Spicy prawn cocktail is a classic starter dish in which juicy prawns are tossed in pink Marie Rose sauce with an added punch. A classic 80’s starter dish that never goes out of style. You can serve it as a starter like bang bang shrimp, or as salad, or along with any main dish.
Update: Originally posted in Dec 2020, republished with new photos and added video to the post.
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80’s retro starter that never goes out of fashion
Prawn(or shrimp) cocktail is a timeless classic is easily one of the most-favorite dish from kids to adults. A no-hassle recipe that you can make for any cocktail party or simply for the love of seafood.
This 80’s style starter does not get old even today. Plump, juicy prawns tossed in classic rose Marie is very easy to make and guaranteed to wow your guests!
The secret is to use fresh prawns for the best taste. Frozen prawns when defrosted, turns watery and tasteless. The texture of defrosted prawns isn’t great either.
This sauce reminds me of my favorite dipping sauce boom boom sauce and bang bang sauce, but this sauce has its flavor elevated. Simple classic Marie Roses sauce is a creamy sauce that is a simple blend of mayonnaise, tomato sauce, and other optional seasoning like a dash of salt, ground pepper, hot sauce, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and a little horseradish if you wish to add to the flavor.
Serving prawn cocktails has to be done the right way. Serve it in elegant glassware or make lettuce cups and serve it in individual portions.
Prawn cocktail ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need –
For Marie Rose sauce –
Ingredients notes-
- Prawns – the better and fresher the prawn is, the tastier this cocktail starter will be. Use the biggest king-size raw prawns for this recipe. Tiny prawns are fussy to pick and eat. The secret is to use fresh prawns for the best taste. Frozen prawns when defrosted, turns watery and tasteless. The texture of defrosted prawns isn’t great either. I used peeled, deveined raw prawns with tail-on and freshly cooked it. You can choose to keep the head on if you don’t mind eating prawn heads.
- Water, salt, peppercorns, and bay leaf – to cook peeled freshly cooked prawns. Prawns can be cooked two ways, by blanching in water or sautéing in a pan with olive oil. Choose your option. Raw prawns can be blanched in just water, but I’d like to prawn to soak a little flavor instead of being bland. Season boiling water with a generous amount of salt, whole black peppercorns, and a bay leaf.
- Lettuce – any variety of fresh lettuce can be used. Iceberg lettuce, Romaine lettuce works great. It adds nice crunch base with peppery taste that helps balance the rich creamy mayo sauce in which prawns are tossed.
- Lime – or lemon. Lime or lemon wedges are used for serving. A fresh squeeze of lime juice helps balance flavor and enhances the taste.
Marie Rose sauce
- Mayonnaise – use regular full-fat whole egg mayonnaise for the best taste.
- Ketchup – tomato ketchup adds a slight tangy taste to mayonnaise that helps cut some of its creamy rich taste.
- Hot sauce – you may use any type of hot sauce like Tabasco sauce, sriracha sauce, or Asian chili sauce. Hot sauce adds flavor and a mild kick to the sauce.
- Worcestershire sauce – enhances the flavor of Marie Rose sauce.
- Salt & pepper – season to taste.
- Cayenne pepper – add a spicy kick to the sauce. Heat in mayo-based sauce tastes wonderful.
- Horseradish – flavor enhancer. I skipped this time, but I usually add it when I can get my hands of fresh horseradish root. Peel brown skin off and shred or grate it and use it.
Ingredients additions
You may add little freshly squeezed lemon juice to the sauce to brighten the flavors.
Add extra layers to the prawn cocktail by adding any one, or mix or all of these-
- diced mango,
- cubes of avocado,
- diced cucumber,
- dill pickled,
- finely chopped gherkins,
- cherry tomatoes,
- sautéed red bell peppers,
- artichokes, and fresh dill
over the lettuce bed and top it with cocktail prawns.
Ways to cook prawns for cocktail
Some supermarkets sell cooked(boiled prawns). Feel free to pick those if they look fresh and the best in quality. Prawn cocktail dish taste entirely depends on the quality of the prawns.
