Caribbean Salad with Jerk Shrimp

Take a trip to Jamaica with this Caribbean Salad topped with Jerk Shrimp and Honey Lime Dressing! It's zesty, flavorful and easy to make in just 20 minutes! It's also gluten free and dairy free, making it a healthy choice, that also tastes incredible!

I love anything that's jerk seasoned! Chicken, shrimp, beef or veggies are all made more delicious when they're tossed with flavorful jerk seasoning. I love it so much that I made my own authentic homemade jerk seasoning mix. It's spicy, savory and oh-so-delicious!

In this recipe, I tossed juicy, plump shrimp with lime zest and juice, garlic, olive oil and jerk seasoning. The shrimp is zesty, spicy and the perfect topping for a Caribbean salad!

You can make the salad your own by adding the fruit and veggies of your choice. I added bell peppers for crunch, pineapple and mandarin oranges for sweetness, and avocado for creaminess.

The salad is tossed with a honey lime dressing, that I could literally drink like it was a smoothie! It's sweet, tangy and pairs perfectly with the jerk shrimp. I don't know about you, but I'm always down for a little sweet and spicy combo!

Ingredients you'll need

• Garlic cloves
• Fresh limes - you'll use both the zest from the skin of the lime and juice from inside the lime. So look for a bright green lime with no blemishes on the skin.
• Jerk seasoning - this can be purchased at the grocery store or online, but I highly recommend using my tested and perfected homemade Jamaican Jerk Seasoning. It's so easy to toss together in 5 minutes and it's authentic to the jerk seasoning that I tasted when I was in Jamaica.
• Olive oil - you could also use another vegetable oil if you prefer. But you will want to use one that can hold up to high temperatures, as you'll be cooking the shrimp over high heat. Avocado, peanut, canola or sunflower oil will all work well for this recipe.
• Shrimp - I prefer to always buy already peeled and deveined shrimp at the grocery store. This cuts out a step and saves you time. For this recipe, I used 41-50 count shrimp size, this a medium shrimp size. What this means is you get 41-50 pieces of shrimp per pound. For this recipe, you can also use a 31-35 which is a large shrimp size, or a 21-25 which is a jumbo shrimp size.
• Romaine lettuce - I like the crisp texture of romaine for this salad. But if you prefer another green, like kale, spinach or arugula, feel free to use the greens of your choice.
• Honey lime dressing - jerk shrimp is spicy, so to cool it down, I paired it with this sweet and tangy salad dressing. It's a match made in heaven, if I do say so myself!
• Corn kernels - these can be drained and rinsed from a can, frozen or removed from the cob when fresh corn is in season. Charring the corn by cooking it over high heat on the stove adds a lovely smoky flavor to the salad.
• Jalapeno peppers - charred right along with the corn, the jalapenos add more spice and smoky flavor to the salad. If you're trying to lighten up on the spice, you can always leave these out.
• Diced pineapple - I love the sweet and tangy addition of pineapple in this salad. If you're grilling the shrimp, you could also cut the pineapple in larger chunks and grill them right along with the shrimp. Have you ever tried grilled pineapple? Oh my gosh, it's so good!
• Mandarin orange slices - this sweet, fruity addition is totally optional, but I love the burst of color and flavor that it adds to this salad.
• Bell pepper - feel free to use green, red, yellow or orange bell peppers in this salad. Pick your favorite pepper, dice it up and add it to these bowls for a pop of crunch, color and flavor!
• Avocado - I can't get enough of the creaminess that avocado adds to a salad. It's a non-negotiable when making a salad at my house!
• Cilantro - fresh chopped cilantro is an optional garnish that I used to finish this salad. It adds both bright color and flavor to the dish!

Step by step instructions

1. Prepare the jerk shrimp.
   • In a large bowl, combine crushed garlic cloves, lime zest, lime juice, jerk seasoning and olive oil.
   • Add the shrimp to the marinade and toss to coat.
   • Place in the refrigerator to marinate for 10-15 minutes.
2. Toss the lettuce with the salad dressing.
   • In another large bowl, toss chopped romaine lettuce with honey lime dressing.
   • Divide the dressed lettuce between two serving bowls.
3. Char the corn and jalapenos.
   • Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat on the stove.
   • Once the skillet is hot, add the corn kernels and sliced jalapenos to the skillet.
     • Quick tip! How do you know if the skillet is hot? Add one kernel of corn, if it sizzles immediately, the skillet is hot and you can add the rest of the corn and jalapenos.
   • Cook the corn and jalapenos in the skillet for 4-6 minutes, or until the corn becomes slightly charred.
   • Remove the corn and jalapenos from the skillet and divide them between the two salad bowls.
4. Cook the shrimp.
   • Remember that skillet you cooked the corn and jalapenos in? You want to keep it on the stove over high heat. That's where we're going to cook the shrimp.
   • Use tongs to remove the shrimp from the marinade and add it to the skillet on the stove over high heat. Discard the remaining marinade.
   • Cook the shrimp for 2-3 minutes per side, flipping halfway through.
     • Note: The larger the shrimp, the longer they'll need to cook. So how do you tell when shrimp is cooked? When the shrimp starts to turn opaque white with some pink highlights, that's when you know it's time to flip or remove the shrimp from the skillet.
     • Also note: You can cook the shrimp on a grill over high heat, instead of on the stove, if you prefer.
   • Divide the cooked shrimp between the two salad bowls.
5. Finish the salad.
   • Add the diced pineapple, mandarin oranges, diced bell pepper and sliced avocado to each salad.
   • Optionally top with an extra drizzle of honey lime dressing and fresh chopped cilantro.

