Delicious Creamy Spaghetti Seafood Salad made with creamy Italian dressing, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and seafood. And if you’re anything like me and are a seafood and pasta addict, this Creamy Spaghetti Seafood Salad recipe is for you! The best part is that this Creamy Spaghetti Seafood Salad recipe is very simple and extremely easy to make! And, it’s the perfect salad for summer holiday cookouts, parties, picnics, and family gatherings at the park.
This salad is a family favorite and always one of the first things to go at family cookouts. LMBO!! So that’s how you know it’s good! Read below for more on this unique one-of-a-kind seafood salad recipe.
Aunt Janet and Nydia’s Creamy Spaghetti Seafood Salad
My aunt Janet and my older cousin Nydia would always bring creamy spaghetti seafood salad to every family function. They were the ones who made it best, and it was always their creamy spaghetti seafood salad that I looked forward to eating the most. Lol!
I don’t think they had an actual recipe for it, but they always made it the same way. Nydia used creamy Italian dressing and my aunt Janet put Zesty Italian dressing in her salad, very similar to my Zesty Italian Pasta Salad Recipe.
This recipe is very similar to theirs, but I tweaked it and put my own spin on it. I always recreate my family’s recipes and make slight modifications to make them MINE. Lol! Let me tell yall how good this salad is though!
It’s so good that whenever they would make this and bring it to family functions, it’s one of the first things to go. Lol! Nydia would bring 2 large, deep lasagna-size pans of salad, and my aunt Janet did the same.
The anti-white club
Some people don’t like white or light-colored condiments like Mayo and Creamy Italian dressing. I’ve met quite a few people who, for whatever reason, didn’t like mayo, white gravy, Ranch, Blue cheese, or anything “WHITE” on their food.
I don’t know what that’s about, but people like that exist! Lol! And so, the family always devoured Aunt Janet’s salad first. The creamy one wouldn’t last long either, but my Aunt Janet’s zesty italian salad would always be the first to go.
After about an hour of being placed on the table, more than half of the salad would be GONE! My family doesn’t play when it comes to food! We’re all foodies and love to eat, and a good chilled salad during a summer cookout is a MUST for us!
Ingredients you’ll need:
- Pasta: Thin Spaghetti
- Seafood add-ins: Shrimp, Leg Style Imitation Crab, and Chunk Style Imitation Lobster
- Vegetable add-ins: Cucumbers, Red Onions, and Grape Tomatoes
- Seasonings: Salt, Old Bay Seasoning, Celery Salt, Garlic Powder, Red Pepper Flakes, Black Pepper, and Parsley
- Condiments: Creamy Italian Dressing
- Other: Vegetable oil
Cookware and utensils you’ll need:
- Large pot: Have a large pot to boil the spaghetti.
- Colander: Make sure you have a colander to drain the spaghetti.
- Large Serving Bowl: We’ll be using this to combine the salad and to serve the salad out of.
- Potato Peeler: Potato peelers make it easy to peel the cucumber skin.
- Knife: A knife is for chopping the seafood and vegetables
- Big Spoon: Use a big spoon to combine the salad and serve.
- Measuring Cups: Measuring cups are great for accurately measuring the amount of vegetables and dressing you’re using.
- Measuring Spoons: Use measuring spoons to measure seasoning accurately.
Common questions about spaghetti
- What brand of spaghetti do you use? I’m personally not too anal about brands… I like to use high-quality dressing and make sure the seafood and vegetables are fresh. That’s what matters to me most.
I’ve found that there isn’t much of a difference between store brands and named brand Spaghetti. I’ve used everything from Barilla, Mueller’s, and Ronzoni to De Cecco and San Giorgio, which I was always told was the very best.
I’m sure Italian chefs will kill me and tell me about the nuances and differences between these pasta brands, but none has negatively affected my recipe in any way, so I picked up the first one I saw.
- Do you have to use thin spaghetti? Sorta, but that’s just preference-based. I prefer thin spaghetti but that doesn’t matter much as long as it’s not bloated from being overcooked. Speaking of overcooked pasta.
- Should you boil spaghetti with oil? I don’t because it’s not really necessary. Once you add the spaghetti to a big mixing bowl, add in the dressing, and ingredients and start stirring everything in. If there is any spaghetti sticking together, by the time you’re done stirring everything together, it will definitely come apart.
- Why do you add salt to pasta water? I add salt to the pasta water for flavor and it limits the starch. The salad tastes better when the pasta has flavor. It enhances the overall deliciousness of the salad.
