You can make a delicious shrimp cocktail at home by following these steps: making your own cocktail sauce and cooking the shrimp so they are soft, juicy, and tasty.
I’ve had some amazing shrimp cocktails in my day. They’ve usually been served as appetizers at steakhouses. Cold and tender shrimp. Sweet and spicy sauce. So good. But when we make shrimp cocktail at home, it’s simple to buy some already cooked shrimp (maybe in a ring shape) and a jar of cocktail sauce. Then we just put it out for everyone to eat. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s tasty and easy.
To make the best shrimp cocktail, like the ones served at steakhouses, you need to do a few extra things. Not much more, mind you. Homemade shrimp cocktail is still surprisingly simple to do. Read everything you need to know by scrolling down, or click here to go straight to the recipe.
Cocktail shrimp are a party staple. Their tiny size makes them perfect for passing around on trays or setting out in a bowl for guests to nibble on. But what happens when the party is over and you have pounds of leftover cocktail shrimp? Don’t worry there are lots of delicious ways to use them up!
As a seafood lover and home cook, I often find myself with extra shrimp after hosting get-togethers. Rather than letting them go to waste I’ve come up with creative recipes to transform leftover cocktail shrimp into easy meals, snacks, and appetizers.
In this article, I’ll share 17 of my favorite ideas for using up cooked cocktail shrimp Many take just minutes to throw together. From shrimp salad to shrimp tacos, these recipes put those leftover crustaceans to delicious use
Make Shrimp Salad
Shrimp salad is a classic way to use up cooked shrimp. Simply combine chopped shrimp with mayonnaise, lemon juice, diced celery, and your choice of other vegetables like red onion or bell pepper. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, and dill. Enjoy the shrimp salad scooped onto greens, stuffed into avocados, or spread on sandwiches or wraps. It’s a tasty protein-packed meal or snack.
Toss with Pasta
It doesn’t get much easier than tossing cooked cocktail shrimp with hot pasta. Choose a short pasta shape like farfalle or rotini. Heat up some bottled pasta sauce or alfredo sauce and add the shrimp during the last 1-2 minutes of cooking. Garnish with parsley and grated parmesan for a fast shrimp pasta dinner.
Make Shrimp Cocktail
Upgrade leftover cocktail shrimp into an elegant appetizer by transforming them into shrimp cocktail. Peel, devein, and rinse the shrimp if necessary. Then coat with a spicy cocktail sauce made from ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Chill the sauced shrimp until ready to serve in a martini glass or bowl with lemon wedges.
Whip Up Shrimp Tacos
Leftover shrimp are fantastic tucked into tacos. Saute the shrimp with fajita seasoning, salsa, peppers, onions, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. Pile the mixture into warmed corn or flour tortillas and add toppings like shredded lettuce, diced tomato, guacamole, and Mexican crema.
Make Shrimp Dip
A hot, cheesy shrimp dip is perfect for game day snacking. Combine cooked chopped shrimp with softened cream cheese, shredded cheddar or Monterey jack, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder, and milk or sour cream. Transfer to a baking dish, top with more cheese, and bake until bubbly. Serve with crackers, tortilla chips, or fresh veggies for dipping.
Add to Fried Rice
Stir chopped shrimp into fried rice for an easy weeknight meal. Simply cook up some rice then scramble eggs with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, and frozen peas and carrots. Add the pre-cooked shrimp at the end and garnish your shrimp fried rice with sliced scallions.
Stuff Avocados
Halved avocados make the perfect vessels for a tasty shrimp salad. Mash up some avocado with chopped shrimp, lemon or lime juice, diced tomato, red onion, cilantro, and seasoning. Spoon the mixture into avocado halves and top with extra shrimp. This easy appetizer is both filling and healthy.
Add to Soup
Any type of broth-based soup gets an instant protein boost when you add cooked shrimp. Drop shrimp into miso soup, ramen, egg drop soup, wonton soup, tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, or vegetable soup. The shrimp will quickly heat through and add extra flavor.
Load up Baked Potatoes
Baked potatoes become a hearty meal when topped with shrimp. Bake russet potatoes and cut lengthwise. Fluff the insides with a fork and pile with sauteed shrimp, butter, sour cream, cheese, bacon bits, and chopped scallions. Or make each loaded baked potato its own shrimp cocktail.
Make Shrimp Quesadillas
A quesadilla is a handy vessel for using up leftover shrimp. Saute the shrimp with taco seasoning and fill a tortilla with the shrimp, shredded cheese, salsa, and chopped scallions. Place another tortilla on top and cook in a skillet until the cheese melts. Cut into wedges and serve with guacamole and sour cream.
Toss with Linguine
Here’s another fast and easy shrimp pasta recipe. Boil linguine and drain it, reserving a bit of the starchy pasta water. Add olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, parmesan, and red pepper flakes to the pasta. Then toss in the pre-cooked shrimp and a splash of the pasta water. Serve this garlicky shrimp linguine hot.
Make Shrimp Burgers
Leftover shrimp can be made into delicious patties. Pulse the shrimp in a food processor until ground. Add breadcrumbs, egg, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Form into patties and fry in olive oil 3-4 minutes per side. Serve the crispy shrimp burgers on buns with all your favorite fixings.
Enjoy Ceviche-Style
For a unique twist, use extra shrimp to make a fresh ceviche. Chop the shrimp and combine with tomato, avocado, red onion, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, and olive oil. Let the mixture marinate 15-30 minutes. The citrus “cooks” the shrimp. Scoop the ceviche into lettuce cups or serve with tortilla chips.
