Shrimp Salad With Louis Dressing

By
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer.
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Updated on 05/20/21
Shrimp, Eggs, and Lettuce
Vladimir Shulevsky/Food Creative/Getty
Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 0 mins
Total: 5 mins
Servings: 2 to 4 servings

Shrimp Louis salad is a variation of Crab Louis. It's a lunch staple at traditional restaurants and many families also enjoy it as a Christmas Eve tradition. This shrimp salad made with tomatoes, hard-cooked eggs, and a Louis dressing of mayonnaise, chili sauce, and parsley. 

Also spelled Shrimp Louie, it's always pronounced in the French way, "loo-ee," the origins of this salad are from the West Coast in the early 1900s. The original formulation features Pacific Northwest Dungeness crab and it may have been named after Louis Davenport of the Hotel Davenport in Spokane, Washington, where it is still on the menu today. But the Olympic Club in Seattle and the Solari's restaurant in San Francisco are likely candidates. Famed gastronome James Beard remembered enjoying it in Portland, Oregon, in his youth.

The shrimp version is common in Oregon, where the local small bay shrimp are used. These are easily available pre-cooked in most supermarkets. You can also use larger frozen or fresh shrimp. To cook shrimp to add to the salad, you can saute them or broil them. See how to devein shrimp to remove the black gut line that can have grit. You'll also need hard-boiled eggs.

Ingredients

For the Dressing:

  • 1 cup mayonnaise

  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

  • 2 tablespoons chili sauce

  • 1 tablespoon ketchup

  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

  • 1 tablespoon steak sauce

For the Shrimp Salad:

  • 1 head romaine lettuce

  • 2 cups cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined

  • 2 medium whole tomatoes, cut into wedges

  • 2 large hard-cooked eggs, thinly sliced

  • Black olives, for garnish

  • Lemon wedges, for serving

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Combine all of the ingredients for the Louis dressing and chill it until serving time.

  3. Wash the lettuce and pat dry or use a salad spinner to remove any water.

  4. Tear the lettuce into your desired segments. Some people prefer smaller, some larger.

  5. Arrange the lettuce on chilled salad plates.

  6. Place shrimp on lettuce then garnish with tomato wedges and hard cooked eggs. Garnish with olives, and serve with lemon wedges.

  7. Spoon the Louis Dressing over shrimp.

  8. Serve and enjoy!

Tip

  • This recipe will make two meal-sized salads or four smaller salads.

Recipe Variations

  • You can use different types of lettuce. Iceberg lettuce is often used. For convenience, you can use a packaged salad mix if you prefer.
  • Other vegetables often arranged on top of Louis salad include cucumber, marinated asparagus spears, artichoke, avocado.
  • Sometimes the dressing is mixed with the salad greens right before serving rather than served on top. The dressing can also be served on the side. Sometimes Thousand Island dressing is used rather than Louis dressing.


Nutrition Facts (per serving)
627 Calories
45g Fat
39g Carbs
24g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2 to 4
Amount per serving
Calories 627
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 45g 58%
Saturated Fat 7g 37%
Cholesterol 223mg 74%
Sodium 1355mg 59%
Total Carbohydrate 39g 14%
Dietary Fiber 11g 39%
Total Sugars 17g
Protein 24g
Vitamin C 139mg 697%
Calcium 207mg 16%
Iron 4mg 23%
Potassium 1326mg 28%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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