Trader Joe’s has a Cocktail Sauce for Seafood that I wanted to give a try. I am a sucker for all things shrimp and always try to keep a bottle of cocktail sauce on hand. I know that I should make my own as the recipe isn’t that hard but, hey, that’s how I roll!
My quick review is, “Trader Joe’s cocktail sauce is very flavorful with a touch of spiciness. The sauce is perfectly acceptable but doesn’t blow my socks off.”
Nutrition
You get 11 ounces (312 g) of sauce per bottle. One serving is 1/4 cup and there are about five servings per bottle.
The nutritional facts for a single serving are:
- Calories: 60
- Fat: 0g (0% DV)
- Cholesterol: 0mg (0% DV)
- Sodium: 440mg (19% DV)
- Carbohydrates: 14g (5% DV)
- Protein: 0g
From a nutritional standpoint this is a pretty standard cocktail sauce that has some calories and carbs.
Ingredient List
The Cocktail Sauce has the following ingredients:
- Crushed tomatoes
- Grated horseradish root
- Sugar
- Vinegar
- Cayenne peppers
- Spices
- Onion
- Salt
- Garlic
- Guar gum
- Xanthan gum
The sauce is gluten free and pareve.
Taste Test!
This is an absolutely respectable cocktail sauce. The sauce has a delightful bite from the horseradish with a tiny follow up kick from the cayenne pepper.
While the horseradish is prominent the sauce is not so pungent as to burn your nose. I would call the sauce extremely flavorful but not spicy.
This sauce is a massive improvement of Primal Kitchen’s Cocktail Sauce and would be a perfect replacement for the high fructose corn syrup based sauce that comes with Costco’s Shrimp Cocktail.
My only complaints are that the sauce is a little bit thin and it could use just a touch of brightness from some lemon juice.
There is nothing particularly remarkable about the sauce and I wouldn’t make a special trip to Trader Joe’s just for this item. However, the sauce is pretty good and I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up another bottle.
Usage Ideas
There are several ways to put this sauce to use besides just using it as a condiment for seafood. The trick is to think of the sauce as a spicy ketchup.
If you like ketchup on your burgers or hot dogs then try swapping the ketchup out with some cocktail sauce.
You can also use the sauce in tomato based drinks like a Bloody Mary or Red Eye.
Storage
The cocktail sauce is shelf stable as long as it remains unopened and has a “Best By” date that is about 7 months after your purchase.
One the bottle has been opened the sauce must be refrigerated.
After the bottle has been opened the cocktail sauce will last about a month in the refrigerator with minimal loss of quality.
