Old Bay Shrimp with Homemade Cocktail Sauce

Old Bay Shrimp is is juicy, flavorful and on your table in less than 30 minutes!

This Old Bay Shrimp can be made on the grill or stove top (recipe instructions for both), served hot or cold and is super simple to make!  Most of the prep time is marinating then its a quick cook and serve!  Old Bay Shrimp can be served as an appetizer with my fabulous homemade Cocktail Sauce or add some sides and call it dinner!

I am sooo in love with shrimp for not only its juicy delish factor but because its the quickest, easiest protein to make on the planet!  Some of my favorite shrimp recipes include Sheet Pan Shrimp  Scampi, Cilantro Lime Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa, Lemon Garlic Shrimp Fettuccine, Kung Pao Shrimp and now this Old Bay Shrimp!  All we do is toss shrimp in some Old Bay Seasoning, butter, and garlic and you have fresh, hot, plump, dynamic can’t stop-eating shrimp that tastes gourmet with minimal effort!

What is Old Bay Shrimp?

Old Bay Shrimp is shrimp cooked with Old Bay seasoning.  If you aren’t familiar with Old Bay Seasoning, its a world famous, top secret spice blend of rumored 18 herbs and spices that pairs deliciously well with seafood.

It is produced in the  Chesapeake Bay area where it was developed by German immigrant Gustav Brunn in 1939 and was later purchased by McCormick in 1990 (and no, this is not a sponsored post, I just love Old Bay seasoning).  It is named for the Old Bay Line, a passenger ship that sailed between Baltimore and Norfolk Virginia at the time.

During the 1930s, crabs were so plentiful in Baltimore, Maryland that bars actually offered them for free!  In order to not only season the crabs, but to encourage patrons to purchase more beverages, several salty crab seasonings were created, including Old Bay Seasoning.  Old Bay is one of the surviving spice mixes of that era.  Who knew?!

Can I Make my own Old Bay Seasoning?

This Old Bay Shrimp isn’t called Old Bay Shrimp for nothing -it is ALL about the complex spice blend!  There are many “copycat, do it yourself” Old Bay seasoning mix recipes out there, but Old Bay survived since 1939 for a reason.  In my opinion, Old Bay seasoning isn’t like making your own taco seasoning, after all, it does boast 18 different herbs/spices such as paprika, celery salt, bay leaves, thyme, cayenne, dry mustard, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, etc.

So if you don’t own the bright yellow can with a bold blue stripe, then I suggest investing in some.  Not only does it go great with anything seafood and produce stellar Old Bay Shrimp, but add a sprinkle to French fries, chicken, hamburgers and sandwiches, dips, potatoes, veggies, pizza, popcorn, eggs, soups and immediately delishify your plate!

HOW TO DEFROST SHRIMP

For this Old Bay Shrimp recipe, you will want to use defrosted (or fresh), peeled and deveined shrimp.  There are two options for defrosting your shrimp:

1. To quickly defrost shrimp: place the frozen shrimp into in a fine-mesh sieve or colander. Place this sieve in a large bowl of cold tap water for 10 minutes.   After 10 minutes, replace the water in the bowl with new cold tap water and resubmerge the shrimp.  Let shrimp sit an additional 10- 20 minutes.  At this point the shrimp should be completely defrosted.
2. To defrost shrimp overnight:  The easier way to defrost your shrimp (if you remember in advance) is to remove your frozen shrimp to a covered bowl and let them defrost in the refrigerator overnight.

Whatever you do, resist the urge to defrost your shrimp using warm tap water (and definitely NOT the microwave) as this will cause the shrimp to defrost and cook unevenly.

How Do You Cook Old Bay Shrimp?

To make this Old Bay Shrimp on the stove top, it starts with the best ever homemade cocktail sauce that also becomes part of your quick marinade.  Once you try this homemade cocktail sauce, you will never be tempted to buy the store version again!  Its a quick whisking of chili sauce (NOT the Asian sweet chili sauce I use all the time but the tomato based by Heinz), ketchup horseradish sauce, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce to taste.

Add one tablespoon of this Cocktail Sauce to your shrimp along with olive oil, fresh garlic and Old Bay seasoning and let marinate 20-30 minutes.  Next, saute your shrimp in some butter for literally 3 MINUTES and you have the quickest, easiest, tastiest appetizer in minutes OR add some veggies and rice/potatoes and you have a complete meal.  Thank you Old Bay Seasoning, thank you.

You can turn this Old Bay Shrimp recipe into a complete meal by serving it with some stir fried veggies and rice or serving it with some of these sides:

• Pasta Salads:  Italian Pasta Salad with Tortellini,  Cowboy Pasta Salad, Greek Pasta Salad with Sun-Dried Tomato Feta Pesto, or Creamy Bacon Pea Pasta Salad
• Green Salads:  a big green salad,Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Ranch, Cucumber Tomato Salad, Corn Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing or Strawberry Avocado Broccoli Salad
• Fruit Salads: Perfect Fruit Salad, Creamy Grape Salad, or Pina Colada Fruit Salad
• Breads: Cheesy Pull Apart Pesto Bread or Award Winning Sweet Moist Cornbread
• Potatoes: Kicked Up Classy Creamy Potato Salad, Baked Parmesan Fingerling Potato Fries or Company Mashed Potatoes
• Rice: Cilantro Lime Rice, Pineapple Coconut Cashew Rice, Red Beans and Rice or Lemon Rice
• Veggies:  Roasted Broccoli, Roasted Cauliflower, Roasted Carrots, Sauted Brussels Spouts
• Classics: Million Dollar Macaroni and Cheese, Baked Beans with Brown Sugar and Bacon, or Slow Cooker Creamed Corn