Tacos with Shrimp & Avocado Dressing
Hot paprika-crusted shrimp over a cool raw corn-tomato salsa, drizzled with avocado-yogurt dressing you blend smooth in thirty seconds. Everything fits in two taco shells and takes 20 minutes from frozen shrimp to full plate.
The macros land at 565 kcal, 27g protein, 36g fat, almost all of it from the avocado and olive oil. 11 grams of fiber from the corn, salad, and avocado round out a dinner built on whole-food fats without anything heavy.
Hot paprika-crusted shrimp over a cool raw corn-tomato salsa, drizzled with avocado-yogurt dressing you blend smooth in thirty seconds. Everything fits in two taco shells and takes 20 minutes from frozen shrimp to full plate.
The macros land at 565 kcal, 27g protein, 36g fat, almost all of it from the avocado and olive oil. 11 grams of fiber from the corn, salad, and avocado round out a dinner built on whole-food fats without anything heavy.
Ingredients
- shrimp (frozen) 3 ounces
- cherry tomatoes 8 pieces
- red onion 0.25
- corn 2 ounces
- tacos 2 pieces
- avocado 0.5
- yogurt, nonfat 1.5 fluid ounce
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
- paprika (ground spice) 1 teaspoon
- ground cumin 1 pinch
- chili powder 1 pinch
- mixed salad 1 handful
Method
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Preheat the oven to 350°F (180 °C).
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Thaw the shrimp.
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Chop the tomatoes into pieces and finely chop the onion. Mix this together with the corn in a small bowl.
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Warm the tacos in the oven according to the package instructions.
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Using an immersion blender, puree the avocado with the yogurt in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
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Pat the shrimp dry with kitchen paper.
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Heat the oil in a pan. Add the shrimp and spices and cook for 2 minutes until done.
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Fill the tacos with half of the mixed salad and half of the corn mixture. Distribute the shrimp across the tacos and drizzle the dressing on top.
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Serve the tacos with the remaining mixed salad and leftover corn mixture.
Drizzle the avocado dressing directly over the tomato-corn salsa in the taco, not just on the shrimp. Avocado's fat content drives carotenoid absorption from raw tomatoes. One feeding trial measured a 4.4-fold increase in lycopene absorption when avocado accompanied fresh tomato salsa, and beta-carotene went up 2.6 times.
Why This Works
Behind this recipe
What if I don't have an immersion blender?
Mash the avocado flesh with a fork and stir it into the yogurt. The texture will be chunkier than the blended version, but the dressing still coats everything. A regular blender or food processor works too if you scrape down the sides.
Can I use fresh shrimp instead of frozen?
Fresh shrimp works. Skip the thawing step and go straight to patting them dry. The 2-minute cook time stays the same. Frozen shrimp are often flash-frozen on the boat within hours of the catch, so quality is comparable.
Why pair avocado dressing with a tomato salsa?
Beyond flavor, the pairing has a nutritional upside. Avocado's monounsaturated fat acts as a solvent for the carotenoids locked inside raw tomatoes. A feeding trial measured 4.4 times more lycopene absorption from tomato salsa when avocado was present. Drizzling the dressing directly onto the tomato-corn mixture puts both components in the same bite.
Read the full evidence review
