How To Make Cocktail Sauce Easy

How I Came Up With The 1

Cocktail sauce is an old-time favorite condiment, especially with seafood. In this classic sauce, ketchup or chili sauce is mixed with horseradish. Usually, you use prepared horseradish and naturally sugar-filled ketchup if you prepare the traditional sauce at home. The commercial versions are naturally sugar-filled and contain lots of food additives as well. Therefore, there is a need for a better and healthier sauce and this sugar-free and food-additive free recipe is designed to fit the bill!

Actually, this is a very old recipe of mine. I developed this sauce and posted the recipe on my Facebook page about six years ago. But since its quite impossible to find that recipe now on my Facebook page, I decided to post it here on my blog as well. Anyway, I make this sauce relatively often, especially when I fancy some hot and piquant accompaniment with fish or shrimp or when regular sugar-free ketchup is not enough to please my palate.

When starting to develop this recipe several years ago, I took the basic ingredients: my homemade sugar-free ketchup and freshly grated horseradish instead of prepared horseradish. To give the sauce enough heat and piquant taste, I decided to add Tabasco that I usually always have in my pantry .

For some of my experiments, I used just pure tomato sauce with some sweetener powdered erythritol added, but the result was so much better with ketchup that I decided to use sugar-free ketchup in the final recipe.

Does This Taste Like St Elmos Cocktail Sauce

I wish! The Shrimp Cocktail from St. Elmos Steak House in Indianapolis, Indiana is hands-down the best cocktail sauce Ive ever had. When they say that its hot, its HOT.

St. Elmos supposedly uses some cider vinegar in their recipe to add even more tang to the sauce.

If you want spicy cocktail sauce, add an additional tablespoon or two of your prepared horseradish and thatll bring the heat!

Different Uses For Cocktail Sauce

• shrimp cocktail Shrimp cocktail is one of everyones favorite appetizers. You can make a shrimp cocktail by boiling some shrimp and serve it in an attractive dish with your own homemade cocktail sauce.
• cheese sticks its the perfect zesty dip for cheese sticks.
• fried fish your own cocktail sauce is ideal!
• oysters this works well for fried or raw oysters
• crab cakes this seafood sauce adds the right amount of zing to your favorite crab cakes.
• add as a burger topping in place of ketchup
• use as a sauce when you make ceviche

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How To Make The Best Homemade Cocktail Sauce

This is a really quick recipe and itll be done before you know it!

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Where Does It Come From

Cocktail sauce was invented by famed British chef and TV personality, Fanny Cradock, and originally made to serve with a prawn cocktail. The name, therefore, was the sauce of the cocktail.

And what we know today as the famous Shrimp Cocktail, deemed the ultimate of fancy appetizers and hor dourves. I think I might go back to referring to it as a Prawn Cocktail. It sounds so much more sophisticated.

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How To Make Cocktail Sauce With Horseradish

Prep time for this is super short and the directions are just as short!

Step 1

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl until they are well combined.

This is the perfect amount for about a pound of shrimp, not fried. If you are having fried shrimp, youll probably need more.

The best thing about this recipe is that you can add more horseradish if you like it with a little more spice. Its also great because you can make two separate batches, one for kids and one for adults.

How To Make In Advance

What I love most about this easy Cocktail Sauce recipe is that you can double or triple the recipe and keep it in the fridge. I love to snack on shrimp cocktail as a healthy snack during the week and this sauce is totally light on calories.

Its a great make ahead option for parties, too! Just store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until youre ready to party. Its a fantastic centerpiece for a seafood tower or alongside this super popular Cheesy Crab dip!

Sooooo..for your next summer party you already have one no cook item on your menu with the very BEST Cocktail Sauce. And that secret ingredient will have all your guests wondering what you did to make it totally over the top. But your secret is safe with me.

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How To Make Cocktail Sauce For Shrimp

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How to Make Cocktail Sauce for Shrimp is the perfect recipe to make your seafood taste divine. Why buy jarred sauce when you can easily make your own that tastes even better?

If youre looking for more homemade sauce recipes, Horseradish Sauce for Prime Riband Homemade Dill Sauce for Salmon are the perfect ones to try.

