Forget takeout, make your own healthy cobb salad at home! This healthy grilled shrimp cobb salad is a twist on the classic, with all the best components. Crisp romaine lettuce is topped with colorful grape tomatoes, crispy cooked bacon strips, sliced hard boiled eggs, and avocado. Topped with flavorful skewers of grilled shrimp and the addition of a surprising ingredient: grilled scallions, this recipe is delicious and easy to make. The creamy honey mustard homemade dressing is the grand finale for this healthy salad.
What’s in this cobb salad, and what makes it healthy?
This cobb salad is similar to the traditional, but with some twists. The base of this salad is crisp romaine. It is topped with the usual components: crisp bacon, fresh halved grape tomatoes, avocado, and hard boiled eggs. What makes this cobb salad unique is the addition of flavorful grilled shrimp, grilled scallions (trust me on this) and a homemade creamy honey mustard dressing.
The changes that I made to this recipe to make it healthier are the following:
- center cut bacon vs. regular cut bacon
- Center cut bacon is real, pork bacon, but just slightly leaner with less fat than the standard cut of bacon.
- a grilled, lean protein
- The addition of grilled shrimp to this salad is a great way to up the protein factor and add delicious flavor to this recipe.
- If you do not like seafood, you could also use grilled chicken instead.
- a yogurt-based dressing
- The homemade dressing for this salad is yogurt based. Although you do not taste the yogurt in this dressing, it serves as a great creamy base to build flavors on.
- The other dressing components are honey, Dijon mustard and apple cider vinegar. Since the ingredients are so simple, this dressing is incredibly healthy and a great accompaniment to this salad as compared to other creamy dressings on the market.
What will I need to make this recipe?
To make this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
- romaine lettuce
- I used three hearts of romaine.
- grape or cherry tomatoes
- a bunch of scallions
- center cut bacon
- I love this brand: Center Cut Bacon | Oscar Mayer®
- uncooked jumbo shrimp
- I used colossal shrimp: 1 pound was equivalent to about 16 shrimp.
- seasoned salt
- paprika
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- ground mustard powder
- avocado
- hard boiled eggs
- plain non-fat Greek yogurt
- honey
- Dijon mustard
- apple cider vinegar
How to make this healthy grilled shrimp cobb salad
To make this salad, start out by roasting the bacon in a 400F oven for about 10-15 minutes or until cooked to your liking (I love my bacon very crispy). In the meantime, combine the seasoned salt, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and ground mustard together. Season the shrimp on all sides and then skewer the shrimp (there should be 4 skewers total, one per person). Add the skewered shrimp to a grill pan with cooking spray and cook the shrimp for about 5-10 minutes or until the shrimp is fully cooked; it should be firm and opaque.
Next, chop the ends off the scallions and add them to the grill pan with more cooking spray, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Grill until just tender and wilted, about 2-3 minutes total. Remove the shrimp and scallions from the pan to cool.
To prepare the salad, chop the romaine and add it to a large bowl. Half the cherry tomatoes, slice the hard boiled eggs, chop the avocado, and chop the cooked scallions. Add them to the romaine, along with the cooked shrimp skewers and cooked bacon.
*Alternatively, make 4 individual salads.
To make the dressing, simply whisk together the dressing ingredients in a bowl. Serve alongside the salad (about 2-3 tbsp per person).
Healthy Grilled Shrimp Cobb Salad
Equipment
- baking sheet
- grill pan or outdoor grill
- skewers
- large bowl
Ingredients
- 1 lb shrimp, raw, peeled, deveined
- 1 tsp seasoned salt, like Lawry's
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp ground mustard powder
- 8 slices center cut bacon
- 4 hard boiled eggs
- 1 avocado, medium
- 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 bunch scallions
- 3 heads romaine lettuce, about 12 cups of chopped romaine, but use as much as you wish
Dressing
- 1/2 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Line a baking sheet with foil, and place the 8 slices of bacon on the foil.
- Roast until cooked to your liking (for crispy bacon, between 10-15 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- In the meantime, combine the seasoned salt, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and mustard powder together.
- Season the shrimp on all sides with the spices, and skewer them (on 4 skewers).
- If using a grill pan, spray the pan liberally with cooking spray, and grill the shrimp until fully cooked (they should be firm and opaque). This will be about 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the shrimp from the grill.
- Cut the ends off of the scallions, and then add the scallions to the same grill pan with more olive oil spray, and a pinch of kosher salt and pepper for taste.
- Grill until wilted (just 2-3 minutes) and remove from the grill. Chop into smaller pieces.
- Combine the dressing ingredients in a separate bowl.
- To serve, chop the romaine and place in a large bowl.
- Half the cherry tomatoes, slice the eggs, and chop the avocado and add them to the romaine.
- Top with the cooked bacon, cooked shrimp, and cooked scallions.
- Serve with dressing on the side: about 2-3 tbsp per serving.
- Alternatively, make 4 individual salads.
Notes
Nutrition
You might also enjoy:
Bacon Wrapped Shrimp with Maple Butter
Mediterranean Shrimp and Veggie Skewers
Coleen says
Loved this salad! My husband isn’t normally a big shrimp guy but he was raving about it! This will be a summer staple. The dressing was very creamy and refreshing!
Lori Herman says
Loved this salad. Definitely making this again. Thanks Steph!
Veronica says
Just wondering if anyone has tried this recipe with Chicken instead of shrimp.