How to Make Cocktail Sauce

Have you ever visited a hotel and they served you a delicious, zesty, slightly spicy cocktail sauce to go with your shrimp cocktail, fish, crab cakes, and oysters? If yes, you may be wondering how to make cocktail sauce at home with minimal ingredients. 

You can grab a jar of cocktail sauce right off the shelves in the supermarket if you want. But there is something thrilling about stirring up the cocktail sauce on your own in your home, from the ingredients in your pantry or refrigerator. This sauce, when used with shrimp cocktail, crab cake, or fried fish can elevate the taste to a new spicy level so you would want to make it again and again. What’s more, this super easy recipe is super delicious, and super easy to store as well. 

So, let’s see how to make cocktail sauce that would make your seafood dishes more enjoyable.

How to Make Cocktail Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ketchup: use sweet and tomato-based ketchup as it is the foundation for a good cocktail sauce
• 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish: Horseradish is actually a root, placed in brine to preserve it. Different brands have different brine recipes, so it is better to test them before using, depending on how spicy you want your sauce to be
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice: fresh lemon juice stirs up the zesty flavor 
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce: gives the sauce a bold and saucy flavor
• ½ teaspoon hot sauce: you can adjust the “spice” of your sauce by reducing or increasing the quantity of hot sauce
• ½ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

• Mix all the ingredients in a bowl 
• Use immediately or refrigerate for later use

Where to use Cocktail Sauce?

Cocktail sauce is mostly used as a condiment with shrimp cocktail and other seafood. However, you can enjoy this lemony, zesty, and saucy condiment with a variety of other dishes such as:

• Crab cakes
• Fried seafood such as calamari
• As a dip sauce for chicken tenders and onion rings
• As a condiment for fish sandwiches
• For topping a meatloaf
• Use in place of ketchup in cocktail meatball sauce

Nutritional Facts Per Serving

Portion Size: ¼ cup (60 g)

How to Store Cocktail Sauce

Make sure to store the cocktail sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It is best to tightly seal the container to prevent any air from getting inside the container and spoiling it. In addition, you should always put the cocktail sauce near the back of the refrigerator where the temperatures are much more uniformly distributed. 

Conclusion

Seafood such as fish sandwiches, crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, and oyster is incomplete without a spicy sauce to go with it. And cocktail sauce is the best sauce that compliments the seafood taste by adding the spicy, saucy, zesty flavor to the dish. Even when you can get your hands on store-bought cocktail sauce, preparing this sauce at home is easier and more fun than you expect.