Make Shrimp Scampi
You can quickly recreate this Italian restaurant favorite at home. Saute shrimp with olive oil, butter, garlic, white wine, lemon juice, parsley, and red pepper flakes until cooked through. Toss with hot linguine or angel hair pasta and grated parmesan cheese. The leftover shrimp transforms into an elegant dinner in minutes.
Stir into Risotto
Shrimp risotto makes an impressive meal for company. As you near the end of cooking the arborio rice, stir in the shrimp and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese. Spoon the creamy shrimp risotto into bowls and garnish with parsley.
Stuff Mushrooms
If you have larger leftover shrimp, use them to stuff mushrooms for an easy appetizer. Remove stems from mushrooms and par-cook the caps. Chop shrimp with breadcrumbs, lemon zest, garlic, parsley, parmesan, and butter. Stuff into mushroom caps, top with more cheese, and broil until bubbly.
Make Shrimp Cakes
For another fun way to use chopped shrimp, form them into patties. Combine cooked shrimp with breadcrumbs, egg, onion, bell pepper, celery, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, Old Bay seasoning, salt, and pepper. Shape into small patties and pan fry in oil or butter until golden brown.
Add to Pizza
Leftover shrimp can top your next homemade pizza. Prepare your favorite pizza dough and sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese, sliced tomatoes, shrimp, and any other desired toppings like onions, peppers, or olives. Sprinkle on some oregano or Italian seasoning too.
FAQs About Using Leftover Cocktail Shrimp
Can leftover shrimp be reheated?
Yes, cooked shrimp can safely be reheated, but it’s best to do it gently and avoid overcooking them. Add the shrimp to a hot dish at the end or very briefly reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop just until warmed through. Overcooking can lead to rubbery, chewy shrimp.
How long is leftover shrimp good for?
Cooked shrimp that has been refrigerated should be used within 3-4 days for optimal freshness and quality. Be sure to store the shrimp in an airtight container. Discard if you notice any unusual odors or textures.
Can you freeze cooked shrimp?
Absolutely. Freezing is a great way to preserve leftover shrimp if you won’t use them in time. Spread the cooked shrimp in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in the freezer until solid. Transfer to a freezer bag or container. They’ll keep for 2-3 months. Thaw in the fridge before using.
What are the best ways to cook raw shrimp?
Some of the top methods for cooking raw shrimp include sauteing, stir frying, grilling, broiling, and baking. Each technique yields delicious results! Season the shrimp and cook just until opaque throughout, 2-3 minutes per side usually. Be careful not to overcook.
How can you tell when shrimp are bad?
Signs that shrimp have gone bad include an ammonia odor, mushy texture, dull color, or a slimy sheen. Fresh shrimp have a mild, briny smell and firm, translucent flesh. Discard any shrimp that exhibit an off odor or appearance. When in doubt, throw
Why Poach The Shrimp Like This?
Some of the heat is taken away when you add the shrimp. This makes the water a little cooler. The less intense heat is then more gentle on the shrimp. They don’t tense up and curl up as much, but they stay about the same size and shape as when they were raw. They still get opaque, pink, and cooked through. This poaching method also results in very tender and juicy shrimp.
If you prefer step-by-step instructions with pictures, get your poaching shrimp how-to here. Also, you can poach shrimp that has been frozen. This is my favorite way to cook shrimp for many dishes. I tend to buy my shrimp frozen so this is really convenient, and it works amazingly well.
There are no real rules here. If you’re doing individual appetizers, then small bowls, wine glasses, or martini glasses are best. Put about a quarter cup of cocktail sauce in the bowl or glass. Then, hang five to six shrimp around the glass.
If you’re doing a homemade shrimp ring to serve several people, you can use a dish specially designed for this kind of thing, like this. Put ice in the bottom and then the sauce in the middle and hang the shrimp around the outside rim. If you don’t have a dish like that (I don’t), then use a shallow round serving dish or roasting dish, like this. Put a bowl of cocktail sauce in the middle of the dish. A napkin under it will stop it from sliding around. Put ice cubes around the cocktail sauce, filling the dish nearly to the top. This will make the dish cold and the cold will transfer to the shrimp once they’re in place. Then hang your shrimp around the rim of the cocktail sauce bowl, adding more right on the ice, if you’d like.
If the way the shrimp are hung in a ring doesn’t bother you, I have another great idea for you. Putting lettuce leaves on top of a bag of ice in a bowl and then putting the shrimp on top of the lettuce leaves will keep the shrimp cold. The lettuce makes it look pretty, and the shrimp stay perfectly chilled. Watch this video to see what I mean. This trick can be used to keep many kinds of cold snacks and dips cold until the ice melts and the water in the bag gets cold.
There you go! The perfect shrimp cocktail at home. Enjoy!
Want to try something different from the usual shrimp cocktail? Here are two recipes for you: a Mexican Shrimp Cocktail and a Tropical Shrimp Cocktail.
Video: How To Make Shrimp Cocktail
First, to make restaurant-quality shrimp cocktail, you need a great-tasting cocktail sauce. If you buy one that you like, you can use that. I think the store-bought ones are a bit bland, so I either make my own or add horseradish sauce and hot sauce to them.
Making your own cocktail sauce isn’t very hard though. It uses ingredients that you probably already have at home. Ketchup mixed with horseradish and a pinch of salt are the basics. Make sure that you have a good-tasting horseradish sauce. Taste it by itself and make sure you like it. I like prepared horseradish better than horseradish sauce. Specifically, I like the prepared horseradish that comes in jars in the grocery store’s refrigerated section next to the pickles. It tends to have a spicier and more robust flavor.
You can add Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and/or hot sauce (like Tabasco) after the ketchup, horseradish, and salt. Here’s my favorite cocktail sauce recipe. You could also make British cocktail sauce which is called Marie Rose sauce.