Alternatively, you can easily boil or cook prawns on your own. Doesn’t take much time.
Method 1 (traditional way)
Boil 3 quarts of water in large pot. Flavor water with a bay leave, few whole black peppercorns along with salt. Wait until water is rapid boiling, add prawns (shelled or with shells but remember to devein the prawns) to the boiling water.
Cook until pink and slightly firm to touch. It should take about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain prawns immediately and cool completely.
Method 2
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet. Place prawns/shrimps on skillet and cook on low flame for 2-3 minutes. Flip prawns once they curl up and turn pink. Cook on the other side for a minute or 2. Do not brown prawns. They should be pink (just cooked).
Step by step pictorial
Step 1: First, make the prawn cocktail sauce. Add mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, hot sauce, pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, and dash fresh grated horseradish (if available) to a bowl.
Step 2: Whisk well and refrigerate until used.
Step 3: Flavor water with salt, black peppercorns, and bay leaves. Bring it to a boil.
Step 4: Add peeled, deveined prawns to the boiling water. If you choose to use whole prawns with shells, devein the prawns before cooking. It’s so hard to devein after it’s cooked.
Step 5: Cook/blanch until prawns are pink, slightly firm but cooked through. It will take 3-5 minutes. Do not overcook prawns.
Step 6: Drain immediately well (discard peppercorns and bay leaf). Let it cool completely. You can store cooked prawns in the refrigerator ready to serve this starter.
Step 7: When ready to serve toss cooked prawns in Marie Rose sauce.
Step 8: Toss well to coat every prawn evenly in the sauce.
How to serve prawn cocktail
As a classic tale goes, due to ban on alcoholic drinks in 1920, restaurants used the obsolete stemmed glassware like martini glass and wine glass and filled them up with prawn cocktail padded on crunchy lettuce.
Keeping the tradition I served this ultimate retro starter in martini glasses. Fill the martini or wine glass (or any other glassware) with lettuce leaves and serve cocktail sauce dolled prawns on top with lime (or lemon) wedges on the sides.
Alternatively you can use iceberg lettuce cups and serve prawns in them.
Useful tips
- The secret is to use fresh prawns for the best taste. Frozen prawns when defrosted, turn watery and tasteless.
- Use the biggest king-size raw prawns for this recipe. You don’t want to be searching for tiny prawns through the sauce.
- Don’t overcook prawns. Nothing worse than rubbery overcooked prawns.
- If you choose to use whole prawns with shells, devein the prawns before cooking. It’s so hard to devein it after it’s cooked.
- Before tossing cooked prawns in sauce cool it completely.
- Cooked prawns and cocktail rose Marie sauce can be made ahead and stored separately in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Toss prawns in sauce only before serving.
Variation ideas
You may add little freshly squeezed lemon juice to the sauce to brighten the flavors.
Add extra layers to the prawn cocktail by adding any one, or mix or all of these-
- diced mango,
- cubes of avocado,
- diced cucumber,
- dill pickled,
- finely chopped gherkins,
- cherry tomatoes,
- sautéed red bell peppers,
- artichokes, and fresh dill
over the lettuce bed and top it with cocktail prawns.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, king-size (or jumbo-size as called in some places) to medium-sized prawns can be used to make the cocktail. Do not use tiny prawns, they tend to get lost in the sauce and you’ll have to search through the sauce to look for prawns.
I do not recommend using frozen prawns, but if you have no way of getting fresh prawns then use frozen prawns. You must defrost frozen prawns first and drain all the liquids before use. Frozen prawns are usually cooked as soon as it’s caught and then frozen so you don’t have to cook if they’re already cooked. If they are raw then cook them, I encourage you to scroll up to the section “Ways to cook prawns for a cocktail” to learn how to cook them.
Yes, you can. Cooked prawns and cocktail Marie Rose sauce can be made ahead and stored separately in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Toss prawns in sauce only before serving.
