Crisp cucumber, soft boiled eggs, avocado, broccoli, and succulent pieces of shrimp in a creamy dressing, this Japanese Shrimp and Broccoli Salad is so easy and delicious in every bite. A perfect salad to be thrown together for a lunch on the go!
I loved seafood growing up in Japan where there are so many seafood choices. Besides various kinds of fish, one of my favorite ingredients from the ocean is shrimp.
Today I’m sharing a quick and delicious Shrimp and Broccoli Salad recipe made with shrimp, avocado, boiled eggs, and broccoli. These four ingredients have different textures and flavors, yet when you combine them all together, the result is a really nice and creamy flavorful salad.
Shrimp and Broccoli Salad from Japanese Deli
If you’re familiar with Osozai (お惣菜) or deli in a department store in Japan, this is one of the most popular salads – Broccoli & Shrimp Salad (ブロッコリーと海老サラダ). The recipe is quite simple and ingredients are likely to be in your fridge or pantry.
To replicate the flavor of the salad from deli stores, I highly recommend using Japanese mayonnaise for this recipe because Japanese mayonnaise and American mayonnaise tastes a bit different. Japanese mayonnaise is a bit sweeter and has a tangy taste. If you cannot find it, please try adding rice vinegar and sugar to your regular mayonnaise (click here for more info).
As a personal preference, I like my hard-boiled eggs to be cooked tiny bit on the soft side (but not soft-boiled eggs). The egg yolks should still show bright yellow in the center of the yolk and the texture is a bit soft. That way, when you mix it up with the rest of the ingredients, the moist egg yolks stay together instead of falling apart and gives nice bright color to the salad. If the egg yolk is fully cooked it’s likely to crumble apart.
How I Enjoy Shrimp and Broccoli Salad
I like this refreshing salad should be served slightly chilled, but you can serve it at room temperature as well. Don’t be afraid to add some salt to season the salad instead of adding more mayonnaise. Without salt, the taste can be a bit bland, and salt brings in all the flavor together nicely. The most interesting part of this salad for me as I mentioned before is the texture. The crisp cucumber with the soft texture of chopped eggs and avocado, mixed with succulent shrimp and tasty broccoli goes with many types of meal. I hope you enjoy this salad as much as my family does.
Watch How To Make Shrimp and Broccoli Salad
Delicious and simple salad with crisp cucumber, chopped soft boiled eggs, avocado, and mixed with succulent pieces of shrimp and tasty broccoli.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Shrimp and Broccoli Salad
Video
Ingredients
- 6-7 shrimp
- ½ Tbsp potato starch/cornstarch (to clean shrimp)
- pinch kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)
- 1 Tbsp sake
- 6 oz broccoli florets
- 1 avocado
- 2 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell)
- 1 Persian/Japanese cucumber⅛ (I use Persian cucumber here)
Dressing
- 2-3 Tbsp Japanese mayonnaise (For 1 Tbsp of American mayonnaise, add ½ tsp rice vinegar and ⅛ tsp sugar and whisk together.)
- 1 tsp milk (or heavy cream)
- ½ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Clean shrimp with cornstarch and devein (check out my tutorial). Keep the shell on so the shrimp won’t lose the flavor while being cooked.
- Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add sake and salt (to remove smell) and the shrimp and reduce the heat to medium. Cook uncovered for 2 minutes or until the shrimp turns opaque.
- Monitor closely to avoid overcooking. Remove with a mesh strainer to a bowl of iced water to let cool. The ice bath will help the shrimp have a firm texture.
- Peel the shrimp shell and cut it into bite-size pieces.
- In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat to medium and cook the eggs for 10 minutes. Transfer the eggs to iced water and let cool for 3 minutes to stop cooking.
- Peel the eggshell and cut into small pieces.
- Cut broccoli florets in bite-size pieces. Bring water to a boil in the medium saucepan and cook broccoli for 1 minute or till tender. Watch closely to avoid overcooking.
- Transfer to iced water to stop cooking further and drain well.
- Peel the cucumber and cut it in half lengthwise. Then cut into ¼ inch (6 mm) slices.
- Cut avocado into cubes and scoop out the avocado into a large bowl with a spoon.
- Put all the ingredients in the bowl, and add mayonnaise and milk.
- Sprinkle salt and freshly ground black pepper and toss all together. Add more salt and pepper to taste, if desired. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Notes
Awesome to the infinity + and more. It will be one of my favourite SUMMER salads. AWESOME technique in cooking the shrimp and broccoli (this is why I like to just stay at home and cook; I’ve never tasted broccoli cooked as well as this and I DID it, thank Nami). I ate the whole serving for myself. It is so light yet so fatty. Great for KETO LOVERS. I made the Japanese mayo using the regular + RWV + sugar (which is how Filipinos cook, sugar in everything LOL). P.S. I had prepped the ingredient on a Friday and had to postpone til the next day to assemble. It worked; hence, PERFECT for a lazy weekend. Also great during LENT for Christians planning on FASTING from meat. Because sometimes fish can get tiring.
