Summer is in full swing, and one of my favorite cuisines to enjoy during this time of year is seafood. There are numerous delicious condiments that will help elevate seafood, but my favorite is cocktail sauce. Today I’m sharing my homemade cocktail sauce recipe.
Ingredients
- Ketchup
- Horseradish
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Lemon juice
- Garlic
- Salt and Pepper
- Hot Sauce (optional)
Prep
This recipe is incredibly simple. The only prep required is gathering the ingredients. If you plan to use fresh garlic instead of garlic powder or jarlic, then mincing some garlic would be an additional prep step. Other than that, you need a bowl and a spoon to mix with, and you are good to go!
Making Homemade Cocktail Sauce
Start by pouring the ketchup into a mixing bowl. How much depends entirely on how much cocktail sauce you need. I’m typically cooking for a family of four, and I usually go with approximately a half cup for proteins like shrimp, and a full cup if we are having fish.
Next comes the horseradish. This ingredient has a well-deserved reputation for being stout, so use it with caution! For a half cup or a full cup of ketchup, I usually start with a teaspoon. I like my cocktail sauce strong, so you might be safer starting with a half teaspoon if you go with a half cup of ketchup.
A few dashes of Worcestershire and lemon juice come next. A half teaspoon of each should do the trick. Lastly, a half teaspoon of garlic powder and a good mix completes the sauce. Like any good homemade sauce, this will be best if you refrigerate it for a couple of hours before eating.
What Goes With Cocktail Sauce?
Cocktail sauce pairs best with seafood. Fried seafood such as fish, shrimp, oysters, and calamari are brought to a whole new level of deliciousness when dunked in this spicy sauce. Blackened fish and shrimp also pair well with the sauce. Shrimp cocktail is perhaps the most famous use of the condiment.
Seafood isn’t the only cuisine that utilizes this phenomenal sauce. It works well as a condiment for fried sides such as French fries, tater tots, onion rings, and even mozzarella sticks. Cocktail sauce can be used as a ketchup substitute on hamburgers as well.
If you are looking for healthier uses of the sauce, it works as a good dipping sauce for vegetables such as celery and cucumber.
