A big, juicy Prawn Mango Avocado Summer Salad!! Tossed with a fresh lime dressing, this is a magical combination of textures and flavours that’s summer in a (giant) bowl.
A terrific almost no-cook meal option or a great summer salad for a crowd. This is also how I make prawns (shrimp) stretch further!
Summer Salad – Prawns, Mango and Avocado!
I’m a bit fussy when it comes to fruit in meals. I never got on board the pork with apple thing. I’m not really a big fan of fruity sauces with roasts unless it errs more towards savoury or tart than sweet.
But mangoes with prawns? It’s a match made in heaven. It’s like tomato and basil. They are just meant to be!
Not that I’ve stopped there. Prawns and mango are the star ingredients in this summer salad, but just look at all the other goodness we’ve got here…. Creamy avocado – umm, hello! Juicy cherry tomatoes, fresh leafy greens, freshness from red onion and coriander/cilantro, all tossed through with a zesty lime dressing..
Who ever said salads are boring….! 😂
Make less prawns stretch further
You may have noticed that the prawns in this Summer Salad are chopped, which is a bit unusual. I do this for two reasons:
1. Stretch the prawns further – Big, juicy, bright orange prawns are in their prime during summer, but they aren’t cheap! Especially if you get really good quality ones.
So this is how I make less prawns go further. By chopping them, you get to have a bit of prawn in every single bite rather than just 5 prawns on your plate that disappear in 5 seconds. (Oh wait, is that just me? 😂)
2. Eat with a spoon – chopped = food you can eat with a spoon of which I am a big fan. Partly convenience (eg eyes remain glued to TV / book whilst eating), partly laziness (no need to cut with knife and fork). Partly greediness (you can shovel way more in your mouth in one go).
Make it a meal
This is a Summer Salad that’s intended to be a meal. And while it would be lower calorie to skip out on any type of carb, I like to fill this salad out using risoni / orzo, rice (any type) or quinoa (see this recipe for how to cook it). You’ll love how it soaks up all the flavour from the juicy prawns, mango and the dressing!
Giant couscous (pearl couscous) would also be ideal in this (cook it the way I do in this Israeli Couscous Salad). If you’re making this to impress, try using Wild Rice instead of risoni (cook it per this Wild Rice Salad recipe). The black colour and nuttiness of the rice looks and tastes spectacular!
How to make it
This is a straight forward recipe that calls for more chopping than anything else! Make the Lime Dressing first (just olive oil, fresh lime juice, garlic, S&P) to give the flavours time to meld. Cook the risoni/orzo. And meanwhile, chop the other ingredients, then bring it all together.
How to dice mango
Quick tip! Here’s an easy way to dice mango: Cut the cheeks off, score a grid in the flesh, then run a spoon around the rim then scoop the flesh out. And like magic, cubes of mango come tumbling out!
Depending on the size of your mango, some of these cubes will probably be larger than ideal so just cut them a bit smaller.
I just realised that I’ve used far more photos than necessary for such a simple Summer Salad.
I can’t resist. The self confessed Queen of Brown Foods (curries, gravies etc) is overly excited to be faced with all the beautiful colours in this salad.
Colourful food doesn’t happen often around here. Let me indulge! 😂 ~ Nagi x
Prawn, Mango Avocado Summer Salad
Watch How To Make It
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Prawn Mango Avocado Summer Salad with Lime Dressing
Ingredients
Salad:
- 2.5 cups cooked risoni/orzo or similar (Note 1)
- 300 – 400g / 10 – 12 oz cooked peeled prawns / shrimp (~750g unpeeled whole cooked)
- 1 large mango , cut 1.5cm / ½” pieces
- 1 large ripe avocado , cut 1.5cm / ½” pieces
- 75 g / 2.5 oz rocket / arugula , roughly chopped (Note 2)
- 250 g / 8oz cherry tomatoes , halved
- 1/2 red onion , finely sliced
- 1/4 cup coriander / cilantro leaves , finely chopped (Note 2)
Lime Dressing:
- 4 tbsp (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) lime juice (fresh), plus more to taste
- 1 small garlic clove , minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Shake Dressing in a jar.
- Chop prawns into 1.75 – 2 cm / 2/3” pieces.
- Place all Salad Ingredients in a bowl, pour over dressing. Toss very gently using rubber spatula. Adjust to taste with more lime if desired. Serve immediately!
Recipe Notes:
* Quinoa – cook per this recipe, use 3/4 cup (use recipe scaler in that recipe and adjust until uncooked quinoa amount becomes 3/4 cup)
* White Rices^ – 1 cup uncooked with 1 1/2 cups water in saucepan. Cover, bring to simmer, then turn down to medium low. Cook 12 – 15 min until water is absorbed, remove from heat, leave lid on. Stand 10 minutes, fluff, cool, use required amount for this recipe. Freeze remainder and stockpile to use for Fried Rice! Best to use long grain or medium grain white rice, jasmine or basmati. Short grain or sushi rice also ok (but the previous listed are better). Do not use: risotto or paella rice. * Brown Rice^ – 1 cup uncooked with 2 cups water. Cook as above except it will take 35 to 40 minutes, measure out amount required for this recipe. * Wild Rice – cook per this recipe. * Pearl / Giant Couscous – cook per packet ^ Hard to cook less than 1 cup. Put leftovers in freezer, stockpile and use for Fried Rice! 2. Variations / subs:
- Rocket (arugula) – sub with baby or normal spinach, other leafy greens or shredded cabbage
- Coriander/cilantro – sub with parsley or chives or green onion
- Other variations – lemon instead of lime, crab or other seafood, even chopped seafood sticks! Beans instead of risoni/orzo or for a low carb option, try cauliflower rice.
