Summery Shrimp Avocado Salad with Ginger Dressing
- by SEATOPIA
Sunny Fine Foods × Seatopia
Recipe by Sunny Fine Foods
Fresh dressings and sauces made from real ingredients — founded in Los Angeles by Matt and Nora Kramer
Made with Sunny Ginger Ponzu · never heat pasteurized, no added sugar · sunnyfoods.us
This is a salad with no lettuce in it. Smashed Persian cucumbers, ripe summer peaches, avocado and a fistful of cilantro, with seared Black Tiger Shrimp on top and one big drizzle of ginger ponzu over the whole thing. Roughly twenty minutes, and the only thing that touches heat is the shrimp.
The shrimp cook in about four minutes total — one to two minutes a side in a hot cast iron pan, seasoned with nothing but salt, pepper and grated garlic. You are looking for bright orange with slightly crisp edges, then straight out of the pan while you build the bowl.
We made it with Seatopia Mangrove Black Tiger Shrimp from Tarakan, Indonesia — raw, easy-peel, head-off, and lab tested to the Seatopia Standard™. The dressing is Ginger Ponzu from Sunny Fine Foods, the Los Angeles brand Matt and Nora Kramer built around dressings with nothing hiding in them — no gums, no fillers, no blanket “natural flavors.” Same instinct we have about fish.
At a glance
About 20 minutes
Fifteen minutes of chopping and smashing, four minutes of actual cooking. Nothing marinates and nothing has to cool down before you eat it.
Serves 2
One cucumber, one peach, one avocado. A 16 oz bag of shrimp holds four 4 oz portions, so doubling it costs you one more peach.
1–2 minutes a side
Cast iron over medium-high, a slick of oil, and out again the moment the shrimp go bright orange with crisp edges. Overcooked shrimp is the only way to lose here.
Eight ingredients
Shrimp, cucumber, peach, avocado, cilantro, sesame seeds, lime, ginger ponzu. Salt, pepper and a clove of garlic from the cupboard.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Four parts, no lettuce
Every part here is doing a specific job. Learn what each one is for and you can rebuild this salad in February with whatever fruit is actually good.
1. Seared shrimp
Salt, pepper, grated garlic, hot cast iron. Black Tiger Shrimp hold their snap instead of going rubbery, which is the whole reason they work cold in a salad.
2. Smashed cucumber
Smashed rather than sliced, so the ragged edges catch dressing. Persian cucumbers have thin skins and almost no seeds, so there is nothing to peel or scoop.
3. Peach and avocado
The peach brings acid and perfume, the avocado brings fat. Together they do the job a creamy dressing would normally have to do.
4. Ginger ponzu
Citrus, soy and fresh ginger, never heat pasteurized and with no added sugar. It goes on at the very end, straight from the bottle, in one generous pass.
Summery Shrimp Salad
SEATOPIA
2
5 minutes
5 minutes
280
This vibrant Summery Shrimp Salad combines crunchy smashed cucumbers, juicy summer peaches, creamy avocado, and succulent shrimp, all tossed in a zingy ginger dressing. It's a refreshing and easy-to-make dish perfect for warm weather dining.
Ingredients
Black Tiger Shrimp
Persian cucumber
Peach
Avocado
Eat Sunny Ginger Ponzu Dressing
Cilantro
Toasted sesame seeds
Lime
Directions
Toss shrimp in a bowl with salt, pepper, and grated garlic. Then heat a cast iron pan over medium high heat until hot. Add some oil to the pan and then seasoned shrimp.
Cook for 1-2 mins each side until shrimp is bright orange with slightly crispy edges. Remove shrimp from pan when cooked and set aside while you prep your salad.
Smash cucumbers and cut into bite sized peaches. Add to a mixing bowl with sliced peaches, avocado, and cilantro.
Top salad with shrimp and toss with a big drizzle of ginger dressing.
Toss all your ingredients together, and finish with toasted sesame seeds, a squeeze of lime, and a big pinch of flaky salt.
Shop the shrimp in this salad
Developed with Mangrove Black Tiger Shrimp — raw, easy-peel, head-off 4 oz portions from Tarakan. Scallops sear on the same timeline if you want to swap, and a pinch of flaky spring salt is the last thing that goes on top.
Vendor:SEATOPIA
$7.75
/serving
Sweet, briny shrimp with a natural richness, best enjoyed quickly seared for a delicate snap or pan-fried to preserve their depth.
Vendor:SEATOPIA
$23.88
/serving
On the half shell. Naturally sweet with a creamy bite — stunning raw, lightly torched, or nestled in citrus-forward ceviches
Vendor:SEATOPIA
A celebration of clean flavor and coastal elegance. Contains salmon, whitefish, and peruvian scallops.
The 20-minute game plan
Cook the shrimp first and let them rest while you build the bowl — warm shrimp against cold cucumber is the entire point of this salad. Thaw the shrimp overnight in the refrigerator before you start.
Minute 0
Season and sear the shrimp
Toss the shrimp in a bowl with salt, pepper and a clove of grated garlic. Get a cast iron pan hot over medium-high, add a little oil, then the shrimp in a single layer. One to two minutes a side, until they are bright orange with slightly crisp edges. Out of the pan and onto a plate.
