Looking for a quick & easy yet incredibly delicious appetizer to serve your guests at your next gathering? Look no further!  These Grilled Shrimp with homemade Cocktail Sauce are simple to make and pack a ton of flavor.  Being an Italian girl,  the marinade has to have tons of fresh garlic . Oh how I love my garlic.  I can remember being a young girl and my grandmother always telling us that garlic was good for your complexion.  Even if that isn’t true, I still love it.  The cocktail sauce is not like any bottled sauce I have ever tasted; it is fresh and slightly spicy.  It is worth it to make from scratch.  You can also serve it cold or at room temperature; either way it tastes great.  With only a few ingredients, you will surprise yourself with how easy this is to make.  You will be sure to impress your guests at your next party.  You can even make this the day ahead so that when it comes time for your guests to arrive all you have to do it plate it and serve; it really is that simple!  When planning for any party, I always look for simple recipes that I know taste great and will have your guests thinking you slaved in the kitchen for days.

I must admit that I have made several shrimp recipes over the years and many that I have really enjoyed.  But this recipe has fast become one of our family’s all time favorite.  It is almost a must have at all our family parties.  I first tried this grilled shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce at my sister’s house.  Actually 2 of my sisters make this and it seems to be getting passed through the family because we enjoy it so much.  As everyone is gathered around, eating the shrimp you hear “how did you make this” and “what is in here, it is so yummy”.  Prepping for my 4th of July party and sitting down to create recipes, I just knew this one had to make the list under “Appetizers”.  So, I must have contacted my sister a few times to ask “what is in that shrimp w/cocktail sauce again”?!  She gave me the ingredients and I played around with the measurements to get it just right.  I think I did pretty good, everyone seemed to love it.

Give this a try for your next party or if you are in the mood for a shrimp recipe.

Mangia! Enjoy!

Grilled Shrimp w/Cocktail Sauce

Serves approx. 8-10 people as an Appetizer

Ingredients

1 Bag, Large Jumbo Shrimp, uncooked (approx. 21-25 count)

1 Teaspoon, Seasoned Garlic Salt

6 Cloves, Fresh Garlic, minced

1/4 Cup, Fresh Parsley, chopped

S&P

1-2 Tablespoons, Olive Oil

1 Lemon, for garnish

Homemade Cocktail Sauce: 

1 Cup, Ketchup

1/4 Cup, Prepared Horseradish

1/2 Lemon, Juice

Few Dashes, Sriracha Sauce  *use more if you like it really spicy

1 Teaspoon, Worcestershire Sauce

S&P

 

Instructions

Make the Cocktail Sauce:  to make the cocktail sauce, simply whisk together all the cocktail sauce ingredients.  Store in fridge until ready to use.

Setup a plate with some paper towels.  Peel the shrimp, leaving tails on.  With cold water running, use a pairing knife to devein the shrimp.  Place the peeled/deveined shrimp onto the paper towel to dry.  Repeat until all shrimp are peeled & deveined.  Using another paper towel, blot the shrimp and make sure they are nice and dry.  Transfer the shrimp either to a baking dish or a plastic bag that you can seal shut.

Place the garlic cloves into a garlic press and press through and into the bag with the shrimp.   Drizzle olive oil over the shrimp and add the fresh parsley, S&P (small amount of salt since you are also using garlic salt), garlic salt and toss around to even coat all the shrimp.  Place into the fridge for at least a few hours or even overnight.  Since there is no acidity in the marinade you can let it sit longer.

Heat your grill to medium-high heat.  Place the shrimp onto the grill and cook for only a few minutes per side, just until they turn pink in color and have some nice grill marks on them.  Remove from the grill, place onto a plate and drizzle with the Agave.  Let them sit to cool.

Grilling Shrimp

You can store the shrimp in a new bag, in fridge until ready to use or place them onto your platter to serve.  If storing in the fridge, remove about 30 minutes or so prior to serving to take the chill off of them.  Serve with a side of your homemade cocktail sauce and garnish the plate with some lemon wedges.

Mangia! Enjoy!

Notes

Garlic:  if you do not have a garlic press don’t worry.  Just place the garlic onto a cutting board (after peeling it) and sprinkle the garlic with some kosher salt.  Using a larger knife, chop the garlic up.  The salt will help to break it up finer.  You can do this with a larger amount of garlic and add some olive oil to it and then store in an airtight container for later use.  If you use salt to chop your garlic then there is no need to add extra salt to the bag of shrimp.  Otherwise, it can turn out too salty.

Cocktail Sauce:  If you need to serve a larger crowd you can always double this recipe.  You can simply store the cocktail sauce in a mason jar with a lid.  Store in fridge until ready to use.  I like to make this a day ahead.   Make sure you taste the sauce and adjust the flavor as needed.  If you like it spicy, then add a few extra dashes of Sriracha Sauce (or hot sauce).  If you do not like it spicy, you can leave this out all together.  The horseradish will give this sauce a little bit of heat too.  If you like the sauce to be a little chunkier, than just mix it up with a fork or spoon instead of a whisk.

Shrimp:  you can store the shrimp in fridge for a day with the marinade.  The longer it sits, the better it tastes.   You can also marinate and grill ahead of time.  I have been known to grill this all up the day ahead of a party.  Then the day of the party all I have to do is pull the shrimp and cocktail sauce out of the fridge (about 30 minutes prior to my guests arriving) and arrange it on a platter.