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Super easy to make and absolutely loaded with flavor, this southern style, creamy Shrimp Pasta Salad will be your new go-to for an easy lunch or vibrant cookout side dish. This recipe easily feeds a crowd but is also easy to halve if you need to make a little less.

Creamy shrimp pasta salad with mayonnaise dressing seasoned with lemon, cajun seasonings and dill.

There’s just something about a good pasta salad. And this easy Shrimp Pasta Salad recipe is right at the top of the good salad list. Tender pasta and succulent little shrimp are bathed in a gorgeously flavorful dressing made with lemon juice and zest, mayo, vinegar, a little sugar, all purpose Creole Seasoning, garlic and dill.

Related Recipe: Southern Shrimp Salad Roll

And let’s not forget the crunch of a few fresh veggies! Sweet red bell pepper, crisp celery and a bite of red onion round out the taste of this salad perfectly. I don’t think there is a pasta salad that’s more refreshing or has more flavor!

Lemon, mayonnaise and cajun seasonings with salad shrimp and elbow macaroni served with cucumbers at a cookout. — Find the **marigold placemats & cocktail napkins** in these photos at Hen House Linens. Use the code SOUTHERNDISCOURSE for 20% off your entire purchase.

What to Serve with Creamy Shrimp Pasta Salad

Shrimp Macaroni Salad is so savory delicious; it goes with almost anything, especially your grilling favorites. We love it with:

a good cast iron skillet steak,
a juicy hamburger,
fried fish,
tomato pie
a good BLT quiche
or a bowl of spicy chilled avocado soup.

But it also makes for an amazing lunch by itself with a few crackers and tall glass of homemade mint lemonade or strawberry iced tea. Add a dash or two of Louisiana hot sauce for a little kick.

Ingredients & Recipe Overview

Ingredients for Cajun pasta salad include elbow macaroni, salad shrimp, red onion, red bell pepper, celery, lemon, mayonnaise, vinegar, cajun seasoning and dill.

I’ll walk through an overview of ingredients & steps in these next sections along with helpful tips!

Look for specifics at the end of the post in the recipe card.

small salad shrimp
elbow macaroni
red bell pepper
celery
red onion
lemon (juice & zest)
mayonnaise
apple cider vinegar
all purpose Creole seasoning (or Old Bay seasoning)
dried dill weed
minced garlic
sugar (just to highlight the other flavors- this salad is not sweet.)
salt & pepper

Recipe Variations

For more flavor, consider adding diced cucumbers, halved cherry tomatoes, frozen green peas, even raw sweet corn.
If you don’t have apple cider vinegar, white vinegar works too.
Lastly, if you have fresh dill, use 1.5 teaspoons of chopped fresh dill instead of the dried dill weed specified in the recipe.

How to Make Easy Shrimp Pasta Salad

Making shrimp pasta salad is as simple as whisking together the mayo based dressing and tossing together the ingredients.

Boil the pasta. Cook the pasta in generously salted water until al dente according to its package instructions (approximately 5-7 minutes). Remove from heat. Drain and rinse with cold water in a colander.

Prep the other ingredients. While the pasta is cooking and draining, whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing first and set aside so the flavors can come together. Dice the bell pepper, onion and celery.

Toss & dress the salad. In a large bowl, toss together macaroni, shrimp, diced bell pepper, red onion and celery. Pour dressing over the salad and toss again until all of the ingredients are coated.

Serve. You can serve this shrimp pasta salad immediately or cover and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. The flavors only get better as the pasta and shrimp spend time in the dressing, getting infused with all those deliciously savory flavors! Garnish with extra dill weed, lemon zest or lemon slices, if desired.

A serving spoon filled with creamy shrimp pasta salad with bell peppers, onion and celery.

Tips for Making The Best Pasta Salad

Choosing the right pasta shape and size is a basic of good pasta salad. For this salad, a ridged elbow macaroni about the same size as the salad shrimp is perfect. The tubes and ridges have maximum capacity for holding all that good dressing, and the size of the pasta doesn’t overwhelm the shrimp.
Likewise, when dicing the veggies for this salad, dice them small and all approximately the same size. This ensures that you get a little bit of everything in every bite and everything can be tasted together (like the photo above). No thumb-sized, half moons of celery here.
An al dente pasta makes for the best pasta salad! It is slightly firm and holds it texture and shape as the pasta sits in the dressing.

FAQs About This Recipe

If you’re serving this salad at a cookout, potluck or tailgate, make sure an iced salad bowl is used and the salad doesn’t sit out in the heat longer than 30-45 mins. If you’ve read the Loaded Baked Potato Salad post, you know that mayo isn’t the culprit. For this salad, it’s definitely the seafood.
Shrimp pasta salad shines when made the day before because it allows the dressing flavors to really infuse the shrimp and pasta.
This pasta salad is not a good candidate for freezing and thawing.

A bowl of shrimp and pasta salad with lemon slices and parsley.

More Pasta Salad Recipes You’ll Love

If You Make This Recipe, I Can’t Wait To Hear About It!