Old Bay Shrimp with Homemade Cocktail Sauce (Grill or Stove Top)

Incredibly juicy and flavorful Old Bay Shrimp (Grill or Stove top) is so wonderfully easy and on your table in 30 minutes (20 minutes of which is marinating time)!  Serve it as an appetizer 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!  Toss it 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!

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?!

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, but add a sprinkle to french fries, chicken, hamburgers and sandwiches, dips, potatoes, veggies, pizza, popcorn, eggs, soups and immediately delishify your plate.

Often Old Bay Shrimp is boiled/steamed in its shell along with Old Bay Seasoning, beer and water but I wanted to create a quick stir fried or grilled version to minimize the work and maximize the freshness, and a recipe that doesn’t require your family and guests to have to “peel and eat.”   So I used large shrimp that has been peeled and deveiened to cut down on prep time.  And bonus, by using defrosted frozen shrimp, you can make this Old Bay Shrimp whenever the cravings strike!  Or whenever you want a 30 minute dinner, in which only 20 minutes of that time is hands off marinating!

To make this Old Bay Shrimp on the stove top, it starts with the best ever homemade cockatil 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.