Adjusting Flavors In Our Cocktail Sauce Recipe

One of the things I like about this homemade cocktail sauce recipe is that it can be made exactly to your taste. Keep in mind that I love this recipe exactly as is written, and I could eat all the shrimp you see here with that sauce. That being said, here are two ways to tweak it depending on how spicy you like it.

• Make it more mild: To do this you can toss in 1/2 a teaspoon of brown sugar. You get the same great horseradish taste without so much of its bite.
• Make it stronger: To do this, keep the recipe as is, but just add in a little more horseradish, up to 1 tablespoon.

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Ingredients In Cocktail Sauce

Heres the basic list of ingredients youll need in order to make this sauce at home. As always, you can find the full printable recipe located in the recipe card below.

• Ketchup
• Lemon Juice fresh is best, but you can use bottled if in a pinch
• Worcestershire Sauce adds a subtle savory flavor
• Prepared Horseradish this comes in varying heats, use your preference
• Garlic
• Black Pepper

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How To Adjust The Spice Of Seafood Sauce

This recipe makes a cocktail sauce that is perfectly spicy for my tastes, but you can make some adjustments to the recipe to make it spicier or milder so that its perfect for you and your family.

If you want a spicier cocktail sauce, add additional horseradish or hot sauce a little bit at a time, tasting as you mix until its just the way you like it.

To make a milder sauce, reduce the amount of hot sauce in the recipe or remove it all together. Add just enough horseradish until the spice level is right.

Did you make the sauce already and its too spicy? No problem. Just add more ketchup to balance the spice with more sweetness.

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Sugar Free Cocktail Sauce

The great thing about making your own cocktail sauce is you can control the quality of the ingredients. This super easy and delicious seafood sauce contains no sugar or added sweeteners, making it low carb, keto, and Whole30-compliant.

I skip the ketchup found in so many cocktail sauce recipes and use a combination of strained tomato sauce and tomato paste to get the right consistency and flavor. I found an Italian brand that comes packed in glass jars and contains just organic tomatoes for both the tomato sauce and the tomato paste.

Be sure to use a prepared horseradish that contains just horseradish and vinegar. I like to go pretty heavy on the horseradish, but you can always use less if you dont like it as strong.

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Lemon juice and sea salt are the only other ingredients in this paleo cocktail sauce. Freshly squeezed lemon juice makes a difference, so skip the bottled lemon juice. And of course, you can always add a dash of hot sauce if you want a little more heat.

This cocktail sauce is wonderful with smoked shrimp or roasted shrimp cocktail and a perfect complement to a classic raw bar platter of chilled shellfish. Try it with snow crab claws, clams, and oysters .

If youre looking for a super easy and impressive appetizer for entertaining, you cant go wrong with this shrimp cocktail sauce. No one will know its secretly sugar-free, keto, paleo, and Whole30!

How To Make It

Cocktail Sauce is made simply by mixing together a few pantry ingredients. For this recipe I whisked together ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, horseradish, hot sauce and my secret ingredient.Chili Garlic Sauce. The traditional sauce recipe calls for chili sauce but I like the kick of the garlic. If you prefer, you can just substitute the chili garlic sauce with the regular variety of chili sauce.

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What To Serve With Homemade Cocktail Sauce

Cocktail Sauce is a delicious spicy ketchup based sauce that is traditionally served with shrimp cocktail. It fresh flavors and acidic pop make it an excellent choice as a pairing with a variety of seafood, like crab, oysters and calamari. I like to place the shrimp cocktail on a pretty platter, surround the cocktail sauce in a beautiful small bowl.

How Do You Make Cocktail Sauce From Scratch

If you like you can make this spicier by adding a bit of horseradish. This is a great way to get a bit more heat. So if you like it a bit hotter be sure to add a little more horseradish.

I hope you enjoy making this homemade cocktail sauce the next time you want to serve a shrimp cocktail.

