Mexican Shrimp Cocktail | Coctel de Camarones Mexicano
Coctel de camarones is a delicious and refreshing appetizer that doesn’t resemble the shrimp cocktails you may have grown up eating during the holidays. It’s loaded with crunchy vegetables and plump, poached shrimp in a citrusy, sweet and spicy tomato sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds shrimp shelled and deveined (see notes)
- 2 tablespoons salt plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 8 tablespoons fresh lime juice (2 tablespoons to cook shrimp, and 6 for the sauce plus more as needed)
- 1 cup diced white onion (about 1 medium onion)
- ½ English cucumber (hollowed out, and then cut into 6 strips and diced)
- 2 Roma tomatoes diced
- ¾ cup tomato purée 8 oz can
- ½ cup ketchup
- 6 tablespoons Mexican-style hot sauce Valentina or Tapatio, plus more for serving
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems
- 2 tablespoons fresh juice from 1 orange
- Optional 2 teaspoons Maggi, plus more for serving
- Optional 1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, stemmed, seeded, and finely diced
- 2 diced avocados added just before serving
- Saltines for serving
Instructions
- Dry brine shrimp. In a medium bowl, toss raw shrimp with one teaspoon of salt and the baking soda. Cover and let rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
- Cook shrimp. Transfer the shrimp to a stock pot and add 2 quarts of cold water as well as the remaining 2 tablespoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of lime juice. Cook over medium heat, bringing the water to 170 degrees F.
- Drain and rinse under cold water or submerge shrimp in an ice bath and drain once cool, discarding the water. Depending on how large your shrimp are, you may want to cut shrimp into chunks. If you do this, you can set aside a few slices of whole shrimp to use as garnish. Add to a large mixing bowl, where we will be prepping the rest of our coctel.
- Dice vegetables. Scoop the middle of the cucumber out. Cut into thick strips and then dice. Dice onion. Dice tomatoes. Chop cilantro. Add everything to the large bowl with the shrimp.
- Combine ingredients. Mix the remaining 6 tablespoons of fresh lime juice and the fresh orange juice into the bowl with the shrimp mixture. Then add in the tomato sauce, the ketchup, and the hot sauce, and Maggi, if using. For a spicy shrimp cocktail, add in diced chile serrano or jalapeno, to taste. See notes section for more tips.
- You can cover and refrigerate this for up to a day.
Notes
Want to make the base gluten-free? Skip the Maggi. If serving to a group of guests, you can always set the Maggi out on the table so people can add to their individual portion.
Not sure you can handle 6 tablespoons of hot sauce? Add the hot sauce in gradually to taste. Same with the serrano or jalapeno. When I use jalapeno, I cut a slice from the middle of the pepper and touch it to my tongue to see how spicy the jalapeno is, discarding after. If I were making coctel de camarones for the adults in my life, I would add ½ serrano and set more diced serrano out with the condiments. Now that my toddler eats this, too, I only add a few slices, diced.
How to garnish like the pictures: One large shrimp, diced cucumber, a sliver of cherry tomato, sprinkled with crumbled cotija cheese and chili/cayenne/tajin. Cilantro. Or… any combo of these ingredients. It’s fun to serve this in a low-ball or margarita glass, although you can also just set the entire bowl out and let people serve themselves.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!