- When is the spaghetti done? Whenever you’re boiling pasta, no matter which kind, you want to cook it until it’s al dente. Which means cooked til tender but firm. You don’t want it to be soggy, bloated, and limp!
- Should you rinse the spaghetti once it’s done? I do this just to stop the cooking process because with it still being very hot straight out of the pot, if you leave the spaghetti in a colander, the heat will basically continue cooking it. So I always lightly rinse the Spaghetti with cool water using my kitchen faucet sprayer
The seafood
Now look… as I’ve had to tell many of my subscribers, I’m not eating this salad, you are!! So feel free to customize the recipe to your liking and make whatever adjustments you feel are necessary.
If you feel you want to add muscles to the salad, for example, DO SO if you like how that tastes! I always tell people to follow my recipe to a T at least once first and afterwards, decide what you may want to add or omit from it.
- Shrimp: I use large, deveined cooked shrimp, but if I can’t find any, I’ll buy some salad-size shrimp. I never leave the shrimp whole and end up chopping them up anyway so the size doesn’t matter much.
- Crab: In this salad, I use leg-style imitation crab meat because it gives the salad color. I like the bright orange color of the imitation crab meat and I love the taste as well. Real crab meat is definitely an option just stick with the same amount.
- Lobster: I use chunk-style imitation lobster meat but just like with the crab, you can use real lobster meat. My cousin Nydia always used real seafood and would sometimes use every seafood known to man. LMBO!
The vegetables
Now in this recipe, the vegetables we’ll be using are Grape Tomatoes, cucumbers, and Red onions. After experimenting with this recipe and making several changes to it, I found that these 3 vegetables work best for this particular salad.
No other vegetables are needed, but feel free to add your favorites or omit 1 of the 3 below if you feel it’ll make the salad better for you. This salad, like I said about Italian Pasta Salad, is very versatile.
- Red onions: I use red onions mainly for it’s color. If yall know me yall know I think how food looks is as important as how it taste. Red onions also aren’t very pungent and have a neutral flavor, which is perfect for salads.
- Grape tomatoes: The grape tomatoes were my choice because of their deep red color and because they are super juicy and sweeter than traditional tomatoes. The salad wasn’t nearly as good to me when I used regular tomatoes.
- Cucumbers: I just love cucumbers, and other than Italian and tossed salad, I don’t use them for much else. When I was experimenting with this recipe, I threw them in last, and when I realized how well it went with the salad, I added it to the recipe.
The seasonings
- Old Bay: Old Bay seasoning is a must when it comes to seasoning Creamy Spaghetti Seafood Salad. It just enhances the seafood flavor and gives seafood salad just what it needs. You’ll find this listed in pretty much all my seafood salad recipes.
- Celery salt: I decided not to add any chopped celery because the salad already has enough vegetables in it, and celery salt provides a stronger celery flavor. The celery flavor from the celery salt is a game changer, just like Old Bay.
- Garlic powder: I don’t use that much garlic, but its flavor elevates the salad. I accidentally added minced garlic to the salad and was forced to eat it anyway because I wasn’t throwing it away. Let’s just say I was amazed at how good it was! Lol!
- Red pepper flakes: This adds a hint of heat which makes it all the more delicious. I only use very little, but I love the addition of red pepper flakes to this salad. The color throughout makes the salad look appetizing and beautifies it.
- Black pepper: Pepper just makes everything taste a little better, and I only use very little of it. Try the salad with the pepper and without it, and you’ll see what I’m saying.
- Parsley flakes: I use parsley flakes solely for decoration purposes. Once I’m done preparing the salad, I garnish it with parsley flakes before placing it in the fridge. It just makes it more appetizing.
Salt to taste
Now, here’s what I want to say about the OLD BAY AND CELERY SALT and all the seasonings, for that matter, because we all have different sensitivity levels to SALT. Add the seasonings last after combining everything.
While I like to add my seasonings before adding the condiments, if you’re concerned about over-seasoning the salad, feel free to salt to taste, which means seasoning until it satisfies your taste buds.
I say this because some people have commented that they loved the salad, but it was too salty for them. Others said they ended up adding a little more salt. So yeah, do you and “salt to taste”.
Creamy Italian dressing!
I want to address the differences between the brands because it’s important to purchase the brand that’s right for you! I’m then going to instruct you on how to make homemade Creamy Italian dressing the right way if that’s the route you take!!
The difference in brands
I like to use Ken’s or Wish-Bone’s brands when it comes to creamy Italian dressing. All brands aren’t equal and I know because I love creamy Italian dressing. The main difference is that some brands are far creamier than others.
