Shrimp and Avocado Salsa

Serve Shrimp and Avocado Salsa as a snack with tortilla chips or as a super easy, stand-alone salad.

Between the Astros and college football, we’ve got some games to watch this weekend. Which means we need some snacks.

One of the easiest and most popular “dips” in our house is not really a dip. It’s a salsa, which we also use as a salad when we don’t want the chips. Shrimp and Avocado Salsa lies somewhere between it all – salad, salsa, ceviche. We don’t know exactly where to categorize it, except in the column called delicious. 

We roast the shrimp here, because I never quite trust myself to use lime juice as a cooking agent. (Let’s focus on the Astros right now; we’ll tackle cooking in lime juice that another day). Also I like the way simply roasting shrimp in olive oil, salt, and pepper gives it great flavor and the tiniest bit of crispness around the edges. When you dress the warm shrimp with the lemon-olive oil dressing, it absorbs the lemony flavor. Red bell pepper, jalapeño, and red onion add crunch and a little heat, and avocado counteracts the crunch with creamy. 

Serve Shrimp and Avocado Salsa in a bowl surrounded by tortilla chips while you cheer on your teams this weekend. Or, serve it as a super easy, super-fast-to-make, stand-alone salad next week: this is actually one of those recipes that takes all of 10 minutes to put together. For now, Go Astros! and Go whatever college football team you’re rooting for!

Shrimp and Avocado Salsa

1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled, deveined, and dried with a paper towel
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
½ red bell pepper, chopped
1 large jalapeño, diced
¼ red onion, diced
½ cup cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, chopped and tossed with a squeeze of lemon juice

For the dressing:
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a sheet pan lined with foil, toss the shrimp, olive oil, salt, and pepper together and arrange the shrimp in a single layer. Roast for about 10 minutes, until the shrimp are pink and the edges barely start to brown. When the shrimp is cool enough to handle, chop it roughly (about into thirds). 

Meanwhile, whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.

In a medium bowl, toss together the red bell pepper, jalapeño, red onion, cilantro, avocado, and shrimp. Pour the dressing over, and gently toss to coat everything with dressing. Serve with tortilla chips or as a salad.