Minute 5
Smash the cucumbers
Lay a Persian cucumber on the board, press down with the flat of a knife until it splits, then tear or cut it into bite-sized pieces. The rough surfaces hold dressing in a way clean slices never do.
Minute 8
Add the peach, then everything green
Slice one ripe peach straight into the bowl, then a diced avocado and a generous handful of cilantro — stems included. Do not toss yet; the avocado will bruise if it sits in dressing while you finish the rest.
Minute 15
Dress, toss, finish
Pile the warm shrimp on top and drizzle the ginger ponzu generously. Toss once, gently, then finish with toasted sesame seeds, a hard squeeze of lime and a big pinch of flaky salt. Eat it immediately, while the shrimp are still warm and the cucumber is still cold.
Swap the fruit, keep the formula
The shrimp, cucumber, avocado and ginger ponzu are fixed. The stone fruit is the one variable, and it is the part most likely to be out of season when you want this.
| Peach (as written) | Nectarine | Mango | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texture | Soft, juicy, slightly fuzzy skin | Firmer, holds its edges when tossed | Dense and slippery |
| Sweetness | High, with real acid behind it | Slightly lower, cleaner finish | Highest — go easy |
| Prep note | Leave the skin on, slice off the pit | Same as peach, no peeling | Peel it, and cut smaller than you think |
| Reach for it when | Peak summer, August into September | The peaches at the store are rock hard | It is February and stone fruit is a lie |
| Watch out for | Underripe fruit turns the salad flat | Almost foolproof | Can tip the whole bowl sweet — add extra lime |
Meet our partner
The dressing is doing most of the work.
Sunny Fine Foods is a Los Angeles company founded by Matt and Nora Kramer, and the whole premise is dressings with nothing hiding in them — no gums, no fillers, no blanket “natural flavors.” The Ginger Ponzu in this salad is tangy, sharply gingery, made with avocado oil, and it carries no added sugar. It is also never heat pasteurized, which is exactly why the ginger still tastes raw instead of cooked.
The range: four dressings — Simple Lemon, Miso Caesar, Ginger Ponzu and Scallion Ranch — plus three tahinis in Original, Green and Calabrian Chili. All Non-GMO Project Verified and Plastic Neutral certified.
You will find them at Whole Foods and Sprouts, or you can order the whole shelf direct. We partner with food people who read labels as carefully as we do — which is the through-line here, and the subject of the video.
Shop Sunny dressings & dips →Shrimp raised in a mangrove, not a cleared one
Most farmed shrimp comes from ponds cut out of mangrove forest. Ours is the opposite trade: Tarakan raises Black Tiger Shrimp inside standing Indonesian mangroves, where the shrimp feed on a natural diet of neoplankton and phytoplankton rather than on formulated pellets.
Third-party testing puts the mercury at 0.017 ppm, comfortably inside the 0.1 ppm ceiling of the Seatopia Standard. Each 4 oz portion carries roughly 18 mcg of selenium and about 40 mg of marine omega-3s, and the bag ships with no added sulfites — the preservative that gives most supermarket shrimp its faintly chemical edge. You can read how we test on our testing commitment page.
Questions cooks actually ask about this salad
Where do I get the Sunny Ginger Ponzu?
Sunny Fine Foods stock it at sunnyfoods.us, and it turns up at Whole Foods and Sprouts. If you cannot find it, whisk 3 Tbsp soy sauce, the juice of one lemon and one lime, 1 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger and 1 Tbsp neutral oil. It will not be identical — theirs is never heat pasteurized, which is why the ginger tastes raw — but it works.
Why smash the cucumbers instead of slicing them?
Smashing tears the flesh open along its own grain, and those ragged surfaces hold dressing that would slide straight off a clean cut. Press down with the flat of a knife until the cucumber splits, then break it into bite-sized pieces. It is also faster than slicing.
How do I know when the shrimp are done?
One to two minutes a side in a properly hot pan. They go from grey and translucent to bright orange and opaque, and the edges pick up a little colour. The reliable visual cue is shape: a shrimp curled into a loose C is cooked, one curled into a tight O has gone too far.
Can I make it ahead?
Not assembled — the avocado browns and the cucumber weeps, and the whole appeal is warm shrimp against cold, crunchy vegetables. You can cook the shrimp up to a day ahead and serve them cold, and you can smash the cucumbers a few hours early. Cut the peach and avocado and dress it only when you are ready to eat.
My peaches are not ripe. What else works?
Nectarines are the closest swap and are often firmer at the store anyway. Mango works out of season, but peel it, cut it smaller and add extra lime because it runs much sweeter. See the comparison table above. Underripe stone fruit is the one substitution that will genuinely flatten this salad — if the fruit is hard, use mango instead.
How do I defrost Seatopia shrimp?
Overnight in the refrigerator, still in the bag, is best. In a hurry, drop the sealed bag in a bowl of cold water for 20–30 minutes. Then pat them properly dry — wet shrimp steam instead of searing, and you will never get the crisp edges. Never thaw at room temperature or in the microwave.
More clean seafood to cook this week
Loved this one? There is more where it came from. Every Seatopia box also includes a FREE virtual cooking class, where we walk through searing, temps and knife work live.
