Cocktail Sauce

This homemade cocktail sauce is the perfect companion to shrimp cocktail—one of my favorite appetizers and also lazy dinners. Lol. There’s just something fancy feeling about shrimp cocktail, but it can be pretty boring without this flavorful cocktail sauce.

Cocktail sauce is super easy to make and only requires five ingredients. You can also easily customize this recipe to your liking, like increasing or decreasing the amount of horseradish.

Related: Next up, make your own buffalo sauce or spring roll sauce. Or find more easy appetizer recipes to try.

Ingredients

• Ketchup
• Horseradish
• Worcestershire sauce
• Lemon juice
• Tabasco

Directions

In a small to medium sized mixing bowl, add all ingredients. Stir to combine. Taste and if you feel the sauce needs something, add it.

You can use this sauce right away or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks.

Serve alongside shrimp cocktail.

Tips and Substitutions

• You can easily increase or decrease the amount of horseradish in this recipe. I find this is one ingredient that tends to elicit a strong reaction from people. 🙂
• I like the vinegar taste of Tabasco for this recipe, but if you want to swap it for a different hot sauce like Frank’s RedHot or Cholula, you can.
• If you want to add a little sweetness to this, you can sprinkle in a big pinch of granulated white sugar or a small drizzle of honey.

More Homemade Sauce Recipes

• Chick-fil-A sauce
• Spicy mayo
• Stir fry sauce
• Cheese sauce
• BBQ sauce
• Tzatziki

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5 from 3 votes

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Get the Recipe

Shrimp cocktail dipping sauce made from just five ingredients.

Yield 4

Prep 5 minutes mins

Total 5 minutes mins

Ingredients

1x2x3x

• ▢ ½ cup ketchup
• ▢ 1 tablespoon horseradish
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• ▢ 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Tabasco

Instructions

• In a small to medium sized mixing bowl, add all ingredients.
• Stir to combine.
• Taste and if you feel the sauce needs something, add it.
• You can use this sauce right away or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks.

Notes

You can easily increase or decrease the amount of horseradish in this recipe. I find this is one ingredient that tends to elicit a strong reaction from people. 

I like the vinegar taste of Tabasco for this recipe, but if you want to swap it for a different hot sauce like Frank’s RedHot or Cholula, you can.

If you want to add a little sweetness to this, you can sprinkle in a big pinch of granulated white sugar or a small drizzle of honey.

© Author Emma Chapman

Course condiment

Cuisine American

Keywords cocktail sauce

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Cocktail Sauce

Amount per Serving

Calories

35

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

0.1

g

0

%

Saturated Fat

 

0.01

g

0

%

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

0.03

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

0.01

g

Sodium

 

334

mg

15

%

Potassium

 

115

mg

3

%

Carbohydrates

 

9

g

3

%

Fiber

 

0.2

g

1

%

Sugar

 

7

g

8

%

Protein

 

0.4

g

1

%

Vitamin A

 

157

IU

3

%

Vitamin C

 

6

mg

7

%

Calcium

 

9

mg

1

%

Iron

 

0.2

mg

1

%

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

Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.