Zesty Shrimp Salad

A plate of food with shrimp and black beans.

Zesty Shrimp Salad


The start of the holiday season means fun family gatherings and pot-luck parties with friends and co-workers. A good strategy for not derailing your healthy lifestyle goalsis to bring a veggie and protein-packed dish that you are excited to eat AND share. This zesty shrimp salad originates from Eating Well Magazine and can easily be modified to serve as a meal, snack, or dip. You can even leave the shrimp out for a vegetarian option that travels well.

A plate of food with shrimp and black beans.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons applecider vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chile in adobo (see note below)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound peeled and deveined cooked shrimp cut into pieces
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed
2cups quartered cherry tomatoes
1 large poblano pepper and/or bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Tortilla chips for serving (optional)

Directions:

Whisk vinegar, oil, chipotle, cumin and salt in a large bowl. Add shrimp, beans, tomatoes, poblano (or bell pepper), scallions and cilantro; toss to coat. Serve room temperature or cold.

Chipotle chiles in adobo are sold in cans atmost grocery stores. You only ever need a small amount for a given recipe, so I like to toss the contents of the whole can (seeds and all) into the mini food processor and blend, then lay flat in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. It keeps for a long time and you can just break off a chunk when you need it.