Seafood Pasta Salad (Use Pasta or Cauliflower)

Make this seafood pasta salad 2 ways - with pasta or cauliflower! 🙂 Both are delicious! A tasty, easy-to-make crab and shrimp salad that perfect as a side dish or a light lunch or dinner. Using cauliflower and our sugar-free french dressing makes this salad gluten free, low carb, and keto.

You'll Love This Crab and Shrimp Salad

"I have been making this creamy seafood pasta salad for YEARS! It's easy to throw together and tastes absolutely delicious with crab AND shrimp. Make with pasta, or you can use cauliflower and our sugar-free french to make this low carb and keto-friendly. Both versions are tasty. Enjoy" 🙂 -Kori

2 Ways To Make This Salad!

You'll love that there are 2 ways to make this crab and shrimp salad - with pasta or using cauliflower florets as a pasta substitute. Both are delicious. This is one of my favorite salads, so I played around with the ingredients until it worked perfectly with cauliflower. 🙂

Crab and shrimp salad has only 10 ingredients, not including salt and pepper.

Cook your pasta or cauliflower, then do a little chopping, add all ingredients together and pour the dressing over the top.

From there, refrigerate for a few hours and serve. Straightforward. Voila! Delicious seafood salad is on the way! 🙂

Low Carb Keto Crab Salad

Make it a healthy crab salad with shrimp by using cauliflower and sugar-free french dressing. Now it's a gluten-free, sugar-free, low-carb keto crab salad!

While the full nutritional value is provided at the end of the recipe card, here are the most important if you're following a low carb keto diet:

5.6 g net carbs | 12.3 g of fat | 9.4 g protein.

If you are interested in keto be sure to get our FREE keto food list and shopping list!

What To Serve with Seafood Pasta Salad

Need easy serving suggestions? Here are some ways that you can serve your creamy seafood pasta salad:

Serve with a grilled steak for a tasty surf and turf meal.

I like serving over lettuce. If you are not following a low-carb keto plan, you can serve over a melon wedge - the two pair really well together.

Serve on its own for lunch or a light dinner.

If you are not following a low carb or keto plan, you can serve this with a fresh roll, breadstick, or a biscuit.

Ingredients and Tools

Here are the ingredients you'll need to make shrimp and crab pasta salad:

• Pasta Shells or Cauliflower - use medium pasta shells or use fresh cauliflower cut into florets approximately 1" in size. Cook pasta according to package. Cauliflower should be cooked until crisp-tender, so it doesn't fall apart in the salad.
• Celery
• Tomato
• Carrot
• Green Onion
• Imitation Crabmeat - If you don't want to use imitation crab meat, be sure to use lump crab meat.
• Shrimp - shrimp should be cooked, shelled, and deveined. Again, medium-sized is best, but you can do what I did and cut the large size in half.
• Sour Cream - use full fat or low fat.
• Mayonnaise - I used avocado oil mayonnaise, but you can use any favorite kind. It can be low fat or full fat.
• French Dressing - make our sugar-free Catalina french for the low carb and keto version. Make in advance and use extra as a salad dressing or marinade later!
• Kosher Salt or Sea Salt
• Ground Black Pepper

Variations

There are a few ways you can vary or make substitutions for this crab and shrimp pasta salad.

• You can use all shrimp or all crab meat if you prefer.
• If you don't want to use imitation crab meat, you can substitute lump crab meat.
• Make it spicy with a little hot sauce.
• Use cauliflower in place of pasta. Follow recipe below, but you can microwave fresh cauliflower or frozen cauliflower.

How To Make It

Here's how to make this seafood pasta salad recipe - I think you're gonna love it!! 🙂

Please see recipe card for full details.

1. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Rinse with cold water and drain.
2. If you're using fresh cauliflower, cut into 1" pieces and steam, covered, in the microwave with 1/4 cup water for 3 to 4 minutes or until crisp-tender. You do not want the cauliflower too soft, or it will fall apart in the salad. Rinse with cold water and drain.
3. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.
4. Adjust salt and pepper to taste, serve.

💭 Top Tips

❓ FAQs

How do you store shrimp and crab pasta salad?

Refrigerate in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.

How long can you keep seafood salad?

This salad will keep for up to 3 days.

How do I make this recipe low fat?

To make seafood pasta salad low fat, use fat-free mayonnaise and sour cream.

Is this shrimp and crab salad keto-friendly?

If you make this with cauliflower and sugar-free Catalina french dressing, this shrimp and crab salad recipe is keto-friendly and has only 5.6 g net carbs in total, 12.3 grams of fat 9.4 g protein.

How many carbs in seafood salad?

The carb content of seafood salad can vary quite a bit, but this recipe made with cauliflower and sugar-free french contains 7.3 g carbs, 1.6 g dietary fiber, and 5.6 g net carbs.

Can you make crab and shrimp salad ahead?

Yes, this seafood pasta can easily be made ahead of time - in fact, the flavors continue to improve as it sits. Store it in an airtight container.

✔️ More Recipes

Salad Recipes

Looking for delicious healthy salad recipes? You'll love these keto and low carb recipes:

• Grilled Shrimp Salad Recipe (Shrimp Louie Salad)
• Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad (Keto Low Carb)
• Italian Antipasto Salad Platter Recipe
• Best Greek Salad Recipe (Keto Low Carb)
• Thai Peanut Salad Recipe (Low Carb Keto Salad)
• Layered Salad (Layered Overnight Salad)
• Low Carb Coleslaw (Dill Pickle Slaw)
• Dill Pickle Salad

Seafood Recipes

Here are a few seafood recipes you might enjoy:

• The Best Low Carb Keto Shrimp Tacos
• Keto Stir Fry with Shrimp (Low Carb Keto Chinese)
• Parmesan Crusted Air Fryer Tilapia (Keto Low Carb)
• Baked Salmon with Mayo and Parmesan Herb Crust

More Delicious Recipes

• Best Recipe for Cauliflower Steaks

If you tried Seafood Pasta Salad or the low carb version with cauliflower, I'd love for you to come back and give it a star rating and/or a review in the comments! 🙂 Let's stay connected, so please share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!

Try this delicious Seafood Pasta Salad made with either pasta or cauliflower! The perfect for lunch, or as a side dish, or light dinner. Great with grilled fish, and as a surf and turf meal with steak. Use fat-free mayonnaise and sour cream to lighten the calories and fat. Make Crab and shrimp salad with cauliflower and sugar free french dressing and it will be low carb, keto, gluten-free, with no added sugar - voila a healthy salad recipe! 🙂