Dipping a chilled piece of shrimp into a well-seasoned cocktail sauce is the perfect start to a decadent meal. But with some restaurants charging upwards of $30 dollars for a few pieces of shrimp in a cup of cocktail sauce, even a fancy lemon wedge can’t justify the cost of ordering this appetizer. You’ll be much better off skipping the shrimp cocktail and enjoying it at home instead. This will let you spend your hard-earned money on apps that aren’t quite as simple to do yourself and therefore much more worth the money you will spend at the restaurant — trust us, your dining out budget will thank you later.
Shrimp cocktail is incredibly simple to create, making us scratch our heads in wonder at why restaurants charge so much for the dish, even when the shrimp are the jumbo type, impressing us with their size and meatiness. But the truth is you can save a small fortune by keeping frozen shrimp on hand and defrosting it in a pinch to put together one of these delicious appetizers. The cocktail sauce is easily made with just a few ingredients — ketchup, lemon, and horseradish — along with a little Worcestershire or hot sauce if you want to add a bit of a kick. You can whip it up quickly and cheaply while impressing your guests with your luxurious appetizer skills.
Going it on your own lets you exercise your creativity
One of the benefits of skipping the restaurant and enjoying shrimp cocktail at home is the ability to play with the recipe to make it more interesting, more flavorful, and more uniquely you. The cocktail sauce, for example, is a great place to start with variations that can range from spicy to sweet, depending on what suits your taste buds. A Scandinavian-inspired cocktail sauce will give you a sweetly tart sauce when you add lingonberries and a touch of gin, while you can go in the complete opposite direction and spice it up with some hot sauce or give it an Asian flair with some chili crisp to give it a unique flavor twist that brings heat and crunchiness to the sauce. If you are a fan of Mexican cuisine, you can easily chop up some avocado and add that along with some cilantro and lime for a south-of-the-border twist.
If you are a recipe purist, then you have even more reason to skip the shrimp cocktail since shrimp wasn’t even the original choice for this dish. Once upon a time oysters were the seafood of choice, and when you make it at home you can play with the ingredients, either switching out the shrimp completely for something else or mixing in some oysters or crab claws. You also have the freedom to be generous with the amount of shrimp you use, so you don’t have to worry about figuring out how to evenly divide the shrimp cocktail the restaurant serves with everyone in your party.
