Description
Mexican shrimp cocktail is a refreshing summertime entree or appetizer. It has a tomato based sauce that’s loaded with crunchy veggies, avocado, and perfectly cooked shrimp.
Ingredients
- Shrimp
- 1 pound shrimp, deveined and peeled
- 8 ounces clam juice (only ingredients should be clam juice)
- salt
- Cocktail veggies/sauce
- 1/2 seedless cucumber, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 rib celery, diced
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- optional: 1 Jalapeno, diced (seeds removed for less heat)
- 1 tomato, diced
- Juice of 1 lime
- Juice of 2 oranges
- 1/4 cup clam juice that has been reserved from cooking and chilled
- 1 cup organic Ketchup (no high fructose corn syrup)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- optional : hot sauce, to taste
- 1/4 cup Cilantro leaves, chopped
- 1 just ripe avocado, cubed
- Optional toppings
- 1/2 to 1 ripe avocado, sliced
- Orange or lime slices
- a few reserved cooked shrimp, left whole
- For serving
- saltine crackers
Instructions
- Cook the shrimp: Add the clam juice and a good portion of salt to a medium sauce pan. Add the shrimp and turn on the heat to medium high. Stir the shrimp constantly until they curl up and turn pink and opaque – about 3 minutes. Immediately use a slotted spoon to remove the shrimp from the clam juice and spread out on a plate or baking dish so that they can cool off fast – DO NOT DISCARD THE CLAM JUICE. Transfer the clam juice to a container and once it’s cooled slightly place it in the fridge to cool completely. Once shrimp are cooled more place them in the fridge to keep chilled until ready to use.
- Prepare the cocktail sauce and veggies: Chop all of the veggies as instructed above EXCEPT FOR THE CILANTRO AND AVOCADO. To a large mixing bowl add the ketchup, 1/4 cup chilled clam juice (strain if there are any shrimp fragments), orange juice, lime juice, and salt – stir to combine. Add all of the veggies that have been chopped. Cut the chilled shrimp into bite sized pieces, removing any tail pieces (you can reserve a few whole shrimp for garnishing the dish if you’d like). Add the cut shrimp to the bowl with the veggies stir to combine everything together, cover the bowl and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours or until well chilled.
- Finish: Once the shrimp cocktail has been well chilled stir in the cilantro and avocado chunks. Give it taste and add more salt if needed or hot sauce if you want it a little spicier.
- Serve: Spoon the shrimp cocktail into a tall glass, such as a margarita glass or martini glass (or a bowl will work if in a pinch) and garnish with sliced avocado, lime or orange slices, and a few whole shrimp on the rim – if desired. Serve with tons of saltine crackers for dipping. A spoon is recommend for spooning all of the goodies onto the crackers.
- Leftovers: Any leftovers will keep for upt o 2ish days. Anymore than that and the avocado gets mushy and the shrimp gets a little “overcooked” from all of the acid in the sauce (think cheviche).
Notes
Clam Juice: I found clam juice near canned tuna. Okay, I know this sounds weird but when I researched the recipe a lot of people used clamato juice – a tomato and clam juice combo. Clamato juice contains high fructose corn syrup which i wanted to avoid. Ketchup and clam juice have the same affect. The clam juice isn’t a strong flavor in the final dish but it adds a layer of complex flavor, so try not to skip it.
Saltine Crackers: Saltine crackers are the only way to eat this dish. I have tried tortilla chips and other seedy crackers and neither are nearly as good – there is something about the texture and the taste of the saltine crackers that goes so well with all the other shrimp cocktail flavors. Just trust me!
Gluten free option: For a gluten free option try Schar table crackers. I haven’t personally tried them but Amazon reviews say they taste pretty close to a saltine cracker. If you try them or have any other gluten free saltine type cracker options please share in the comments below. Thanks, friends! 🙂
Recipe adapted from Food Wishes
