Shrimp Cocktail with Red Sauce Recipe

This shrimp cocktail with red sauce recipe recreates a classic appetizer to treat your friends and family. We infused the shrimp with plenty of aromas, maintained their crisp texture using ice, then served them with a sweet, sour, and spicy dip.

What Is Shrimp Cocktail?

It’s a fancy party snack with plump shrimp hanging around the edge of an iced martini glass and served with a sweet-and-sour hot sauce in the middle.

Believe it or not, this delicious treat started out its life with oysters instead of shrimp. Shipping shrimp demands a method of freezing, so until an efficient one was discovered, oysters were an easier option. They were delicious, too, and became such a popular craze that people served them by the hundreds with the addictive cocktail sauce.

Rumor has it that the sauce was just ketchup at first, then lime juice, herbs, shallots, and other ingredients were added. It’s officially been called ‘cocktail sauce’ since circa 1902.

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To recreate the best version possible of the ‘cocktail sauce’, we used a combination of sauces, herbs, and aromatics. Its intense citrusy sourness will make you shiver at first, then comes the sweetness, the garlic, the herbs, and a lingering warmth on your tongue. The whole experience is definitely worth a try.

This shrimp cocktail also comes with a delectable spin-off that we think is also worth checking out—Cocktail Meatballs Recipe.

Is Our Shrimp Cocktail with Red Sauce Healthy?

Packed with proteins and good fats from the seafood, shrimp cocktail can be a healthy dish. As it is just an appetizer, we sized each portion to only 4 shrimp to keep the calories low. We also tried not to go wild on the sauce to keep your sodium intake of the day within the recommended allowance.

After the adjustments, this treat has a nutritional profile that complies with our healthy eating guidelines:

• 175 calories
• 264.6 mg sodium

You can check out the guidelines for more details on how to eat healthier. There are other things you should keep in mind as well, such as your daily intake of saturated fat, added sugar, and alcohol.

Main Ingredients

We should mention that our shrimp cocktail with red sauce recipe uses cooked shrimp, not raw shrimp (there are recipes that do). For the best taste and aroma, we recommend buying raw shrimp and peeling and cooking them at home. We have a guide on how to peel them most efficiently further down the page.

In terms of size, we’re using large shrimp, about 1 oz each. You can use jumbo shrimp if you want, but keep in mind that each portion should have 4 oz worth of shrimp only.

Once prepared, they are boiled with some sliced onions, celery, and a torn bay leaf.

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Sauce for Our Recipe

For the red sauce body, we use ketchup, Sriracha, olive oil, and Tabasco for lingering warmth. Sriracha gives a bit of zing, but since there’s lime juice and lemon juice anyway, you can skip this ingredient if you like.

The combination of two citruses is not only for the sour taste but also for their aromas. You can use lime juice alone, but adding both will return a better result.

For the herbs, we used a combination of parsley, cilantro, and pungent red onions, all finely chopped. We also added raw, minced garlic for its robust taste (skip if you’re not a fan).

Finally, some ground black pepper to add a bit of warmth and aesthetics to the sauce.

Measurements of these ingredients are provided in the ‘shrimp cocktail recipe’ card at the bottom.

Can I Make Shrimp Cocktail With Frozen Shrimp?

Absolutely.

The shrimp we used partially thawed after a 30-minute trip from the grocery store to our kitchen, so they needed only a minute of boiling. If yours are straight from your freezer (and peeled), boil them for another minute. If they’re shell-on, let them thaw for 15 minutes, peel, and cook as we did.

How Long Does It Last in the Fridge?

The cooked shrimp and the cocktail sauce can be kept separately, covered, for a maximum of 4 days. You can serve them right away at any given time within this duration.

Even so, we highly recommend serving them within one day for the best texture, as shrimp lose their ’bite’ by the second. As we mentioned earlier, keep them in a bowl of ice, and place them in the refrigerator until serving.

What to Serve With

Be it a salad, a tray of roasted vegetables, or a creamy side of mashed potatoes, this protein-rich appetizer will be the perfect pairing. It can also be served with pasta or dishes that lack proteins to form a well-rounded meal.

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You May Also Like

• Voodoo Shrimp Recipe
• Shrimp Rangoon Recipe
• Popcorn Shrimp Recipe
• Orange Shrimp Recipe

Shrimp Cocktail with Red Sauce Recipe

5 from 1 vote

This shrimp cocktail with red sauce recipe takes just 12 minutes to prepare. Simply cut the herbs, cook the shrimp with them, and serve it with a 5-minute sauce.

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• cook TIME 5 mins
• prep TIME 7 mins
• total TIME 12 mins

• COURSE Appetizer, Snack
• CUISINE American
• SERVINGS
  4

  servings
• CALORIES 175 kcal

INGREDIENTS

1x2x3x

• 8 oz peeled raw shrimp (16 medium, from about 16 oz whole shrimp)
• 2 oz onion (about half a medium, cut into thick slices)
• 0.5 oz red onion (about 1/4 a medium, minced)
• 2 oz celery (about a medium stalk, cut into 3-4” segments)
• 1 bay leaf (torn in two)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp Heinz ketchup
• 1 tbsp cilantro (finely chopped)
• 2 tsp sriracha
• 1 tsp Tabasco
• 1 tsp garlic (about 1 clove, minced)
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 ice bath (2 cups water, 2 cups ice)
• 2 tbsp parsley

INSTRUCTIONS

Image instructions

1

To prepare the shrimp, start by removing its vein with a toothpick: push the toothpick right through the neck joint, and pull the toothpick upwards to reveal the vein. Pull the vein out, spin the head off, then peel the shell away while leaving its tail on. Repeat with the remaining shrimp (16 medium shrimp in total, 4 for each serving).

2

Combine the sauce ingredients: 2 tbsp ketchup, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp parsley, 0.5 oz red onion, 1 tbsp cilantro, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp lime juice, 2 tsp sriracha, 1 tsp Tabasco, 1 tsp garlic, and 1/2 tsp ground pepper. Set aside.

3

Boil 2 cups water with 2 oz onion, 2 oz celery, and 1 bay leaf, and have an ice bath nearby. When the water boils, add 8 oz peeled shrimp and cook for only 1 minute.

4

Scoop them out and drop them in an ice bath to keep them crispy until serving. Add more ice if necessary.

5

Serve them with sauce and enjoy. Serving ideas: fill 3/4 martini glasses with ice, place a small dipping bowl in the middle, and hang cooked shrimp around the rim; or, add ice in a large bowl, place a small dipping bowl in the middle, then arrange cooked shrimp around the small bowl.

NUTRITION

Nutrition Facts

Shrimp Cocktail with Red Sauce Recipe

Amount Per Serving (1 serving)

Calories 175Calories from Fat 68

% Daily Value*

Fat 7.5g

12%

Saturated Fat 1g

6%

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9g

Monounsaturated Fat 5g

Cholesterol 182.6mg

61%

Sodium 264.6mg

12%

Potassium 341.3mg

10%

Carbohydrate 4.5g

2%

Fiber 0.3g

1%

Sugar 2.7g

3%

Protein 23g

46%

Vitamin A 284.3IU

6%

Vitamin C 6.1mg

7%

Calcium 44mg

4%

Iron 0.8mg

4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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