This study was performed as part of developing a novel functional feed ingredient for Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). Here we assess the effects of dietary inclusion of a novel functional ingredient (NFI) derived from defatted Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae meal on growth performance, tolerance to salinity stress, and disease resistance when challenged with Vibrio parahaemolyticus (the causative agent of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease) or with a strain of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV). A control diet (CTRL) was used for comparison to three test diets formulated to include 4.5%, 7.5%, and 10.5% of the novel ingredient (NFI4.5, NFI7.5 and NFI10.5) . After 28 days, all three diets including the NFI led to significantly improved weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and specific growth rate (SGR) compared to CTRL. The results showed that even the lowest level inclusion of the NFI (4.5%) created a marked effect, with SGR significantly increasing by 13.6% and FCR showing a decreasing trend – reducing 16.5% During the growth trial the survivability was not affected by diet. NFI in the diets showed no significant effect on resistance to salinity stress or to V. parahaemolyticus, but a positive pattern towards WSSV resistance was recorded. Overall, we show that there is strong evidence that the use NFI derived from H. illucens has a strong potential to improve the performance and health of L. vannamei and could generate value creation for shrimp farmers at low inclusion rates.