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Shrimp cocktail, the whole dishShrimp cocktail, close up

Shrimp cocktail

15 min · 18 g protein · 106 cals / serving

Plump, snappy shrimp poached in lemony water and chilled on ice, with a homemade cocktail sauce that bites back: ketchup sharpened with plenty of horseradish, lemon and a dash of hot sauce. The steakhouse starter, at home, in ten minutes of cooking.

Servings4

Ingredients

  • 1 lemon, half sliced for the pot, half in wedges to serve
  • a pinch salt, to season the shrimp, plus salt for the poaching water
  • 2 leaves bay leaf
  • 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on

Cocktail sauce

To serve

  • 2 stalks celery, cut into sticks, to serve

Steps

  1. Fill a large pot with water, squeeze in the juice from the sliced lemon half, drop in the slices, a generous spoonful of salt and the bay leaves, and bring to a boil. Set a big bowl of iced water next to the stove.
  2. Add the shrimp, take the pot off the heat and let them sit for 2–3 minutes, until pink, curled into a loose C and opaque all the way through (145°F). Lift them straight into the iced water for 5 minutes, then drain, pat dry and season with a pinch of salt.Step 2, what it should look like
  3. Stir the ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice, Worcestershire and hot sauce together. Taste and add more horseradish if you want it sharper.
  4. Hang the shrimp around glasses or a bowl of crushed ice, spoon the cocktail sauce into the middle and serve with lemon wedges and celery sticks.

Good to know

Can I use cooked shrimp?

Yes. Thaw them in the fridge and serve straight from cold. Freshly poached shrimp are noticeably sweeter and juicier, though, and take only three minutes.

Why take the pot off the heat?

Gentle cooking keeps shrimp tender. Boiling them hard turns them rubbery in under a minute; the residual heat cooks them evenly and leaves a little room for error.

Make ahead?

Poach and chill the shrimp and mix the sauce up to a day ahead; both keep covered in the fridge. The sauce gets hotter as the horseradish sits.

Alternatives

Per

Calories
76
Protein
(68%)
13 g
Fat
(4%)
<1 g
Carbohydrates
(29%)
6 g
of which sugar
4 g
Fiber
1 g
Sodium
306 mg

More snacks

Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How

As written, 424 kcal goes into the pot and 683 g of ingredients comes out as about 560 g of food: 76 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.