Easy Seafood Pasta Salad

This easy seafood pasta salad is bursting with summer seafood flavors! It makes a great dish to take to a summer celebration, pool party, or cookout!

Ingredients:

12 oz box medium pasta shells

8 oz, frozen pre-cooked salad shrimp

8 oz, frozen peas

20 oz, imitation crab meat

lemon juice (1 lemon)

3/4 cup mayonnaise (sometimes I added a little more after it sits in the fridge overnight)

Directions:

1. In a large pot of salted water, boil your pasta as directed on the package.

2. When there are a few minutes left to boil, add your frozen peas to boiling water. For example, my peas said they need to be boiled for 5 minutes, so I added them to my cooking pasta in the last 5 minutes of cook time.

3. Once your pasta and peas have cooked, drain them in a colander and run them under cold water.

4. Roughly chop your imitation crab.

5. In a large bowl with a lid, add your crab meat, frozen precooked shrimp (they will dethaw in the pasta), drained pasta and peas, mayonnaise, and lemon juice. Stir well to combine and season to taste. Salt and pepper really make this dish pop but if you want more flavor feel free to add the seasonings of your choice. Creole gives it a nice kick!

6. Store in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving. This can also be made the night before. It tastes better the next day in my opinion.

7. Serve chilled, as a side dish, or on its own for a light lunch!

*Note: If you don't like shrimp, this can be made into just a crab pasta salad by doubling the crab meat and omitting the shrimp. We make it this way about half of the time.

This is a staple of my childhood summers (with a few tweaks) and it is great for taking to picnics or pool parties! It really pairs well with a big glass of lemonade.

Be sure to try our Lavender Lemonade too this summer!