Cocktail Sauce Recipe
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Fresh seafood really shines with a good cocktail sauce, and this homemade version takes just minutes to make.
Homemade cocktail sauce is one of those classic condiments that’s surprisingly easy to make and so much better than anything store-bought. I’ve been using this cocktail sauce recipe—a zesty blend of ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce—forever. It’s tangy and spicy, with just the right amount of kick to make shrimp cocktail, peel-and-eat shrimp, crab legs, or oysters even better. Fresh seafood really shines with a good cocktail sauce, and this one comes together in minutes with ingredients you probably already have on hand. Once you see how it easy it is to make, you’ll never reach for the bottled stuff again.
More Ways to Use Cocktail Sauce
- Crab Cakes — I pair my crab cake recipe with tartar sauce, but cocktail sauce is equally classic; the horseradish and tomato notes cut right through the richness of the fried cakes.
- Fried calamari — The crisp coating and tender squid pair especially well with the bright, zippy bite of cocktail sauce.
- Bloody Marys — A spoonful of cocktail sauce gives the drink extra depth, spice, and savory flavor.
- Salmon Cakes — Also served with tartar sauce in the recipe, but if cocktail sauce works on crab cakes, it works here too.
- Fried shrimp — A classic pairing; the crunchy shrimp and tangy sauce were made for each other.
- Shrimp Burgers — Tartar sauce is the suggested pairing here as well, but swapping in cocktail sauce on the bun gives the whole thing a real seaside-shack feel.
- Deviled Eggs — No sauce in the original, but swirl cocktail sauce into the yolk filling, top with a tiny cooked shrimp, and you’ve got a showstopper.
- Po’ boys — A swipe of cocktail sauce adds extra zing and bold flavor to seafood po’ boys.
More Homemade Sauces You’LL Love
Cocktail Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup ketchup
- 3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
- ½ teaspoon packed lemon zest, from one lemon
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, from one lemon
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- A few dashes hot sauce, such as Tabasco, to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the ketchup, horseradish, lemon zest and juice, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Great recipe! Exactly the taste I was looking for. Like the fact that it is fast to put together.
Thank you.