Did you know it’s super easy to mix together your own seafood cocktail sauce? It’s simply a matter of mixing some spices into a cup of ketchup. The main ingredient that gives cocktail sauce its distinctive flavor is horseradish. I had never purchased horseradish before and in fact, the most difficult part of this recipe for me was locating horseradish in the grocery store.

I decided the condiment aisle was the place to look. I must have gone up and down the aisle four or five times before finally finding one brand of horseradish tucked in between the bottles of mayo. It should have dawned on me to talk to my husband first. After all, he’s worked in the food marketing industry his entire life. Apparently horseradish is in the dairy section, kind of by the chip dip stuff, he says. Guess next time I’ll look there first because apparently (per my hubbie) I bought an espensive brand over there in the condiment aisle.

 

Here is the recipe I used to make my own seafood cocktail sauce and it passed the taste test with my family:
SEAFOOD COCKTAIL SAUCE

(Click here for printable recipe)

1 cup ketchup

1/2 teaspoon worcestshire sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 heaping teaspoons horseradish
1 Tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)

 

Mix all the ingredients together and let chill in the refrigerator for a couple hours before serving to let the flavors mingle. Makes 1 cup.

 

You can use less horseradish to make this recipe more mellow, or add more to give it an extra zing.

 

Before I made this recipe I looked at the ingredients listed on the bottle of my favorite brand of cocktail sauce in the grocery store. I noticed cloves in the list of ingredients, an ingredient that I had not seen in other recipes I had come across. So I threw in some ground cloves and was happy with the result.

 

Any time you are considering making a homemade version of a food product you usually purchase already prepared, take some time to look at their ingredient label to get some idea of what spices and flavorings are being used. You can use that information for your own inspiration and creativity when whipping up your own homemade version.

 

The total cost to make this recipe was a little under 50 cents, even with the couple teaspoons of my expensive horseradish. That’s a good bargain when compared to bottled cocktail sauce that is often priced at over $2.00 a bottle for about the same quantity.
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