During the sweltering summer months, I frequently make this cool shrimp cocktail for my family. We usually add Mexican hot sauce (like Valentina® or Tapatio®), and we always serve it with saltine crackers on the side because we are a Mexican family. The secret is to begin with well-chilled shrimp, ketchup, and tomato juice cocktail so it can be ready after chilling in the fridge for about an hour. If desired, add more spicy sauce and avocado slices over top. Enjoy!
| Prep Time: | 45 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 45 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup Spanish onion, chopped
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 pound chilled cooked medium shrimp – peeled, deveined, and tails removed
- 2 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cucumber, finely chopped
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cups chilled tomato and clam juice cocktail (such as Clamato®)
- 1 cup chilled ketchup (such as Heinz®)
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro – stems discarded and leaves chopped
- 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce (such as Valentina®)
- 2 avocados – peeled, pitted, and chopped
Instructions
- Gather all ingredients.
- Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
- Mix onion with lime juice in a small bowl and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, toss shrimp, roma tomatoes, cucumber, celery, jalapeno, salt, and black pepper in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined.
- Whisk tomato and clam juice cocktail, ketchup, cilantro, and hot pepper sauce in a separate bowl; stir dressing into shrimp mixture.
- Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
- Gently fold in avocados. Stir in onion mixture. Cover and chill thoroughly, at least 1 hour.
- Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
- Enjoy!
- Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 410 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 42 g |
| Cholesterol | 221 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 9 g |
| Protein | 29 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 2626 mg |
| Sugars | 21 g |
| Fat | 17 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I was given this recipe by a friend in California who added a few extras that really set it off! Baby clams and oysters along with the juice made this cocktail a sure hit!
Simplemente excelente!
I just made it and tasted the liquid and Oh my goodness. That’s just what it is, pure goodness. I can hardly wait for it to chill!!
Good base but I tweaked it a little
Excellent. Made one big change. I use spicy bloody mix! The BOMB
This is the yummiest refreshing appetizer I’ve ever made. I made it for my dad on Father’s Day! He loved it! I had to make it again later that week for my husband who loved it just as much!
Made this recipe but added two more tablespoons of the Valentina salsa and it was the bomb! Being from AZ, we’re used to the heat! So delicious!
I added radishes with coijta cheese on top
It was very delicious and easy to make….I did make some changes.. Celery is a bit much but I replaced it with Jicama (bought it precut at the grocery store ) , used red onion instead for the flavor, used V8 juice instead of tomato juice and added some lemon juice with the lime.
Great recipe, I made it exactly as the recipe stated. Just the right amount of heat and tasted as good as any restaurant, maybe better. Definitely will be making it again soon. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Great recipe but needs tweaking. First, NO KETCHUP. Anybody cooking with ketchup needs to be burned to a stake. I added garlic flowers to the onion and lime juice. Also, skip the clamato juice and find a top shelf tomato sauce. I used a sweet carrot and tomato sauce. Stay away from the junk tomato sauces like Prego, Ragú, etc. Since I didn’t have avocados so I substituted artichoke buttons. Turned out magnificent! I almost forgot. Add chopped cilantro unless you hate it, but then if you hate cilantro why are you making Mexican food?
I’m going to give it 5 stars for the flavor. I don’t eat fish, so I was flying blindfolded on this one. My husband loves this and gets it all the time. I read lots of reviews on this recipe. I followed it exactly, but I had some small Serrano peppers in the fridge and saw several people had substituted, so did three small Serrano, scraped, no seeds. I saw several comments about it being too sweet, so did half ketchup and half cocktail sauce. I bought the Tapatio sauce but did 1.5 T instead of 2. My husband loved the flavor, said it was spot on, but he’s on his third piece of bread and I am sure those are tears of joy running down his face. My fault it’s too hot…just not sure if it’s the hot sauce or Serranos. I just read Serranos are 5 times hotter than Jalapeños. Guess I will go back and stick with the original recipe and let him add the hot sauce.
I’m always looking for tasty recipes and this was a big hit!
I absolutely love Mexican style shrimp cocktails and this recipe is excellent, with perfectly blended ingredients. So much better than the cocteles I’ve made in the past! I will use this recipe every time from now on.
Used 3 serranos and subbed cocktail sauce (in lieu of ketchup). Skipped celery but may use jicama next time. Served w/tortilla chips. Yum!
Delicious, just like at the Mexican restaurant
I’ve made this for years. Really good
This is a very good recipe. It’s makes quite a bit, enough for 4-6 adults. The flavors are bright and tasty. It is a good recipe on its own, or you can use it as a base and dress it up to your own taste. Personally, I liked it the way it was.
Perfect Recipe but I added Mandarin Oranges like I ate in Matamoros, Mexico next to Brownsville Texas
Good Recipe! I added diced radish, substituted cherry tomatoes and served with chips. Next time I make it I think I’ll chop the shrimp so it’s easier to dip.
Made this for Valentine’s day. We loved it!