As a classic tale goes, due to ban on the alcoholic drinks in 1920, restaurants used obsolete stemmed glassware like a martini glass and wine glass and filled them up with prawn cocktails padded on crunchy lettuce.
You can use iceberg lettuce cups and serve prawns in them. It’ll be a nice way to serve the starter.
It’s best to consume the cocktail prawns as soon as it’s made. If you have leftovers transfer them to air tight container and store them in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours. Ensure to consume within a day. Longer prawn sits in the sauce, it’ll release water and thin down Marie Rose sauce and will begin to loose it’s flavors.
More prawn recipes worth trying
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📋Spicy Prawn Cocktail
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh prawns (king-size or jumbo-size)
- 1 lime or lemon
- 3 quarts water
- 1 bay leaf
- 10 whole black pepper corns
- Generous pinch salt
- 2 cups iceberg lettuce or romaine, roughly torn
Cocktail Sauce-
- 4 tablespoon mayonnaise preferably whole egg mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce like Tabasco sauce sriracha hot sauce or any hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon horseradish finely grated creamed (I skipped)
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (reduce if you can't handle heat)
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- First, make the prawn cocktail sauce. Whisk together mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, hot sauce, pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper, and dash freshly grated horseradish (if available) in a bowl. Refrigerate until use.
- Add salt, black peppercorns, and bay leaves to water, and bring it to a boil.
- Add peeled, deveined prawns to the boiling water. If you choose to use whole prawns with shells, devein the prawns before cooking. It’s so hard to devein after it’s cooked.
- Cook/blanch until prawns are pink, slightly firm but cooked through. It will take 3-5 minutes. Do not overcook prawns.
- Drain immediately well (discard peppercorns and bay leaf). Let it cool completely. You can store cooked prawns in the refrigerator ready to serve this starter.
- When ready to serve toss cooked prawns in Marie Rose sauce. Toss well to coat every prawn evenly in the sauce.
- Fill the martini or wine glass (or any other glassware) with lettuce leaves and serve cocktail sauce dolled prawns on top with lime (or lemon) wedges on the sides.Alternatively, you can use iceberg lettuce cups and serve prawns in them. If serving in lettuce cups, do not shred all lettuce leaves, keep a few lettuce cups whole.
- Sprinkle a little cayenne pepper on top of prawns and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- The secret is to use fresh prawns for the best taste. Frozen prawns when defrosted, turn watery and tasteless.
- Use the biggest king-size raw prawns for this recipe. You don’t want to be searching for tiny prawns through the sauce.
- Don’t overcook prawns. Nothing worse than rubbery overcooked prawns.
- If you choose to use whole prawns with shells, devein the prawns before cooking. It’s so hard to devein it after it’s cooked.
- Before tossing cooked prawns in sauce cool it completely.
- Cooked prawns and cocktail rose Marie sauce can be made ahead and stored separately in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Toss prawns in sauce only before serving.
Nutrition
Created by Jyothi Rajesh
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I’m Jyothi Rajesh (Jo for short) and i’m the founder of the food blog, Curry Trail where I share my culinary Adventures. I live in Bangalore, India. I’m a mom of two beautiful kids. My passion is creating and sharing delicious and easy recipes for the home cook. I have been blogging since 2007 and many of my recipes have appeared in both online and print publications over the years. Learn more about Jyothi Rajesh.
Comments & Reviews
Marisa Franca says
This is an elegant and easy first course to serve at any party. The shrimp looks so pretty inside of a glass with a stem. We love our shrimp with a spicy horseradish seafood cocktail sauce. We’ll have to try your pretty pink one next time.
jyothirajesh says
Thanks Marisa
Cheese Curd In Paradise says
shrimp cocktail is my favorite. I love that you made a spicy and creamy sauce. I have not had something like this before and can’t wait to try it!
jyothirajesh says
Thank you
Mahy Elamin says
This is a fabulous starter for a special meal. Easy to make and prepare beforehand. Only need to assemble before serving. Always a hit with guests. Will be making it as a starter for New Year eve dinner.
jyothirajesh says
Thank you Mahy