Shrimp with cocktail sauce has to be one of my favorite appetizers to make during the holiday season. Not only does practically everyone love it, but making it couldn’t. And best of all the whole thing can easily be prepared the day beforehand. So when your friends and family arrive at your party all you have to do is take everything out of your fridge and let people dig in.
Now before we get into the recipe we need to take the time to talk a little bit about both the shrimp and the horseradish.
When it comes to the shrimp you are totally free to use any kind that you want whether it’s small or jumbo, peeled or unpeeled it’s all good. However, if I’m being honest I highly recommend that you get precooked frozen shrimp that still has the tail attached.
Why?
Well, for starters, you will want to get pre-cooked shrimp simply because this is meant to be an easy appetizer so why complicate it with extra work. Secondly, if you want to use fresh shrimp because you feel that shrimp is somehow ruined by the freezing process then I’m sorry but I have some bad news for you. You see all of that “fresh” shrimp you find in your grocery store, well that’s all been pre-frozen for transportation and they simply defrost it at the store. So don’t fool yourself. And lastly, you’re going to want shrimp with the tails on because they just make handling the shrimp easier for everyone.
Ok, now when it comes to the horseradish PLEASE for the love of god DON’T use horseradish cream sauce. It is not the same thing as prepared horseradish which IS what you want to use. Not only will it result in a very different tasting sauce, but it will be lacking in the “kick” that a good cocktail sauce needs. So don’t make that mistake.
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- You can make this cocktail sauce as mild or as spicy as you prefer simply by using less or more horseradish. However, I will say that some prepared horseradish is spicier than others so err on the side of less to begin with. Then taste the sauce and if it needs more then add more.
- If you want to go through the trouble of deveining your shrimp then check out our lesson on it here.
- This cocktail sauce is also great with either coconut shrimp, or fried shrimp. Really any shrimp if you ask me.
Shrimp With Cocktail Sauce Recipe
Total time: 10 minutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients
1 Lb of frozen precooked shrimp
For cocktail sauce:
1 Cup of ketchup
1 to 2 Tablespoons of prepared horseradish
1 Teaspoon of lemon juice, optional
½ Teaspoon of Worchestershire sauce, optional
Instructions
- Mix together the cocktail sauce: Get out a small decorative bowl and add to it the ketchup and 1 tablespoon of horseradish along with the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce if using.
Use a spoon to mix everything together and taste it to see if it needs more horseradish. If you feel like it doesn’t have enough of a kick then add more horseradish.
Cover this bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in your fridge for at least 1 hour to 24 hours.
- Defrost the shrimp: There are two ways you can defrost your shrimp, in the fridge, or in running water. To do it in the fridge simply place the frozen shrimp in a zip lock bag and let them sit in your fridge overnight. For the running water method simply place the shrimp in a bowl and run them under cold water for 5 t o10 minutes.
- Serve the shrimp and cocktail sauce on a platter and let everyone dig in!
Shrimp With Cocktail Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Lb of frozen precooked shrimp
For cocktail sauce:
- 1 Cup of ketchup
- 1 to 2 Tablespoons of prepared horseradish
- 1 Teaspoon of lemon juice optional
- ½ Teaspoon of Worchestershire sauce optional
Instructions
- Mix together the cocktail sauce: Get out a small decorative bowl and add the ketchup and 1 tablespoon of horseradish to it along with the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce if using. Use a spoon to mix everything together and taste it to see if it needs more horseradish. If you feel like it doesn’t have enough of a kick then add more horseradish. Cover this bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in your fridge for at least 1 hour to 24 hours.
- Defrost the shrimp: There are two ways you can defrost your shrimp, in the fridge, or in running water. To do it in the fridge simply place the frozen shrimp in a zip lock bag and let them sit in your fridge overnight. For the running water method simply place the shrimp in a bowl and run them under cold water for 5 t o10 minutes.
- Serve the shrimp and cocktail sauce on a platter and let everyone dig in!
Inspiration from other blogs
From The Blonde Cook
From Add a Pinch