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Great Ways To Enjoy Spicy Cocktail Sauce

This lightly spicy condiment is so versatile and can be served with many different seafood dishes. Weve paired this delicious sauce in a variety of ways and here are a few of our favorite ideas:

• Crab Cakes these can be made individual size or full size, and sautéed, or baked

• Shrimp Cocktail is the classic use of this sauce
• Add a dollop to a Bloody Mary
• A dip for Mozzarella Sticks or Onion Rings
• Perfect for dipping fried or sauteed calamari

• Dip any Fish & Chips, or Popcorn Shrimp, or drizzle over Oysters on the Half Shell

Easy Cocktail Sauce Recipe

Heres a recipe for a super- simple way to make your own Homemade Cocktail Sauce:

I mentioned in my last post that my nephew Jordan visited us for Christmas this year. He brought his wife Stephanie and their adorable, perfect little girl Olivia, and we had a fabulous time. Jordan has been the executive chef at many restaurants. He creatively plans themed menus and does the majority of the cooking too. The dude is a talented guy.

Its so much fun to have a chef in our family because I can totally relate to him and we have so much in common. While at our house, he made us a ton of awesome treats. On the day after Christmas, we decided to have a Tapas Night. Jordan whipped up some homemade cocktail sauce for us to dip our gigantic cooked shrimp into.

He started to prepare the cocktail sauce, and then he asked my husband where we kept the horseradish. OOPS no horseradish in our house. Time to improvise. He scoured my fridge and my pantry for a spicy alternative and decided to sub pepperoncini for the horseradish.

We were all delighted to discover that the pepperoncini worked out GREAT. So in this recipe, you can either use pepperoncini OR horseradish. Id say that the horseradish makes the sauce a little bit spicier.

Here are a few more homemade sauce recipes you might like to try:

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Variations Of This Recipe

• Less zesty use less horseradish, less or no hot sauce, and replace the chili sauce with an equal amount of ketchup.
• More zesty for even more kick, use more chili sauce , more horseradish, and more hot sauce.
• Sugar-controlled to make this sauce a bit healthier, use a ketchup that is naturally sweetened and contains no high fructose corn syrup.

Ingredients In Shrimp Cocktail Sauce

• Heinz Chili Sauce Im using chili sauce because I love the extra kick it gives. If you cant find it, no worries. Regular ketchup will work as well. Sometimes I do half chili sauce, and half ketchup and that works well!
• Lemon Juice Freshly squeezed, please! About two tablespoons.
• Hot Sauce The type of hot sauce is important. Id recommend a basic like Tobasco, Louisiana, or Crystal hot sauce.
• Worcestershire Sauce This adds a savory, umami flavor that nothing else can replicate.
• Prepared Horseradish This is typically found in glass jars in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, or near the seafood. Its spicy in the best way.

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How To Use Leftover Cocktail Sauce

Now, if you’re left with a bunch of leftover cocktail sauce, don’t waste it. The next morning, add it to tomato-vegetable juice along with some freshly ground pepper, a dash of celery salt, and an ounce or two of vodka and voila! you’ve got yourself a mighty fine Bloody Mary. Garnish with your favorite Bloody Mary fixings, including some leftover shrimp, if you have it.

Does Making Homemade Cocktail Sauce Rather Than Store

I 100% believe that making shrimp cocktail sauce at home results in the most flavorful and fresh tasting sauce. There is no comparison. Store bought cocktail sauce also has more preservatives to keep on room temperature shelves for longer. Whereas the homemade version will keep in the fridge and taste fresh for a good amount of time.

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How To Make This Homemade Cocktail Sauce Recipe

Combine ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, and hot sauce in a small bowl. Whisk to combine.

Serve immediately or save for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

You can serve this recipe with popcorn shrimp or grilled large shrimp for a delicious appetizer or main course! Serve with fresh lemon wedges if desired.

What Is Cocktail Sauce Made Of

Cocktail sauce is basically ketchup, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and grated prepared horseradish. Minced fresh garlic tastes great too but I take a simpler route with a touch of garlic powder.

This cocktail sauce can be made spicier by the addition of extra horseradish or hot sauce. If that don’t work add some cayenne pepper.

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Homemade Cocktail Sauce Recipe

This homemade cocktail sauce recipe is the easiest thing youll make this holiday season, and it only requires 3 ingredients and one step. Plus, it tastes a million times better than store-bought cocktail sauce and can be customized to your taste. Makes 1 cup.

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