Homemade Cocktail Sauce

In our family, we have shrimp cocktail every Christmas Eve.

I don't know why.  Years ago, my dad decided that on Christmas Eve we were gonna eat appetizers.

Just appetizers.

Lotsa appetizers.

It's become a tradition of ours, and while the other food changes each year, the shrimp cocktail is always there, waiting for us.

Making your own cocktail sauce is super duper easy and WAY more delicious than the stuff in a jar, even the overpriced stuff in a jar.

I promise.  There are two essential ingredients, and I add 3 optional ingredients of my own.  You can handle that, right?

Here's what you need!

• 1 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoon prepared horseradish
• ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• sriracha sauce or other garlic chili sauce, to taste
• cayenne pepper, to taste

You really only need ketchup and horseradish, but the other three things make this cocktail sauce SUPER sexy.  You didn't know cold bawled (yep) shrimp could be sexy, did ya?

So, this is really hard.

You mix everything together.

And then you taste it.

And then you add more of whatever you want.

You will have to make some of your own decisions.  I usually add more Worcestershire sauce, and I like 2 sprinkles of cayenne pepper and 1 teaspoon of sriracha to start.  That yields a SUPER flavorful but not overly spicy sauce.  You can add more horseradish, cayenne, or sriracha if you want crazy spice.  It's up to you!

I serve this with plain shrimp and lemon wedges.  It's delicious every single time!  You can every buy pre-cooked frozen or thawed shrimp for a super easy  appetizer - you don't even have to cook or peel the shrimp!

Add this to your arsenal for all the parties you have coming up - make a big batch of cocktail sauce and grab some shrimp whenever you need a food offering.  Enjoy!