- Add ins – corn, cucumber, shaved fennel, cooked diced capsicum/bell peppers or zucchini
Nutrition Information:
FRESH PRAWN RECIPES TO ENJOY ALL SUMMER!
- 5 Prawn Dipping Sauces for a giant bucket of fresh prawns
- Prawn Mango Avocado Summer Salad with Lime Dressing (this recipe)
- Thai Prawn Mango Avocado Salad
- Prawn Cocktail
- Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls
- Fresh peeled prawns alongside a Corn Salad with Avocado for a quick summer meal
- Browse all Prawn / Shrimp Recipes
Life of Dozer
And 10 minutes later, he was still doing this….
I made this twice in 2 weeks because it was so tasty. The flavours in this dish are really well balanced and the dressing could be used for other salads too. Would definitely recommend
Just wondering, a tin of shrimps has been sitting in my pantry for over a year,and never had the chance to use them.Would it be sacrilege to use them up in this recipe?
I’d stick to fresh here Helen, I find tinned shrimp are a little grainy and the texture is different. Make a batch of fried rice and chuck them in – they will be amazing! N x
It’s 30C here in British Columbia so that meant a cool refreshing salad
This is now our new favorite
So tasty and so much flavor
I made it with prawns for me and sautéd crispy
Skin chicken breasts for darling husband who doesn’t share my love of seafood
Just bought 3 pounds of Flash frozen jumbo spot prawns so I can Indulge in this amazing salad throughout the next two seasons
Thank you 💕
Fantastyczne danie ,uwielbiam owoce marza i to jest pyszne .
Awesome….wish i could post my picture…
I’m so glad you loved it Nancy!
Delicious
I’m so happy you enjoyed it Mimi! N x
Hi Nagi, was wondering if you thought this would be a good salad to make ahead for a work lunch the next day? I was thinking of taking the avocado whole and cutting it up at lunch.
It would be perfect Amanda!
Hi, how do you suggest cooking the shrimp before hand?
Hi Kerrie, I usually buy pre-cooked shrimp. You could always cook your own by tossing them into boiling water for 1-2 minutes or until cooked and they have changed colour. Remove them and place into ice water to stop them cooking – N x
This is my favourite post Christmas salad. I look forward to making it each year. Yum!
This is wonderful. Super easy and you can make most bits ahead. Had it for Christmas yesterday. Huge hit! Many thanks Nagi! H x
My new favourite! A great hit at the last gathering and very easy to put together. Little effort needed for a smashing success. I’ve just prepped the various components for tonight’s do and added some chilli that needed to go from my fridge. Hope I haven’t spoiled the dish as it was perfect as is. Thank you!
Sorry about the “salald” having “fat finger syndrome” and our NBN being slow in showing what letters I’ve already typed up. Ha! Ha!
Oh Nagi! I heard you calling me, putting my name on this one, you know me so well. Going to do this one for Christmas next weekend as our eldest son being a paramedic has to work on Christmas day, so we’re celebrating earlier. Only thing different is I’ll delete the risoni/orzo/rice since we’re all doing Keto and the children won’t know the difference anyway. Loooove everything about this one as it has everything we love and having that lime dressing will top it off nicely. Making this one also your “Roast Pumpkin Spinach and Feta Salad” couldn’t be any easier with these two salalds, so light and refreshing. Well done GF!
I’m also envious of Dozer getting all the licks. YUM!
Another delicious recipe and so quick to make. I used lemon instead of lime. Thank you.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Annette!
Sooo Good
Thanks Penny!
Hi Nagi
Just made the prawn, mango, avacado etc salad for dinner. I did add a bunch of chillies cos I love them and wow what a great salad. Might just eat it every day, it was so yummy. Next I’m going to make the fudge cake, looks sooo good. Love your site, your recipes and your gorgeous pooch.
Thanks, I’ll be back
JP
I’m so glad you loved it JP!
Yummy recipe. Other than not using the cilantro, I didn’t change anything. It was delicious. Great for a hot summer day.
Perfect Lucy!!
Another fabulous recipe added to our rotation. I’m not a lover of salad (boring!) and my husband is funny about fruit with ‘savoury’ food but it looked too good not to try, and I’m glad I did. There were just so many taste combinations! Thanks Nagi 🙂
Absolutely love this salad, made it just as you said, thanks Nagi!
Absolutely lovely!!
Was perfect for a hot summer night in Canada. Making it again for company on our upcoming holiday weekend.
Made it with mangos once and then used strawberries which are in season here.
Can’t wait to try it with peaches next month when they arrive at our farmer’s market.
Perfect summer meal.
This caught me totally off guard. The salad was so fresh and lite(light), and amazingly tasteful. I plan to make this a regular meal for myself.
That’s awesome Carl!