Flavored with pungent fresh ginger, soy sauce and dark sesame oil, Asian Shrimp and Brown Rice Salad is bursting with delicious flavors!
One night, I decided to get a little creative when preparing dinner for Robert, and this Asian Shrimp and Brown Rice Salad was born. It was a busy day, so I was preparing dinner from what we had on hand in the refrigerator/freezer and pantry.
I started with cooked shrimp and brown rice. I don’t always have cabbage on hand, but this day I had some leftover from preparing our Cilantro Peanut Coleslaw (in my cookbook A Well-Seasoned Kitchen®), so I threw some in. Next I added water chestnuts, almonds, green onions and cilantro.
Deciding on an Asian-inspired dressing, I mixed fresh chopped ginger, soy sauce, dark sesame oil and rice vinegar into mayo and sour cream. Well, the resulting dressing is. . . AMAZING. It totally takes this salad from very good to fabulous. And, any leftover dressing is delicious on sandwiches and turkey burgers!
If you love cold shrimp salads, try this other spicy shrimp salad with a lime-herb dressing.
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Asian Shrimp and Brown Rice Salad
Ingredients
See gluten-free adaptations in the Notes section at the bottom of the recipe.
Soy-sesame-ginger dressing
- 1 3/4 cups mayonnaise
- 6 tablespoons sour cream
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil, dark or toasted
- 1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
- Cayenne pepper, to taste
- Kosher salt, to taste
Salad
- 1 pound medium to large (20-25 count) cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined , can chop if desired
- 1 1/2 cups brown rice, cooked and cooled completely
- 3/4 cup shredded cabbage
- 3/4 cup chopped water chestnuts, 8-ounce can drained
- 3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, optional
- 6 tablespoons coarsely chopped or slivered almonds, toasted
- 6 large chopped green onions, (white, light green and some dark green part)
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Soy-sesame-ginger dressing
- In medium mixing bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, ginger and cayenne pepper. Season to taste with kosher salt (may not need any).
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.
Salad
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together shrimp, rice, cabbage, water chestnuts, cilantro, almonds and green onions.
- Stir in spoonfuls of the dressing until desired consistency is reached (you may not need to use all the dressing).
- Season with kosher salt and ground pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
