Chipotle-Lime Shrimp Salad with Radishes and Avocado

Shrimp cooks up quickly, which means this low-carb crunchy and creamy salad flavored with chipotle and lime can feed a family of four in 30 minutes.

If shrimp were free, I would eat this every night. It’s crunchy and creamy – thank you, radishes and avocados – and the shrimp themselves are tender and a little bit spicy. It’s basically a perfect food.

It’s also fairly forgiving, both as far as substitutions go as well as in terms of the shrimp you use. The shrimp I used were on the smaller side, and had the tails removed, but you could use bigger ones with or without tails. You can even start with cooked shrimp. I have done this, and I still marinate and fry them more or less as directed here, because I’m a sucker for the flavors, and they’re great that way. But it would be easier simply to dump the cooked shrimp on top of the salad and then dress the whole thing, and you should feel free to try that, too.

Recipe Notes

Chipotles in adobo can be found in the international aisle of most supermarkets; brands to look for include Embasa, San Marcos, Herdes, and La Costeña.

To make the chipotle purée, scrape an entire (7-ounce) tin of chipotle in adobo into the blender and purée it. Store it in your fridge in an impeccably clean glass jar where it will keep indefinitely − unless it doesn’t, which is what sometimes happens. A thin layer of oil over the top seems to help it keep longer in the fridge.

If you’re looking to lower the fat, swap in sliced celery for the avocado; if you’re looking to lower the sodium, reduce the salt to 1/2 teaspoon. And if you don’t have fresh garlic, subbing in 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder will work; the same goes for chipotles in adobo as you can use a smoky hot sauce such as Chipotle Tabasco instead.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons chipotle purée (see recipe notes)
Juice of 2 limes (about 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 clove garlic, minced (or ½ teaspoon garlic powder)1 pound raw shrimp, shelled1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 bunch radishes, sliced
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced
1/2 cup cilantro for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Make the marinade and dressing: Whisk together the chipotle purée, lime juice, olive oil, salt, and garlic.
Put the shrimp in a large bowl and pour half the marinade over it, setting the remainder aside. Toss the shrimp well and marinate them for around 15 minutes, while you chop the lettuce and slice the radishes and otherwise busy yourself.
Heat a large pan over high heat until a drop of water evaporates on contact. Pull the shrimp out of the marinade using your hands or a slotted spoon. Spread them evenly across the pan, discarding the marinade the shrimp were in.
Cook shrimp for a minute or two, then flip and cook them for another couple of minutes (3-5 minutes altogether, depending on the size of your shrimp), keeping the heat high enough to evaporate the liquid so that they fry a bit instead of simply steaming.
Transfer shrimp to a bowl and into the fridge to cool a bit (so you don’t wilt the lettuce) while you assemble the salad.
Meanwhile, arrange the lettuce and radishes on a wide platter, add the avocado, and drizzle everything with the reserved dressing. Top with the shrimp and cilantro and serve.