This shrimp avocado mango lime salad is bursting with light summer flavors. The best part is you can have it ready in just 10 minutes for an easy lunch or light dinner.
The other half of my trip to ALDI headquarters last month included an afternoon of sampling some ALDI exclusive products (including getting to try out a lot of their new gluten-free stuff), doing a blind taste test (I’ve always wanted to do that!) versus leading competitive brands and listening to both Tara and Brigette talk to us about healthy, energy packed foods we can make for each meal using easily accessible ALDI products.
Of course, we got to taste them all too.
Basically, we spent 6 hours eating non-stop…I’m not complaining.
The blind taste test was probably the highlight of the afternoon for me.
We tested things like 100% Pure Squeezed Orange Juice Not From Concentrate (anyone who knows me knows I have an OJ obsession and cannot start my day without my small glass of juice so this was one of my favorites), Greek yogurt, cheese, crackers, tortilla chips and pre-made guacamole.
We marked down which sample we thought was which and then at the end went down the list to reveal the ALDI product and how much the cost savings was between it and the competitive brand.
ALDI ensures their products taste the same, if not better than the leading competitors but offer it to the consumer at a lower cost.
After this taste test, I can say that the handful of products we tested, definitely accomplish that.
The Greek yogurt in particular floored me. The second I tasted sample B, I was like “oh, that’s DEFINITELY the competitor’s brand. It’s soooo much creamier and less fake tasting”.
Guess who was wrong? This girl.
The crazy thing is, the ALDI brand beat out a brand I buy and eat all the time too (and is apparently $0.34 more expensive).
FLOORED.
I’m not really into packaged gluten-free cookies, treats and stuff mostly because:
1. I don’t need to eat gluten-free
2. I don’t really eat that kind of packaged stuff whether it’s gluten free or not and
3. Just because it’s gluten-free doesn’t mean it’s healthy in any way shape or form, but I will say the ALDI liveGfree offerings are incredibly vast and they all taste pretty darn good too.
I’m a big fan of naturally gluten-free food though and a lot of the “Dietician’s Picks” they had laid out, like the honey goat cheese and the multi-seed crackers fit the gluten free bill and tasted insanely amazing.
After the sampling and taste testing we headed to a different room to continue our eating spree, but this time digest some information along with the food from Tara and Brigette.
As they both talked about energy packed superfood meal ideas, we learned things like how to snack healthy and appropriately, what target protein range we should be aiming for per meal (30g) and how to decipher hunger cues.
The best part of course though was the food that went along with it.
We feasted on the chicken sweet potato patties (the recipe my sweet potato turkey patties recipe is based off of), hummus tuna salad in mini pepper cups, a shrimp quinoa salad and a tropical chia pudding parfait.
The shrimp quinoa salad got me thinking how long it’s been since I had a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer for easy meal ideas.
My usual go-to when I have nothing defrosted is a package of chicken sausage (since you can pretty much cook that from a frozen state) but frozen shrimp is such a great lean protein to have on hand too.
Since I can’t eat quinoa any more (I don’t know if I ever explained that on here but it out of nowhere started giving me horrible stomach pains), the salad Brigette put together wasn’t for me, but it did inspire this shrimp avocado mango lime salad which I think is perfect for light summer dinners or lunches. If you do eat quinoa, try this mango quinoa spinach salad too!
I love the touch of mango for the sweetness factor and honestly, I can’t get enough of them right now so I’m either standing over the sink sucking on mango pits (it’s a sight, believe me) or I’m throwing them into every meal I can think of like this one.
This protein packed salad would also be really great with scallops.
If you have an air fryer, making scallops in the air fryer is my new favorite way to cook them and they can be ready in just 10 minutes for this salad recipe.
And if you want to cook the shrimp from frozen for this salad, you can totally do that too using this air fryer frozen shrimp recipe!
MORE SALADS LIKE THIS TO TRY:
Jicama Salad
Mango Black Bean Salad
Lobster Mango Avocado Salad
Spicy Cilantro Mango Wild Rice Salad
Shrimp Avocado Mango Lime Salad
Ingredients
- 8 ounces extra large shrimp, tails removed, cooked and chopped
- 1/2 avocado, chopped
- 1 cup chopped mango
- 1 cup halved cherry/grape tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped watercress, baby arugula would also work well here
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Combine the shrimp, avocado, mango, tomatoes, watercress and onion in a large bowl.
- Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
- Pour the dressing onto the salad, gently toss and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
*This post is sponsored by ALDI. All content and opinions are my own.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
Love the recipe Shrimp Avocado Mango Salad….I’m having it for lunch today. I found the flavor to be better the next day (be sure to cover tightly).
I want to have it now!! What a good idea for a salad. Great idea for a picnic salad as well
I love this salad! Sounds like great combination of flavors.
Ah, did you meet Tara (my boss) at ALDI HQ?? Also Jenna Braddock is a good friend of mine from FL. Hope you got to meet them too!!
I did! And yes, Jenna too. We actually talked about you :)
I love everything about this salad. I can see me enjoying this all summer long.
I love ceviche and this kind of reminds me of that but with a lot of really great vegetables and that creamy avocado. This would be such a great summer appetizer idea! That is so fun that you got to visit the Aldi Test Kitchen! What a great experience.