Homemade Cocktail Sauce Recipe
This homemade cocktail sauce recipe is the easiest thing you’ll 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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Why I love this homemade cocktail sauce
Holiday season is almost upon us. I mean there’s been Christmas stuff in the stores for weeks, and the other day I heard Christmas music at the mall. It’s not even Thanksgiving people! What is wrong with everyone?
After being away for the last five Novembers, I am really not used to this. It feels like someone re-wrote the calendar. I vote for celebrating one holiday at at time.
Luckily, with Thanksgiving comes holiday eating. Maybe not cookies, but there’s lots of festive things to eat. One of my favorites, is classic shrimp cocktail (preferably shrimp prepared with Old Bay), and cocktail sauce is one of the easiest condiments that you can make. It’s literally 2 – 3 ingredients.
I don’t know why anyone would even consider buying it. If you’re making shrimp, or even buying it, this holiday season, try making some homemade cocktail sauce. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Here’s what you’ll need to make it
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To make this homemade cocktail sauce recipe, stir together ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice and splash of Worcestershire sauce. Make sure you use the freshest prepared horseradish you can find, or prepare it fresh at home if you’re feeling ambitious.
Whatever you do, don’t use horseradish “sauce” because that contains mayonnaise and other unnecessary ingredients.
You should be able to find prepared horseradish in the refrigerated section of your grocery store. If you prefer it spicier, feel free to add additional horseradish (bring it back with ketchup if you add too much.
Tips for making this cocktail sauce recipe:
If you want to make this recipe a little “cleaner” try buying a ketchup with no high fructose corn syrup. If you really want to control your sugar content, which is one of the benefits to making your own condiments, you could even try making your own ketchup.
Then, refrigerate until ready to serve. I like to make a big batch of cocktail sauce around the holidays and keep it in the fridge, just in case. It should last in the fridge for at least a week, but always use your best judgement before serving.
Customize your cocktail sauce. For our family, we always make two bowls of cocktail sauce. One spicy bowl with extra horseradish and one that’s on the milder side. I like mine loaded with horseradish, but, again, do what makes your tastebuds (or guests) happy.
- If you’re entertaining, you can easily make this cocktail sauce ahead of time.
- Use a fork to stir when making your cocktail sauce. It acts similar to a whisk, but is much easier to clean.
- If you add too much horseradish, just add a bit more ketchup to bring it back to your desired level of spiciness.
Other ideas for using cocktail sauce
- Use it as a lighter dip for your crudités platter
- Top a meatloaf with it
- Serve it with crab cakes or fish cakes
- Swap it for ketchup in cocktail meatball sauce
- Add it to a relish tray
More dairy free condiments:
- homemade aioli
- homemade tartar sauce
- dairy free ranch dressing
- spicy sushi sauce
- Thousand island dressing
- how to make pizza sauce
- ranch dip recipe
Homemade Cocktail Sauce
Learn how to make the best homemade cocktail sauce for shrimp. This easy recipe uses ketchup, horseradish and a few other simple ingredients to make a healthy, flavorful DIY cocktail sauce.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 cup 1x
- Category: Condiments
- Method: Mixing
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 – 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
- Splash of Worcestershire sauce*
Instructions
- In a bowl, stir together the ketchup, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon horseradish and Worcestershire sauce.
- If desired, add remaining horseradish.
Notes
*This ingredient is not generally gluten free or vegan. Omit or substitute the appropriate version if needed.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 42
- Sugar: 8.3 g
- Sodium: 343.5 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 10.5 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Published: November 11, 2015. Updated: February 7, 2022.
Up in the recipe, you list 1-2 teaspoons of prepared horseradish but then down below in the description you say add 1 tablespoon of horseradish and add more if you want it…? Is it teaspoons or tablespoons?
It’s teaspoons. Sorry about that! I’ll make the change right away. I sometimes add up to a full tablespoon (3 teaspoons) if I really want it to have a kick. So it’s really up to you!
Great easy last second recipe. I used 5tbsps of spicy horseradish sauce we like spicy cocktail sauce. Great recipe that is easily acceptable. 🍤🍤😉
Here’s an alternative method , use a cup of ketsup , 1 tablespoon of lime juice , if you dont have horseradish sauce use one teaspoon of very hot Mexican hot sauce and a good splash of Worcesterhire sauce , Blend together and enjoy . Its a different type of hot , but its good.
In the Ingredients it list 1-2 tsp prepared horsradish and in the Instructions it list 1 tablespoon horseradish. Is this correct?
Thank you
It should be tablespoons, sorry about that. I updated it in the recipe, but you should start with 1 tablespoon and add more if you prefer a little more spice.
The detailed instructions and beautiful accompanying photos make me feel confident that I can recreate this dish at home. I can’t wait to try it out for myself! Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe.