Coctel de Camarones or Mexican Shrimp Cocktail is a refreshing, cold dish bursting with flavor and texture. Crunchy vegetables, creamy avocado, and tender shrimp swim in the most delicious blend of vegetables, tomato juice, citrus, and spices.
1PoundFrozen Cooked Shrimp salad/bay shrimp or medium shrimp
½Cucumber peeled and diced
2Avocados diced
½Red Onion diced
¼CupCilantro diced
Mexican Shrimp Cocktail Juice
4CupsVegetable Juice V8 or Clamato
6TablespoonsLime Juice 3 Limes
1Carrot peeled
1Stalk Celery
¼Red Onion small chunk
¼Jalapeno seeded
½Cucumber peeled
2ClovesGarlic
¼CupCilantro
1TablespoonHot Sauce Mexican Style
3TeaspoonsSalt
1TeaspoonOregano
1TeaspoonChili Powder
1TeaspoonCumin
1TeaspoonPepper
Instructions
Make the cocktail sauce/juice by blending vegetable juice, fresh lime juice, cilantro, carrot, red onion, celery, cucumber, jalapeno, hot sauce, oregano, chili powder, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper until completely smooth.
Defrost frozen cooked shrimp by placing in a bowl colander under running water for 5 minutes. Drain the defrosted shrimp and pat dry.
In a large bowl, combine shrimp, diced avocado, red onion, cucumber, and cilantro with a cup of cocktail sauce. Reserve the remaining cocktail sauce for assembling your shooters or cocktail glasses. (If you are going to serve this as a dip with chips, you can combine all of the sauce with the chunky ingredients, chill, and serve.)
Shooter and Cocktail Glass Assembly
Set up a station for assembling shooters or individual cocktail glasses. Line up your glasses, next to a bowl with hot sauce, a bowl with chili salt, the shrimp and vegetables, and the cocktail juice in a pourable container.
Rim the shot glasses or cocktail cups by dipping the glasses in Mexican hot sauce and chili salt.
Add the marinated Mexican shrimp cocktail to the glasses, then pour extra Mexican cocktail sauce over the top.
Serve as shooters or in larger glasses for individual servings. Add a few wedges of lime and saltine crackers for the perfect summer dish.
Notes
How do you prepare frozen cooked shrimp?Most types of cooked shrimp come fully ready to eat. They need to be defrosted properly to be healthy and maintain a good texture. They can be placed in the refrigerator for an hour and then placed into a colander and rinsed. They can also be quick defrosted by placing in a colander and running cool water over them for about 5 minutes. How long does Coctel De Camarones (Mexican Shrimp Cocktail) last?The whole cocktail mixture can be kept refrigerated for 1-2 days. After that, the acids in the cocktail sauce soften the texture of the shrimp. However, the juice can be made up to a week in advance. You can make the juice well ahead of serving and just add the shrimp and avocado a half an hour before serving. Expert Tips
Serve Mexican Shrimp Cocktail Safely.
It is important to start with Mexican shrimp cocktail that has been well chilled. It should reach the refrigerator temperature which needs to be under 42°.
If you are serving shooters, do not put all of the cups out at one time. Instead, make them up as you go or place premade shot glasses into the refrigerator and refill the serving area as needed.
When doing a large serving you can put your serving bowl down into a pan of ice to keep salsa cold, or you can put out a small amount at a time and put out a new bowl when needed.