The BEST Homemade Cocktail Sauce Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. See my privacy policy for details.

It’s incredibly easy to make your own homemade cocktail sauce and it’s a million times better than anything you’ll pick up in the store! This homemade cocktail sauce complements my classic shrimp cocktail recipe perfectly, not to mention that you can also use it in my Shrimp Dip recipe as well!

Why anyone would ever consider buying cocktail sauce is a mystery to me, it’s just so simple to make at home and tastes SO much better! If you usually hit the shopping aisle for your cocktail sauce you’ll definitely change your mind once you give this homemade version a try. All you need are a few ingredients that you probably already have stocked in your kitchen!

How To Make The BEST Homemade Cocktail Sauce 

This is a really quick recipe and it’ll be done before you know it!

1. Start by mixing all of the ingredients together, slowly adding the horseradish until you get it to your own preferred level of spice! If you like a super zesty taste then add more horseradish and if you prefer it a bit milder just add less. The best thing about making your own sauce is you can adjust the portions according to your own taste.
2. You can add more sugar after this if you like – it’ll balance out the flavours.
3. If you’re not ready to serve right away, just store in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the refrigerator until needed.

Tips And Tricks For Making The BEST Homemade Cocktail Sauce 

• If you want to cut down on sugar content, try making your own ketchup to use. Alternatively, you can look out for ketchup that doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup.
• This sauce will keep for a week in the fridge so I often make a batch of it at once, but it all depends on how much you think you’ll use up.
• If your sauce gets a little too spicy for your liking, you can add some extra ketchup to take a bit of tanginess out of the horseradish.
• As well as serving it with shrimp cocktail, this sauce also works great as a light dip for a crudites platter!
• It’s important to let the mixture sit a while before serving to let the flavours come together. Otherwise, it’s just going to taste like super spicy ketchup!

How to Make this Cocktail Sauce Low Carb

• Use a low sugar ketchup like this one. It makes all the difference in the carb count!
• If the low sugar ketchup isn’t sweet enough on its own, sprinkle in your preferred sugar-free sweetener.
• Sometimes the no sugar ketchup is lower in sodium and you might need a bit of salt as well.

More Recipes You Might Enjoy: 

Buffalo Shrimp Kale Salad

How to Make Creamy Sweet Chili Sauce (Dipping Sauce, Fry Sauce)

Shrimp Caesar Salad

Hope you enjoy it!

Happy cooking!

Love,

Karlynn

PIN THIS RECIPE to your APPETIZER RECIPES Board and Remember to FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST!

Thanks to ads on this website, readers of The Kitchen Magpie are now sponsoring 2 families a month through the Edmonton Food Bank. Learn how you can help here.

Learn to cook like the Kitchen Magpie

A Very Prairie Christmas Bakebook

Cookies, Candies, Cakes & More: Vintage Baking to Celebrate the Festive Season!

Learn More

Flapper Pie and a Blue Prairie Sky

A Modern Baker’s Guide to Old-Fashioned Desserts

Learn More

The Prairie Table

Suppers, Potlucks & Socials: Crowd-Pleasing Recipes to Bring People Together

Learn More

Subscribe to The Kitchen Magpie on YouTube

One click and you'll get notified of new videos added to our YouTube account!

Subscribe on YouTube

The BEST Homemade Cocktail Sauce Recipe

This really is the best homemade cocktail sauce that you can adjust the flavors to your liking! I have tips and tricks to make this low carb as well!

5 from 4 votes

Review Save Saved!Print

Prep Time

10 minutes

Course

Appetizer

Cuisine

American

Servings

8

Calories

35

Author

Karlynn Johnston

Ingredients

 

• ▢ 1 cup ketchup
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• ▢ 1 teaspoon horseradish then adjust this to taste
• ▢ 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar then adjust to taste
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon powdered garlic optional
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce optional

Instructions

 

• Mix all of the ingredients together until they are well-combined. Adjust the amount of horseradish slowly, adding more until it tastes as spicy as you like! This is a very personal thing so this will vary for each of you!
• Add in more sugar if desired. The sugar cuts the acidity of the ketchup and lemon juice just enough to balance out the flavors.
• Store in a closed container in the refrigerator until you are ready to use.

Recipe Notes

Nutrition is for one ounce of sauce. Everything will vary depending on the brands that you use in this recipe.

See my tips in the post above for making this sauce lower in carbs.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 35kcal, Carbohydrates: 8g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 286mg, Potassium: 101mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 7g, Vitamin A: 154IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 5mg, Iron: 1mg

All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.

Made this recipe?

Share a photo of what you made on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thekitchenmagpie or hashtag it #thekitchenmagpie.

Please rate this recipe in the comments below to help out your fellow cooks!