic combination.
Nutrition
*Disclaimer: Nutritional information provided is an estimate only and generated by an online calculator.
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Cynthia
This is a five star salad -Thank you I also made the kachumber salad and people raved about its taste -another five
The Devil Wears Salad
Thank you so much Cynthia! Glad you’ve found a couple of salad recipes that you like. The Kachumber is nice and easy too so it’s great when you don’t have a lot of time.
Mama Maggie's Kitchen
This dish looks amazing. I wish I could eat that right now!
Chef Dennis
Yum! his salad looks incredibly delicious!
Michele Peterson
This was so delicious I’m going to start using this gin marinade with everything. It’s so versatile as each type of gin infuses it own unique botanicals. Brilliant!
Sue
Great salad, but the gin-lime marinade is truly inspired! I can’t wait to have it again!
Alex
How delicious! The addition of gin is wonderful -it works so well with seafood.
Mee sha
That looks really yum and refreshing!