While sometimes the bottled stuff may be just as good as homemade, that’s certainly not the case for this Horseradish Cocktail Sauce!
Using just a few ingredients you can whip up a sweet and spicy sauce that’s the perfect accompaniment to shrimp and other seafood.
Whether you want to impress your guests or simply try a dipping sauce with a difference, you can always count on this Horseradish Cocktail Sauce recipe to get the job done.
Horseradish
This distinctive root vegetable is known for its fiery flavor and adds an irresistible kick to this homemade cocktail sauce.
It’s important to use horseradish instead of horseradish sauce, as this contains other ingredients like mayonnaise that will alter the consistency and taste of the sauce.
You should be able to find it in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.
Worcestershire Sauce
This traditional condiment has a beautiful, complex flavor thanks to the fermentation and aromatic blend of vinegar, molasses, anchovies and seasonings.
It adds umami to many dishes and helps to enhance the taste of this homemade cocktail sauce. While soy sauce is often recommended as a good substitute, the flavor is definitely different, with Worcestershire sauce being tangier and sweeter with a lot more depth.
Worcestershire sauce is readily available in most grocery stores and can be found with the other condiments.
Ketchup
The sweetness of ketchup helps to balance out the spiciness of the horseradish in this sauce and adds some more acidity along with the lemon juice that really rounds out the flavor.
One of the benefits of making your own Horseradish Cocktail Sauce is that you have more control over not only how it tastes but the ingredients that go into it.
If you want to lessen the amount of sugar, opt for a sugar-free ketchup or one without high fructose corn syrup. To make it even cleaner, you could even try making your own!
What Can I Serve With Horseradish Cocktail Sauce?
While this sauce is traditionally served as part of a shrimp cocktail, it goes just as well with other seafood and shellfish like crab, oyster, calamari and salmon. You can also serve it alongside other seafood meals like crab cakes, where it makes for a great dipping sauce.
What Do I Do If My Horseradish Cocktail Sauce Is Too Spicy?
If you accidentally added too much or got hold of some particularly powerful horseradish, simply adding in some more ketchup will help to lessen its spiciness.
Add in an extra teaspoon at a time, making sure to taste, to ensure you don’t take it too far the other way and end up with an overly sweet sauce.
How To Store Horseradish Cocktail Sauce
Put any leftover sauce in an airtight container and it will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.
If you’re making Horseradish Cocktail Sauce for a dinner party, you can easily mix it up ahead of time so it is ready to serve on the day.
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Horseradish Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Ketchup
- 2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 Tbsp. Creamy Horseradish Sauce
- 1 Tsp. Garlic Cloves Minced
- 1 Tsp. Tabasco Sauce
Instructions
- Gather the ingredients.
- Combine ketchup, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish sauce, garlic, and tabasco sauce in a large bowl. Wisk well until well combined. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with garlic butter shrimp or mozzarella sticks.
Peggy
can this sauce be frozen for later use?
Mirlene
Hi Peggy,
Yes, you can freeze the horseradish sauce in the freezer for up to 3 months, and you can freeze it for 6 months or longer in the deep freezer. When ready to thaw, simply thaw it out in the refrigerator.
Kimee
Thank you, thank you, thank you! All we had on hand was horseradish sauce and not plain horseradish (which is what we’d normally use). Hubby was skeptical, but I knew someone had to have a recipe out there calling for the sauce! I found you and it came out great!!!
Mirlene
I am so glad to hear that Kimee. Thank you for trying the recipe!
Eleanor
Wonderful and I had everything I needed in the kitchen already.
Perfect it’s now my go to.
Mirlene
I am so glad to hear that, Eleanor!
TrueNorth
I put too much horseradish in, but thankfully I have enough ketchup to even it out a bit. Thanks for the recipe – it’s really delish.
Mirlene
So glad to hear that. Thank you for sharing your experience. It’s one of AJ’s favorite sauce to make.
Delilah
This is an awesome recipe. We were given two lbs of shrimp that were huge. We didn’t want to use shrimp cocktail size shrimp on gumbo or shrimp and grits so went in search of a cocktail sauce. Your recipe sounded so much like what we have had in restaurants that we just had to try it. Well it did mot disappoint. We will definitely be using this again.
Mirlene
Thank you so much Delilah. We are very glad to hear to that. Very happy you liked the sauce.
Peggy
This is restaurant quality cocktail sauce!
Mirlene
Thank you very much, Peggy!
Amber
This sauce is exactly what you need for for game day!