Light, bright, refreshing, and delicious, these New England-style Shrimp Rolls are the next-best thing to a day at the shore!
Table of Contents
This recipe is…
Not every day can be a sunny day at the beach…but that doesn’t mean it can’t taste like one. Creamy, lemony, light, and refreshing, these New England-style Shrimp Rolls will instantly transport your taste buds to a sun-drenched day at the coast.
Served on a gluten-free roll with a side of potato chips, these tasty sandwiches rival any lobster roll — and at a fraction of the cost. If you’re looking to make this meal a little less starchy, serve the shrimp salad over salad greens instead.
For more of our favorite dishes highlighting fish and seafood, check out our Lobster Fettuccine Alfredo, Baked Halibut Sheet Pan Dinner, Baked Crab Legs, Salmon Burgers, and Easy Seared Scallops.
Why You’ll Love These Easy Shrimp Rolls
- A summery New England-style classic
- Much more affordable than lobster rolls
- Crowd-pleasing, and easy to make in big batches
- Ready in just 20 minutes!
Shrimp Roll Recipe Ingredients
All of the ingredients on this list are easy to find at grocery stores. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Shrimp – to start, you’ll need 1 pound of peeled and deveined shrimp.
- Sea Salt – you’ll salt the water that the shrimp boils in with 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt, and then you’ll need another ¼ teaspoon for the shrimp salad itself.
- Mayonnaise – to help hold the salad together a bit, you’ll need about 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise. THIS is our favorite store-bought mayo option.
- Fresh Lemon Juice – there’s just something about the way that fresh lemon juice pairs with seafood! For this shrimp salad, you’ll need the juice of 2 lemons (about a ¼ cup of fresh lemon juice).
- Garlic – 1 clove of grated garlic (we love grating garlic with a microplane) adds all of the delicious garlicky flavor while also ensuring that you won’t bite down on a hunk of it!
- Celery – 2 stalks of finely chopped celery add really delicious flavor and texture to the shrimp mixture.
- Black Pepper – to add some depth of flavor and really keep things interesting, you’ll need cracked black pepper to taste.
- Rolls or Buns – we served our shrimp salad in hot dog buns, but feel free to use any roll you love. Or, skip the bread altogether and enjoy your shrimp salad on top of lettuce greens.
- Butter Lettuce – we kept things simple in our shrimp rolls, but we did include a few leaves of butter lettuce in each roll! Feel free to use another lettuce you love, or skip it altogether.
- Chives – finish your shrimp rolls with fresh chopped chives for a beautiful pop of color and flavor.
- Red Pepper Flakes – a sprinkling of red pepper flakes over top of the finished rolls adds a really delicious, subtle kick of spice!
- Lemon Wedges – serve a few lemon wedges alongside each roll so that they can be squeezed over the shrimp for a bright pop of citrus flavor.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
The shrimp salad is super easy to customize:
- Herbs: this recipe calls for fresh chives, but basil, tarragon, or dill would all be delicious instead.
- Garlic: if you’re sensitive to raw garlic, feel free to leave it out of this recipe.
- Greens: crisp, mild butter lettuce is perfect with this delicate, creamy shrimp salad. But you could substitute other greens like red or green leaf lettuce or romaine.
How to Make Shrimp Rolls
If cooking shrimp feels intimidating to you, don’t worry — you’ve got this! The process is super easy and you’re going to be so proud of the finished product. Here’s what you’ll do.
Step 1: bring about 6 cups of water to boil in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the shrimp and salt. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until the shrimp turns pink and curls in on itself.
Step 2: strain the shrimp from the pot, then place over ice to cool.
Step 3: in a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic, celery, salt, and cracked black pepper. Add the cooled shrimp and toss to combine.
Step 4: line each roll (or hot dog bun) with butter lettuce, then top with the shrimp salad and garnish with chives and red pepper flakes. Serve with lemon wedges.
Recipe Tips
- Cleaned shrimp – save time and effort by buying shrimp that’s already been peeled and deveined.
- Quality of seafood – since the seafood is the star of this show, buy the freshest, best-quality shrimp that your budget allows. If the shrimp at your usual grocery store doesn’t seem up to par, it may be worth a trip to a local fishmonger.
How to Serve
Enjoy the shrimp rolls right away, or chill the shrimp salad for an hour or two before assembling the rolls.
We ate our shrimp salad on gluten-free rolls along with a side of potato chips. But feel free to serve the shrimp salad mixture over greens if you’d like.
How to Store
To keep your shrimp sammies from sogging out, store any leftover shrimp salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator, separate from the rolls.
Frequently Asked Questions
Shrimp is low in carbs and calories, and loaded with protein, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, making it a healthy and lean choice of proteins.
The shrimp we used are on the larger side, but if you can’t find large shrimp, that’s okay! Grab whatever peeled, deveined, raw shrimp that you can find at the grocery store — big or small. Just keep in mind that if you use little bay shrimp or other small shrimp, they’ll cook even more quickly than the shrimp used in this recipe. So be sure to take them out of the simmering water as soon as they turn pink
Freshness is key here, so this shrimp salad should be enjoyed within a day of making it. You’ll also want to be sure that you store any leftovers separately to avoid sad, soggy bread.
There isn’t much liquid in the shrimp mixture itself (just the lemon juice). But shrimp are comprised mostly of water, and are usually stored on ice at the grocery store, so they can leach a fair amount of moisture. So to avoid a watery mixture, it’s a good idea to pat the shrimp dry before tossing it with the mayo and other ingredients.
We don’t recommend freezing the shrimp salad. The process of freezing and thawing the delicate shrimp will compromise the texture, making it much less delicious than when freshly made.
More Favorite Shrimp Recipes
If you tried this recipe for Shrimp Rolls, or any other recipe on the Fed & Fit website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Shrimp Roll Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled and de-veined
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- ¼ cup lemon juice, juice of 2 lemons
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Cracked black pepper, to taste
- Rolls or hot dog buns, for serving
- Butter lettuce, for serving
- Chives, for garnish
- Red pepper flakes, for garnish
- Lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
- Bring 6 cups of water to boil in a medium pot over medium-high heat.
- Once boiling, add the shrimp and salt. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until the shrimp turns pink and curls in on itself.
- Strain the shrimp from the pot, then place over ice to cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic, celery, salt, and cracked black pepper. Add the shrimp and toss to combine.
- Fill each roll with butter lettuce, then top with the shrimp, and garnish with chives and red pepper flakes. Serve with lemon wedges.
Nutrition
