Follow these easy tips and steps on how to boil shrimp to make the perfect shrimp cocktail.
Also included are detailed instructions on how to peel and devein shrimp.
Shrimp cocktail is flavorful, healthy, and delicious! Make it at home today!
I never recommend pre-cooked frozen shrimp. They loose their flavor from the thawing and pre-cooking process. When defrosted, they can be rubbery.
This is why I always cook my shrimp from raw.
Peeling, deveining, and boiling shrimp is easy to do at home.
The biggest mistakes people make when cooking shrimp are over-cooking the shrimp and not flavoring the broth.
Follow these steps and tips for perfectly boiled shrimp for shrimp cocktail!
Watch how to boil shrimp
Ingredients
To boil shrimp for shrimp cocktail, you will need the following ingredients:
- Shrimp: Peeled and deveined shrimp, unless you are making "boiled peel and eat shrimp." (Keep the shells if you are peeling them!)
- Beer: Plain water is flavorless. I prefer Corona Light for the light citrusy flavor. You want to pick a beer that is not over powering. The beer is meant to compliment and add to the shrimp flavor, not take away from the shrimp flavor.
- Old Bay Seasoning: Some people cook Old Bay Seasoning in the broth. I like to toss the shrimp in the Old Bay Seasoning at the end for the full flavor.
Note: If you do not want to use beer to boil shrimp, substitute beer with water and add half of a lemon.
Note: It is cheaper to buy shrimp with their shells on. However, if you want to save time and the work effort, buy peeled and deveined shrimp.
Steps to boil shrimp
Follow these easy steps on how to boil shrimp to make the perfect shrimp cocktail!
- Peel and devein shrimp. (If you want to make "peel and eat shrimp," skip this step.
- Add the shrimp peels to a large stock pot. This will add flavor to the shrimp broth.
- Add one beer to stock pot. Then fill pot with water ¾ of the way.
- Bring broth to a boil.
- Add shrimp. Cook until done, about 2-3 minutes depending on size. They are done when the tails curl and the skin is pink. Take them out immediately when done.
- Strain immediately under cold water, just long enough to take the initial heat off the shrimp and remove the pot water.
- Quickly toss Old Bay Seasoning over the shrimp.
- Quickly seperate shrimp from shells that were in the stock onto ice. Chill until ready to serve.
Note: To make shrimp cocktail, serve with cocktail sauce. You can use store bought or easily make it homemade. You can also serve it with a delicious homemade mustard sauce for a different twist!
How to peel and devein shrimp
Follow these easy steps to peel and devein shrimp:
- If the head is attached to the shrimp, remove the head. Starting at the head end, go underneath to the leg side of the shrimp and break away shell.
- Pinching the shell tail tip to keep it in place, remove shell to tail tip. If removing the tail, pinch the very back of the tail right above the tail fins and pull the tail tip off. This prevents any breakage of the tail end of shrimp.
- Using a sharp pairing knife, cut shrimp down the middle back of the shrimp to expose the vein. Careful not to go too deep (about ¼ in deep).
- Use the pairing knife to pull out the grey vein. You can run shrimp under cold water if any pieces of the vein does not easily remove.
Click here to watch my video on how to peel and devein shrimp.
Tip: If peeling and deveining several shrimp, keep shrimp over ice until ready to cook.
What size shrimp should you use for shrimp cocktail?
I like the 21-25 shrimp per pound count. They are a nice size and are still sweet.
You can go bigger. However, the extra large giant size are not as sweet as the smaller size.
How to quick thaw frozen shrimp?
Submerge frozen shrimp in a large bowl of cold water. Thaw shrimp 15 to 20 minutes until completely thawed.
For more shrimp recipes, try:
- Shrimp Salad with Pickled Okra
- Shrimp Pasta Salad
- 20 Easy Shrimp Recipes
- Spanish Garlic Shrimp
- Instant Pot Gumbo with Shrimp and Sausage
Please leave me a comment below if you use these steps to boil shrimp and tell me what you thought about it. I would love to hear back, and so would my readers.
Also post your picture of your shrimp cocktail on Instagram or Facebook, and tag @aforkstale with #aforkstale hashtags! I will share with my followers! xoxo!
Recipe
How to Boil Shrimp for Shrimp Cocktail
Ingredients
- 2 pounds uncooked shrimp
- 12 ounces beer
- Old Bay Seasoning to taste
Instructions
- Peel and devein 2 pounds shrimp. (If you want to make "peel and eat shrimp," skip this step.
- Add the shrimp peels to a large stock pot. This will add flavor to the shrimp broth.
- Add 12 ounce beer to stock pot. Then fill pot with water ¾ of the way.
- Bring broth to a boil.
- Add shrimp. Cook until done, about 2-3 minutes depending on size. They are done when the tails curl and the skin is pink. Take them out immediately when done.
- Strain immediately under cold water, just long enough to take the initial heat off the shrimp and remove the pot water.
- Quickly toss Old Bay Seasoning over the shrimp.
- Quickly seperate shrimp from shells that were in the stock onto ice. Chill until ready to serve.
- Serve with lemon slices and cocktail sauce.