And look, if you’re a part of the “Anti-White Condiments” club, feel free to use regular Italian dressing or a brand of creamy Italian dressing that has a dull not-so-white color because it won’t be as creamy.
- White and creamy: Brands like Ken’s and Wish-Bone’s are made up of a high ratio of mayo! You can tell because they are very light, almost white in color, like Ranch or blue cheese, and they’re far more creamy.
- Grey and tangy: Some brands of creamy Italian dressing look greyish like they barely have any mayo in them. They taste more like original and zesty Italian dressing. Although it’s a creamy Italian dressing, you can tell that not much mayo was used.
- Ken’s and Wish-Bone’s: Most of us who are fans of creamy Italian dressing like it because of the creaminess, so if that’s you, Ken’s and Wish-Bone brands would be the best choice. These are the standard brands, anyway.
Homemade creamy Italian dressing
A few of my subscribers told me they couldn’t find any creamy Italian dressing at their local supermarkets. I live in Philadelphia, and even I noticed there weren’t many markets that carried it.
I eventually lucked up and found one that did, but most of them sold just the original and Zesty kind. So if you’re unable to find a store that carries creamy Italian dressing, check Amazon. You might have more luck finding it there.
You can also make it yourself, which isn’t hard AT ALL! When you DIY, you can customize it to YOUR LIKING! My cousin Nydia preferred making it this way as well, if I remember correctly.
How to make homemade creamy Italian dressing
- Start off by adding about 1/2 cup of dressing to a small mixing bowl.
- Then stir in about a tablespoon of mayo using a fork or whisk, until it’s well combined.
- Give it a taste and continue adding more mayo until it reaches your desired color and taste.
Delicious Creamy Spaghetti Seafood Salad 2019 Video
How to make creamy spaghetti seafood salad
Ok, so… I’m usually consistent with the way I combine the ingredients when preparing salad. But with this salad, because we’re using spaghetti, it’s better to combine the pasta and dressing first.
I usually add the pasta to the mixing bowl, stir in the seasonings and vegetables, and add in the condiments. But with Spaghetti, I like to make sure it’s fully saturated in the dressing first before adding anything else.
I like to do this because stirring seasonings into dry sticky spaghetti is a little challenging. Loosening it up with dressing first makes stirring everything in much easier.
- Boil the spaghetti, then add it to the mixing bowl.
- Stir in the seasonings and dressing.
- Chop up the seafood and vegetables.
- Now as I mentioned before, I don’t like biting into big pieces of vegetables when eating my salad, so I try to chop the vegetables and seafood into small pieces but if you like them chunky do you..
- I find that doing this results in a better salad because you’re spreading more love throughout the salad, and with smaller pieces, you get to taste every ingredient in each bite. So chopping everything small is key!
- Add in the chopped vegetables and seafood.
- Fold everything in and garnish with parsley.
- Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.
Why is the salad soupy?
So in this recipe, we’ll be using a whole 16oz bottle of creamy Italian dressing. So if after you’re done combining everything, it looks soupy, that’s a good thing!! It will stiffen significantly overnight…
And if you have a cold frig like myself, after 2 hours. So don’t worry if the salad looks soupy immediately after preparing it; it’s supposed to be that way. I know a lot of folks don’t like wet soupy salad, I don’t either.
But AGAIN, it won’t look that way after you give the ingredients time to marry and let it sit for a few hours. If your salad goes in the refrigerator dry, it will be very dry the next day, and you’ll end up having to add more dressing, so soupy is good!
Serving suggestions:
- Fried chicken – Something about the crispy fried chicken and creamy Italian dressing combo makes this the perfect union. So if you’re looking for a main dish to serve this with, FRIED CHICKEN will work every time.
- Seared steak – This Creamy Spaghetti Seafood Salad would go great alongside a nice juicy pan-seared savory steak. That combo sounds great and I haven’t even had these together before.
- Grilled BBQ meat – This Creamy Spaghetti Seafood Salad is one of those salads you take to a summer cookout, so you know it tastes well with anything grilled, like BBQ chicken or ribs. That combo is guaranteed to give your taste buds a foodgasm.
Making it ahead of time
This salad can definitely be prepared ahead of time but only to a degree. To make it ahead of time, you have a couple of options depending on how much or little work you want to do by the time it’s ready to be served.
- Chop the seafood and vegetables: Ok, so you can chop the seafood and vegetables, then place them in a Tupperware bowl, making sure they’re tightly sealed, and store them in the refrigerator. Then add in the Spaghetti and dressing the day of.
- Prepare everything and add the dressing later: You can make the salad and store it in the refrigerator, preferably in the coldest area, to keep it fresh. Then add the seasonings and dressing the day of.
