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The Best Cocktail Sauce Ever is simple, yet so delicious! Ready in a few minutes, this easy cocktail sauce recipe has only four ingredients!

Overhead view of cocktail sauce with spoon in bowl with blue rim, beside a few boiled shrimp
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I’m pretty picky about my Cocktail Sauce. The bottled stuff just doesn’t make the cut with me. That’s the reason I developed my own years ago. And it’s absolutely the best I’ve ever tasted – and the reason I call it the Best Cocktail Sauce Ever.

This sauce comes together very simply, in just a few minutes with only four ingredients! My family loves this sauce and I’m asked how to make it every time I serve it to friends too. I think you will love it as well!

The Best Cocktail Sauce Ever

Cocktail Sauce in white blue rimmed bowl surrounded by boiled shrimp

When you are making a special dinner that includes seafood or an appetizer like Boiled Shrimp, this homemade cocktail sauce is essential! It’s so easy to whip together right before serving the meal, or to make ahead and keep in the fridge. The fresh, zesty taste of it makes the seafood so much more special!

I especially enjoy serving this with seafood as part of special dinners for birthdays, holidays and get togethers with friends. Seafood favorites like shrimp or Scallops with this cocktail sauce taste amazing alongside a favorite meal of beef tenderloin or Skillet Ribeyes.

And if I’m serving certain fish for the meal, I may sometimes also include tartar sauce. I also like to include sides such as Baked Potatoes and House Salad and a favorite dessert like Key Lime Pie .

How to Make the Best Cocktail Sauce

To make this, you’ll need:

Ingredients

  • Ketchup
  • Worcestershire Sauce
  • Lemon Juice
  • Horseradish

Instructions

Then you simply mix these ingredients together until they are well combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve with your favorite seafood and refrigerate any leftover sauce.

Note: If you like your cocktail sauce with a bit more or less “bite”, you can adjust the horseradish for your preference.

Make Ahead

If you make ahead or make extra, place in an airtight container and refrigerate. It should stay fresh up to a week.

Anyway, back to the sauce. When you make a special meal with a favorite seafood, it deserves this delicious sauce. Especially since it only takes a few minutes of time and it’s absolutely the best!

You really should give it a try the next time you have shrimp, oysters, or the like.

More Favorite Sauces

Here’s my recipe for the Best Cocktail Sauce Ever. We love it and I hope you do too!

4.92 from 47 votes

The Best Cocktail Sauce Ever

Sauces — 5 mins

Prep Time 5 mins
Servings 12 – about 2 cups
Course Sauce
Cuisine American
Author Robyn Stone | Add a Pinch
The Best Cocktail Sauce Ever is simple, yet so delicious! Ready in a few minutes, this easy cocktail sauce recipe has only four ingredients!

Ingredients  

  • 2 cups ketchup
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons horseradish adjust to taste

Instructions 

  • Mix all ingredients together until well-combined.
  • Keep refrigerated.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 46kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 376mg | Potassium: 137mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 206IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 1mg

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Now, grab a plate of shrimp and dig in.

Enjoy!

30 Minutes or Less Recipes

Robyn Stone

Robyn Stone is a wife, mom, blogger, recipe developer, and cookbook author. Welcome to Add a Pinch where I share thousands of delicious, tested and perfected easy recipes that the whole family will love.

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Recipe Review




Comments

  1. This recipe is easy and delicious! A real time saver, I made it twice already. I added extra Horseradish just for extra kick, and because I love Horseradish.

    1. I love to add more horseradish to mine sometimes, too. The great thing about this recipe is that everyone can make it as spicy as they want.

  2. Awesome easy recipe. Store bought has no flavor,unless you like high HFCS and little horseradish to none. Thank you!!!

    1. Kim H, Thanks. I love that you can make this as spicy or mild as you want.

  3. Love this! Something interesting, as an Thanks for the recipe! American living in Canada here. Ketchup here is a lot sweeter up here. I cut the sweetness by adding a bit of soy sauce and I also add some tobasco sauce as well! Fresh is the way to go!

    1. Thanks for the tips for using the ketchup in Canada, Jen. So glad you liked the cocktail sauce.

  4. Great recipe. Had some nice leftover Dungeness crab, added some very nice chopped up U15 shrimp, a couple of dots of tabasco and a pinch of sugar and a few tablespoons of heavy cream. We found it totally elegant, different, tasty and super easy. Robyn’s recipe is super.

  5. Best cocktail sauce! Husband won’t use anything else now. I tweaked it a little using what I had on hand. I used Beer’n Brat horseradish Mustard instead of horseradish and it tastes delicious. Thank you for the great and easy recipe!

    1. Thanks for the tip with the horseradish mustard, Carla. I love that this is now a favorite for your husband.

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