Easy salad modifications

Use these modifications to make these bowls vegan or low carb.

How to make the salad vegan

• Replace the shrimp with firm tofu. You'll want to marinate the tofu in the same jerk marinade as you would the shrimp. The tofu can marinate for the same 10-15 minutes, as you would the shrimp. Then follow this post for how to pan fry tofu or this post for how to grill tofu.
• Replace the honey in the honey lime dressing with agave nectar.

How to make the salad low-carb

• Omit the corn and the mandarin oranges from the recipe. This will reduce the carbs from 74 grams per serving, down to 27 grams per serving. This will also reduce the net carbs down to 18 grams per serving.

How to meal prep the salad

• For storage:
  • Cook the shrimp, corn and jalapenos according to the recipe instructions.
  • Do NOT toss the romaine lettuce in the salad dressing.
  • Divide the chopped undressed romaine lettuce between two large storage containers.
  • Add half of the charred corn, jalapenos and cooked shrimp to each container.
  • Divide the pineapple, oranges and peppers between the two containers.
  • Wrap ¼ avocado with plastic wrap and add one ¼ avocado to each of the two large containers.
  • Divide the honey lime dressing between two small containers and add a container to each of the large containers.
• To reheat and eat:
  • I actually do not recommend reheating the shrimp on this salad. The shrimp tastes delicious cold, tossed with this salad the next day.
  • When you're ready to eat the salad, unwrap the avocado from the plastic wrap and add it to the larger container.
  • Drizzle the honey lime dressing over the salad and toss to combine.

More shrimp bowls & salads to try

1. Mediterranean Shrimp and Rice Bowl
2. Harissa Shrimp Bowl
3. Shrimp Taco Bowl
4. Keto Pad Thai with Shrimp
5. Shrimp Bruschetta Zoodle Bowl from WhitneyBond.com
6. Greek Shrimp Grain Bowls from Dishing Out Health

Recipe

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5 from 2 votes

Jerk Shrimp Caribbean Salad

Take a trip to Jamaica with this Caribbean Salad topped with Jerk Shrimp and Honey Lime Dressing! It's zesty, flavorful and easy to make in just 20 minutes! It's also low carb, gluten free and dairy free, making it a healthy choice, that also tastes incredible!

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine Jamaican

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 2 people

Calories 756kcal

Author Whitney Bond

Ingredients

Caribbean Shrimp

• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• ½ teaspoon lime zest
• 2 tablespoons lime juice fresh-squeezed
• 2 teaspoons jerk seasoning
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 pound shrimp peeled & deveined

Shrimp Salad

• 4 cups romaine lettuce chopped
• ¼ cup honey lime dressing
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 16 ounces corn kernels canned - drained and rinsed, frozen or fresh - removed from cob
• 2 jalapeno peppers sliced
• ½ cup pineapple diced
• ½ cup mandarin oranges
• ½ cup red bell peppers diced
• ½ avocado thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped - optional garnish

Instructions

Prepare the Caribbean Shrimp.

• Mix the crushed garlic, lime zest, lime juice, jerk seasoning and olive oil together in a large bowl.
• Add the shrimp and toss to coat.
• Place in the refrigerator to marinate for 10-15 minutes.

Prepare the salad.

• Add the chopped romaine lettuce to a large bowl and toss with the honey lime dressing.
• Divide the dressed lettuce between two serving bowls.
• Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a large skillet over high heat.
• Once the skillet is hot, add the corn kernels and sliced jalapenos, cook for 4-6 minutes or until the corn becomes slightly charred.
• Remove the corn and jalapenos from the skillet and divide them between the two salad bowls.
• Use tongs to remove the shrimp from the marinade and add it to the skillet on the stove over high heat.
• Cook the shrimp for 2-3 minutes per side, flipping halfway through.
• Divide the cooked shrimp between the two salad bowls.
• Add the diced pineapple, mandarin oranges, diced bell peppers and sliced avocado to each salad.
• Optionally top with an extra drizzle of honey lime dressing and fresh chopped cilantro.

Notes

• The shrimp size is up to you. The shrimp pictured in this post are medium 41-50 shrimp. You could also use a large 31-35 shrimp or a jumbo 21-25 shrimp.
• The larger the shrimp, the longer they'll need to cook. So how do you tell when shrimp is cooked? When the shrimp starts to turn opaque white with some pink highlights, that's when you know it's time to flip or remove the shrimp from the skillet.
• You can also grill the shrimp. Instead of cooking the shrimp in a skillet on the stove, you can add the shrimp to a grill turned to high heat and grill the shrimp.
• To make this salad vegan, replace the shrimp with firm tofu. You'll want to marinate the tofu in the same jerk marinade as you would the shrimp. The tofu can marinate for the same 10-15 minutes, as you would the shrimp. Then follow this post for how to pan fry tofu or this post for how to grill tofu. Also replace the honey in the honey lime dressing with agave nectar.
• To make this salad low-carb, omit the corn and the mandarin oranges from the recipe. This will reduce the carbs from 74 grams per serving, down to 27 grams per serving. This will also reduce the net carbs down to 18 grams per serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 756kcal | Carbohydrates: 74g | Protein: 57g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 572mg | Sodium: 2303mg | Potassium: 1307mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 10692mg | Vitamin C: 128mg | Calcium: 423mg | Iron: 9mg

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