Now, those are good options if, for whatever reason, you want to have the salad half done days before the day of an event. I recommend doing it this way because the seafood, vegetables, and pasta can stay fresh for a while in the frig.
This is a salad meant to be eaten quickly. But if you want to make the salad a day or two before an event, you can simply make it and store it in the refrigerator. Just make sure as I always say, it’s tightly sealed.
Storage
- How to store the salad? To preserve and keep the salad fresh for as long as possible, keep it tightly covered with plastic wrap in a serving bowl or in a Tupperware bowl, and make sure it’s tightly sealed and stays in the coolest part of the refrigerator.
Frequently asked questions
- Can people allergic to seafood eat this? Likely not. This is because imitation crab typically contains 2% or less of king crab meat (shellfish) and artificial extracts of crab and lobster. I believe this may negatively affect someone allergic to seafood.
- How long does creamy spaghetti seafood salad last? 3 days is the golden rule… so I’d stick with that. Salad is not meant to be stored for long periods of time. When I make some, it doesn’t even last for 3 days, it rarely makes it through the 2nd day!
Alright, I’m done boring y’all for now! This creamy seafood pasta salad recipe is the BOMB.COM, y’all; trust me on that! So please give this recipe a shot!!! Make sure to leave a comment below, letting everyone know how it was for you.
Also, share it on social media with family and friends; don’t be stingy. Sharing helps me on these Google Streets. Haha! And make sure to subscribe to get notified whenever I post a new recipe. Thank you, and God bless!
Enjoy, later!
PBJ~
Delicious Creamy Spaghetti Seafood Salad To Die For (With Video)
- Prep Time: 30 Mins
- Cook Time: 10 Mins
- Total Time: 40 Mins
- Yield: 4-6
- Category: Salads
- Cuisine: American
Description
Creamy spaghetti seafood salad made with creamy Italian dressing, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and seafood. The perfect salad for a summer cookout.
Ingredients
- 8 oz Thin Spaghetti Pasta
- 1 Cup Extra Small Deveined Cooked Shrimp, coarsely chopped
- 4 oz Leg Style Imitation Crab Meat, coarsely chopped
- 4 oz Chunk Style Imitation Lobster, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 Cup Cucumbers, diced
- 1/4 cup Red Onions, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup Grape Tomatoes, sliced
- 2 Qts Water + 1 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tbs Vegetable Oil
- 16 oz Creamy Italian Dressing
- 2 Tsps Old Bay Seasoning
- 2 Tsps Celery Salt
- 1/4 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/8 or 1/4 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 1/8 Tsp Black Pepper
- Parsley Flakes (For decoration purposes)
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with cool water, add in the oil and salt, then place over high heat.
- After 10 minutes, or once the water comes to a boil, break the spaghetti in half, add it to the water, and boil for 12 minutes.
(Once done, strain and set aside to chill.) - Meanwhile, peel and chop up the shrimp.
- Shred the imitation crab meat and chop the lobster meat into small pieces.
- Chop the onions into small pieces, chop the tomatoes in half, and dice the cucumbers.
- Place the spaghetti in a big mixing bowl, add in the salad dressing, and seasonings, then fold well.
- Then add in the chopped vegetables and fold well.
- Garnish the salad with parsley flakes, cover with plastic wrap, and set in the refrigerator to chill.
Notes
- For best results, prepare the night before. This gives all the ingredients time to marry.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4-6
by 
11 thoughts on “Delicious Creamy Spaghetti Seafood Salad To Die For (With Video)”
gonna try this for thanksgiving, thanks so much!
OMG…just made this and it’s SO FREAKING GOOD!!!!!!! Made ya some now!
I’m so glad you liked it Michelle 🙂
I made this today, I’ve made a lot of pasta salad just like the next guy has, thought I would try the creamy Italian dressing as you said, never knew all you needed was mayo to make creamy Italian dressing …. duh I didn’t change a thing and I must say this is a keeper! I mistakingly picked up “spicy” instead of “zesty” so I didn’t need the pepper flakes or black pepper.
I enjoy your cooking show are recipes and they’re very tasty
Thanks, I greatly appreciate it :):):)
Thank you so much , my family’s and I really enjoyed your recipes. Your channel is amazing . You get 10 stars rating
How sweet thanks Cynthia for the support and love 🙂
You’re cooking cooking with best and I truly mean the best !
Since color is everything in salads I added red bell pepper sparrimgly to your recipe. Hope it’s a hit for BBQ today. Thank you so much for sharing!
Color isn’t EVERYTHING like I said in my video but it does entice people to try the dish.