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)
-
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….
Absolutely loved this! My kind of salad. Dressing was really zesty with the lime. I added some soft goats cheese too! Will definitely be making again. Thank you 😊
I wasn’t able to get fresh mangoes from the little corner shop so I substituted fresh peaches. I also added honey to the dressing, I have a sweet tooth. Delicious!
I love this salad. Perfect for a hot summer day and really popular with family and friends
I have been making a similar recipe for more than 20 years. It is one of the most liked in our family.. There is so much you can add to this by adding a few different ingredients, a different dressing. You can just use your imagination. I’ve added chillies., It has never let me down. You can change to mixed lettuce or just a single lettuce. I add strawberry PawPaw ( Papaya). the list is endless.
This one ticks a lot of boxes for me… delicious, fresh, simple, quick to prepare.
I am the laziest person on earth when it comes to weeknight dinners (I usually meal prep and have heaps of frozen leftovers) but this was such a minimal impost on time.
Basically just more return than the effort by a mile, I can hardly get over how amazing this recipe is…
A definite keeper, thank you.
This is great!
Made it for supper Christmas Night – and again today for lunch. Friends who were over at Christmas asked for the recipe – and they’ve made it at their place today as well.
Prepared almost as directed – few little tweaks (switched from red onion to spring onion as someone can’t eat red onion. Ditto from coriander to Italian parsley. And I added a teaspoon of runny honey to the dressing as I think it mellows it out just a little) – but everything else as per your recipe and the video.
Soooooo good –
Thank you!! 🙂
I tried this for Christmas as a side salad this year, i just used oak lettuce and left the noodles out, it was delicious, everyone loved it , thankyou once again Nagi another success!!
This is a great salad for xmas feasts – the dressing is delicious and I upped the lime a little.
Wanted to make something different this Christmas and found this recipe! I’m lazy so bought a pack of precooked prawns and also used the microwaveable brown rice/quinoa sachets. So delicious and fresh! Love this so much! Thanks and Merry Christmas Nagi and Dozer! xo
Hi Nagi, what’s the best way to cook black rice, I’m attempting to cook this recipe tomorrow night, and I am using black rice instead of risoni. Thanks 🤩
WOW. Rave reviews from the family. Added corn & cucumber. Also had chicken on the side for non prawn eaters (they picked the prawns out). This dish makes a kilo of prawns go a long way. Amazing flavours. DIL is making this for Xmas lunch. 10/10.
5 stars because it’s by Nagi but honestly I haven’t made this yet. What can I put for avocado?
Drop dead gorgeous flavours. I made this frequently last Summer so I’m delighted that the warm weather is back and I feel like this delicious salad again. Couldn’t get orzo so I used small spiral pasta which worked a treat. I added loads more coriander for a herby punch and some chili crisp and Pamela sugar in the dressing, which I think made it even more delicious. Fabulous summer food to encourage healthy eating when it’s so hot you lose your appetite. This brings it back with a vengence!
was amazing….loved it. now will make it for the friend’s party.
Nagi, I made the prawn & mango salad for dinner tonight & received rave reviews. Thanks for your great, infallible recipes. I did swap the rocket for a mix of baby cos & red oak leaves as kids not keen on rocket. I also added a cup of pecans which I had on hand. Worked well… again thanks .
This is phenomenal.
Ridiculously delicious! I used quinoa because for some reason I keep buying it and not using it. Added cucumbers and feta cheese. I serve the shrimp on the side because it creeps me out but my husband loves it. An absolute winner and a salad I will continue to make all summer long!
Absolutely delicious we added some fried crunchy noodles and used Nuoc cham dressing thank you Nagi your my go-to
Can’t stop making this salad… best ever!
Amazing and soooo tasty!! Will definitely be making again