Bring festive flavour and bright colour to your table with this gorgeous prawn cocktail salad. A modern take on a popular Aussie entree, this salad is quick, easy and ready to celebrate!
In This Post You’ll Learn
Why We Love This
All the flavour and fun of a festive prawn cocktail with no need for fancy glasses or fussy presentation.
Prawn cocktail salad is so easy to make and perfect for BBQs and family gatherings – especially at Christmas time!
It’s quick to prepare, looks stunning and is easy for guests to serve themselves.
Related: Seafood Sauce / Japanese Wafu Salad Dressing
What’s the easiest way to peel and devein prawns?
This is the way Laura’s dad taught her to peel prawns back when she was a little kid!
1. First, remove the head by pressing the joint between the head and the body.
2. Next, turn the belly towards you and peel off the first segment of shell by using you finger nail to lift it away. You can remove the legs first to make this easier, but once you get the hang of it you won’t need to.
3. Continue peeling the shell down towards the tail. Squeeze the base of the last segment before the tail and pull gently to remove it cleanly.Â
4. To devein, start from the head end of the prawn and use your fingernail to peel back the vein and outer section of flesh.
Watch our video below to see this method in action!
What is Prawn Cocktail?
Cooked prawns are a popular treat for celebrations and parties in Australia. Laura’s dad adored them on Christmas Day with a slathering of seafood cocktail sauce or a squeeze of lemon, alongside a batch of mum’s oysters kilpatrick – a beloved family tradition!
Sometimes you’ll find prawns served up in fancy martini glasses as a retro individual prawn cocktails. But instead, we love making a big batch prawn cocktail salad, served up on a platter and ready to feed the whole crowd.
The colours in this salad are bright and gorgeous, just like Christmas on a plate! It’s light and refreshing, perfect for Aussie summers and great as an entree before (or alongside) the main event.
We guarantee you’ll have plenty of room leftover for a plate of your favourite roast chicken, potato bake or an extra scoop of cauliflower cheese. Yum!
What You’ll Need
- Prawns / Shrimp – Most commonly called prawns in Australia, or shrimp in the US and some other countries. For convenience we usually buy pre-cooked prawns from the supermarket, but you can buy fresh prawns and cook them yourself if you prefer. Here in Aus we absolutely love local SA king prawns, but tiger prawns work just as well. Go with your favourite!
- Seafood Sauce – We love homemade seafood sauce since you can tweak the flavour just how you like it. Sub with thousand island dressing or ranch sauce if you need.
- Lettuce – Iceberg is the most commonly used in retro prawn cocktail cups, but for this salad we usually prefer the smaller, wavy leaves of cos or hydro lettuce.
- Tomatoes – Cherry tomatoes look super cute, otherwise use any fresh tomato you like, halved or chopped into chunky bite size pieces.
- Avocado – The creamy flavour pairs perfectly with this salad!
- Red Onion – Sliced or chopped, it weaves all the flavours together without taking over.
- Optional Garnish – Chives or thinly sliced spring onion / green onion.
How to Make Prawn Cocktail Salad
First, gather your ingredients: See recipe card below for measurements.
- Peel and devein your prawns, then place them into a medium bowl.
- Pour over your seafood sauce and mix until well coated.
- Arrange your lettuce leaves on a large serving platter, then top with your cherry tomato, avocado and red onion slices.
- Top with saucy prawns and optional: garnish with herbs such as fresh chives or dill.
Wandercook’s Tips
- Keep Fresh – If you’re planning to serve this salad outside (especially in summer), it can be a good idea to use stainless steel platters or bowls layered on a bed of ice. This will help keep the lettuce leaves crisp and fresh.
- Storage – Leftover prawn cocktail salad will last around 2-3 days in the fridge in an airtight container. This salad is not suitable for freezing.
FAQs
The safest way is to defrost them in the refrigerator, though you’ll need to plan ahead as this will take around 8 hours for them to fully defrost.Â
If you’ve left it to the last minute and need to defrost them quickly, you can pop them into a colander and run them under cold water for a few minutes, moving frequently so they defrost evenly. Laura’s Dad didn’t recommend this method though because it will wash away most of the natural flavour from the prawns. Â
Another method you can try is to soak them in a bowl of cold salted water (around 2 tbsp of salt to 4 cups / 1 L / 2 pts water) for around 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally so they defrost evenly.
We do recommend you devein them. If you don’t, it can affect the flavour and texture of the prawns, making them taste a little muddy and/or gritty.
No, we don’t recommend it. This salad is best served freshly assembled, while the lettuce leaves are crisp and the seafood sauce is nice and thick.
Variations
- Individual Serves – Go for the traditional prawn cocktail presentation in individual glasses, portioned out into lettuce cups, or tucked into fresh mini slider buns.
- Garnishes – Use fresh herbs like chives, dill, parsley, mint or chervil to tweak the flavour.
- Sauce – Mix things up completely with a totally different sauce, such as spicy mango sauce or Thai chilli lime sauce. They go perfectly with prawns!
- Love Citrus? – Serve with fresh lemon or lime wedges.
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★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and a star rating below!
Ingredients
- 15 cooked prawns / shrimp 500 g / 17.6 oz, we love SA King Prawns
- 10 lettuce leaves your choice (we love cos or hydro lettuce)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved, 150 g / 5.29 oz
- 1 avocado sliced or chopped
- ¼ red onion sliced or chopped
- â…“ cup seafood sauce sub thousand island dressing or ranch
Instructions
- Peel and devein your 15 cooked prawns / shrimp, then place them into a medium bowl. Pour over your â…“ cup seafood sauce and mix until well coated.
- Arrange your 10 lettuce leaves on a large serving platter, then top with your 1 cup cherry tomatoes, 1 avocado and ¼ red onion slices.
- Top with saucy prawns and optional: garnish with herbs such as fresh chives or dill.
Video
Recipe Notes
- Keep Fresh – If you’re planning to serve this salad outside (especially in summer), it can be a good idea to use stainless steel platters or bowls layered on a bed of ice. This will help keep the lettuce leaves crisp and fresh.Â
- Storage – Leftover prawn cocktail salad will last around 2-3 days in the fridge in an airtight container. This salad is not suitable for freezing.
- Individual Serves – Go for the traditional prawn cocktail presentation in individual glasses, portioned out into lettuce cups, or tucked into fresh mini slider buns.
- Garnishes – Use fresh herbs like chives, dill, parsley, mint or chervil to tweak the flavour.
- Sauce – Mix things up completely with a totally different sauce, such as spicy mango sauce or Thai chilli lime sauce. They go perfectly with prawns!
- Love Citrus? – Serve with fresh lemon or lime wedges.
Nutrition
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