Hello Llewellyn, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your sweet feedback!!!
Nami is so happy to hear you enjoyed her tips for creating this dish. Happy Cooking!
As Easter looms, I have cooked this a lot. Today Holy Saturday I am enjoying my 4th time. It is so good and so perfect. I bought a 3 kg tub of honey and I’m using it everywhere. So I replaced the sugar with honey. I think the honey turned the mayo yellow so it looked like Japanese mayo. Fool-proof. Never fails to be yummy.
Hi Llewellyn, Happy Easter! 🐰
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed this dish! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback.
I’m curious why the original recipe did not have a small amount of soy sauce in it? Not that everything must, but this one would seem open to it. Although I have not tried it.
Hi JP,
We are not too sure if we understood your question correctly… What do you mean by “the original recipe”? Which recipe you’re referring to?
Are you asking if this salad from the Osozai shop at the department store includes soy sauce in it?
There is no soy sauce flavor in the salad, but you may add it to replace salt content and add more umami. However, it darkens the color of the salad. It’s up to you. We hope this helps!
“the original recipe”: meaning, Your recipe, this recipe. You are the original poster of it, so I called it the original recipe meaning without soy sauce.
So I was curious as to why you did not add a soy flavor to your recipe.
I did not know that Shrimp and Broccoli salad was something available at the store. I assumed you created it, in such I was curious as to your thought process in creating it why you didn’t add soy, is all. It seems that this is your “take” on an available store item?
Also, I did not read the description for my OP, or my first reply. I just skipped ahead to the recipe. So I never saw “If you’re familiar with Osozai (お惣菜) or deli in a department store in Japan”
Hence the confusion.
Hi JP,
I see… Nami did not use soy sauce for this recipe because it aimed to replicate the flavor of the most popular salads in a department store in Japan. We also prefer this recipe without soy sauce because it will darken the color of the salad. 😉
My favorite salad to make. The only thing that I change is making it with gai lan.
Everyone loves it and then they eat it all. It’s gotten to the point that it is requested as family gatherings.
I make a separate bowl for me and have it for lunch. So glad I found this. Thank you, Nami.
Hi Geebz! I’m so happy to hear you and your family enjoy this dish (and good idea you keep your bowl separate! 🤗). Thank you so much for your kind feedback. ❤️
Would it make a difference if I peel the shrimps first before boiling?
Hi Onio! In Japanese cooking “common sense”, we keep the shell on to boil to keep the “juice” and “essence” while boiling. So unless it’s already peeled, I usually try to boil with shell on and then peel afterwards. But… it’ll be a subtle difference (and sometimes that matters). I’ll recommend if you don’t mind. 🙂
Thank you. I’ll try it tonght!
Hi
Can I make this salad on friday (evening) and take it to my school on Saturday in my lunch box?
Hi Agnieszka! Yes you can with the condition of keeping the lunch box cool (with ice pack in insulated lunch bag) and keep it cool all times till lunch time. I don’t recommend to keep it at room temperature at any times. 🙂
Thank You very much for answer
Hi Nami, for the shrimp and broccoli, how long do we need to put it in the ice water? And also, if I wish to, can I replace the shrimp with chicken?
Hi Jessica! It’s to cool down, so as long as the shrimp/broccoli are cooled, you need to take it out (otherwise you will lose the flavor). And sure, you can use the chicken. If you are going to boil the chicken, do the same. If you grill it, you can leave on a plate to cool. 🙂 Hope this helps! Enjoy!
So simple and I’m sure it’s very tasty–can’t wait to try this!
Hope you enjoy, Donna! 🙂
this looks good Nami, perfect for my new low carb diet
Hi Jenny! Definitely fulfilling without carb! 🙂 Thank you for stopping by and hope all is well with you! 🙂
The ingredient combination sounds really great, not to mention the colors of the dish. I can imagine this being a tasty and more nutritious alternative to the ordinary potato salad. Can’t wait to try it out!
(And a happy belated birthday to Mr. JOC!!)
Hi Kimmi! Mr. JOC said thank you for your birthday wishes. 🙂 Oh yes, it’s a great alternative to the potato salad. It’s more chunky and fulfilling in a away. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Well, this has all of my favourites in the one bowl! With the Australian summer already started [40 C forecast for Friday!] this kind of recipe is both easy to make and so palatable in the heat, especially with a glass of cold dry wine!!
Hi Eha! I’m jealous of your warm summer weather… but wow 40C is HOT! I’ll be soon in Asia (Taiwan, to be precise) and it should be around 27C… I can’t wait. 😀 The cold white wine sounds good with this salad! 🙂