Seafood Pasta Salad
This Southern seafood pasta salad recipe is a Savannah, Georgia family tradition with butter-sautéed shrimp and sweet lump crab meat folded into bow tie pasta with a creamy Old Bay dressing made with sour cream, fresh dill, and a squeeze of lemon. It's the cold pasta salad with seafood that disappears first at every cookout, and it only gets better overnight.
Servings: 8
Calories: 459kcal
Ingredients
Pasta & Seafood
- 12 oz Bow Tie Pasta
- 1 lb Medium Shrimp (peeled and deveined)
- 1 tbsp Salted Butter
- ½ tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
- 8 oz Lump Crab Meat
- Salt & Pepper to Taste
Seafood Salad Dressing
- 1 cup Mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup Sour Cream
- 1 Lemon (juiced)
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tbsp Old Bay
- ⅔ cup Celery (chopped)
- ¼ cup Red Onion (chopped)
- 2 tbsp Fresh Dill (chopped)
- Salt & Pepper to Taste
Instructions
- Wash and chop celery, red onion, and fresh dill. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium heat. Add pasta and cook until al dente, 10-12 minutes.
- While pasta cooks, sauté shrimp in butter with Old Bay, salt, and pepper over medium heat for 3-4 minutes until pink and cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Make the dressing: whisk together mayo, sour cream, lemon juice, garlic powder, Old Bay, salt, and pepper. Stir in celery, red onion, and fresh dill. Set aside.
- Drain pasta and rinse under cold water until fully cooled. This stops the cooking process and prevents the dressing from becoming oily. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Add dressing to pasta and toss to coat. Fold in sautéed shrimp and lump crab meat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
- Storage - Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Stir in a tablespoon of mayo or a squeeze of lemon before serving if it looks dry, the pasta absorbs the dressing as it sits.
- Make Ahead - This salad tastes better the next day. Make it up to 24 hours in advance and reserve ¼ of the dressing to stir in right before serving.
- Shrimp tip - Don't overcook the shrimp, they should be pink and just slightly curled, no more than 3-4 minutes. Overcooked shrimp turns rubbery in the salad.
- Pasta tip - Rinse the cooked pasta under cold water until completely cool before adding the dressing. Warm pasta will make a mayo-based dressing oily and greasy.
- Crab tip - Fold the lump crab meat in gently at the very end, you want those chunks intact, not shredded into the salad.
- Chill time - Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Overnight is even better.
Nutrition
Calories: 459kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 124mg | Sodium: 786mg | Potassium: 360mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 194IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 83mg | Iron: 1mg