Easy 4-Ingredient Aldi Southwest Salad Shrimp Tacos

Who doesn’t love tacos? Or shrimp? Shrimp tacos can be the best of both worlds. I often order shrimp dishes when I get food from Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurants, whether it’s shrimp fajitas, shrimp quesadillas, or a fantastic chimichanga with fajita shrimp I had on vacation in the Smoky Mountains last summer.

A while back, someone in an Aldi-related social media group shared an easy hack for making shrimp tacos with just a few simple items picked up at Aldi. The base for the tacos is a bag of Southwest Chopped Salad, found in the produce aisle with all of the bagged lettuces and other salad kits. My family likes a lot of the salad kits at Aldi, and I often eat the salads for an easy, healthy lunch. So I picked up the ingredients to try the easy Aldi shrimp tacos myself.

Aldi Four-Ingredient Southwest Salad Shrimp Tacos, with some tortilla chips and salsa con queso on the side.

The Short Version:

(Makes four to five tacos.)

Ingredients: 

• One 12-ounce bag Little Salad Bar Southwest Chopped Salad Kit
• One 12-ounce package frozen Fremont Fish Market Raw Shrimp
• One 17.5-ounce package of Pueblo Lindo Flour Tortillas
• Stonemill Garlic Powder to taste
• Optional toppings: Casa Mamita Salsa Con Queso, Friendly Farms Sour Cream

Directions: 

1. Thaw frozen shrimp overnight in the refrigerator, or thaw for a few minutes in a colander under running water. Peel shrimp.
2. Heat a medium-sized pan over medium heat. Add shrimp and sprinkle with garlic powder. Cook, stirring frequently, until the shrimp are pink.
3. Open the salad kit bag — including all the small individual packets inside the bag — and dump all ingredients into a medium-sized bowl. Mix thoroughly.
4. Heat a skillet on low-to-medium heat on the stove and heat tortillas one at a time for about 30 seconds on each side.
5. To assemble tacos, spoon some of the chopped salad mix into a tortilla and top with several cooked shrimp. Add salsa con queso or sour cream if desired.
6. Serve with Spanish or Mexican rice and chips and dip (salsa, queso, guacamole, etc.).

For step-by-step detailed illustrated directions and more thoughts on these tacos, read on.

The Long Version:

The primary ingredients for the Southwest Salad Shrimp Tacos are a bag of Little Salad Bar Southwest Chopped Salad ($3.29), a bag of Pueblo Lindo Flour Tortillas ($1.59), a bag of Fremont Fish Market Raw Shrimp ($4.99), and some Stonemill Garlic Powder (95 cents). (You could use two cloves of fresh minced garlic instead of garlic powder if you prefer.)

Taco ingredients: salad, tortillas, garlic powder, and shrimp.

Before making the tacos, you’ll need to thaw the shrimp. The ideal way to thaw them is to empty them into a medium-sized bowl, cover the bowl with a lid, plastic wrap, or foil, and refrigerate the shrimp overnight. If you’re in a hurry, you can empty the bag of frozen shrimp into a colander and thaw them by holding the colander in the sink and running lukewarm water over the shrimp for several minutes.

Once the shrimp are thawed, removed the peels and tails.

Shrimp cooking in my Aldi Crofton Awesome Pan.

Then, heat a medium-sized pan over medium heat and add the shrimp. Sprinkle some garlic powder (or fresh minced garlic) on top of them — about a teaspoon to a tablespoon — and stir to coat. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the shrimp are pink, and turn off the stove top.

The shrimp will look pink like this when they’re fully cooked.

Next, it’s time to open the bagged salad kit and mix it up. The kit comes with a bag full of lettuce, cabbage, and other veggies. Buried in the lettuce is a plastic packet that contains individual plastic pouches of shredded cheese, Greek yogurt jalapeno dressing, and crunchy tortilla strips.

The Southwest Chopped Salad Kit components, including dressing, tortillas, and cheese.

Dump all the salad components into a medium-sized bowl and stir well to coat everything with dressing.

Delicious salad all mixed up and ready to serve.

Next, heat a skillet over low to medium heat and warm some flour tortillas, about 30 seconds on each side. Keep an eye on your tortillas because they will heat quickly.

When the tortillas are heated, it’s time to assemble the shrimp tacos. Place one warmed tortilla on a plate and spoon some of the salad mixture onto the tortilla. Then add a few shrimp.

Shrimp taco, ready to eat.

If you want some extra flavor, you can add a spoonful of sour cream. Or my family likes to drizzle on some Casa Mamita Salsa Con Queso for a nice kick and a little extra sauce. If you prefer simple (and if you want to avoid processed jarred cheese dip), that’s fine, too.

Yum!

These tacos are great if you’re trying to eat healthier, especially if you don’t doctor them with queso or other add-ons. One of the best things about tacos is how customizable they are. The base recipe for these shrimp tacos is simple, wholesome, and easy to whip up in about 10-20 minutes. If you don’t like shrimp, you could even experiment with using chicken or steak in these tacos. You could even try using a different salad kit (Aldi sells Asian chopped salad kits, a sunflower salad kit, and a newer bacon avocado ranch kit) with different meats. There are quite a few possibilities.

Have you tried these shrimp tacos? Or do you make other types of tacos or easy meals with Aldi salad kits? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.