Marie Rose is a classic cocktail sauce used in England. It’s creamy and full of flavor, and it’s a great way to add a twist to your shrimp cocktail!
In England you will often see something called prawn cocktail on appetizer menus. Prawn cocktail is similar to the North American shrimp cocktail in that it involves crustaceans of the shrimp variety (potentially differently sized but the same idea) and a sauce to dip them in.
The sauce used in the UK is sometimes called cocktail sauce or seafood sauce or Marie Rose sauce. However, it is different from what we call cocktail sauce in North America.
Video: Making Marie Rose Sauce
American Versus English Cocktail Sauce
North American cocktail sauce is made from ketchup and horseradish sauce with a few other ingredients optionally added in like Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and hot sauce. It’s typically very dark red. Here’s my favorite cocktail sauce recipe of this type. The English version, Marie Rose Sauce, has a lot of the same ingredients, but it has a creamier base and paler color.
Ingredients
Marie Rose Sauce is a very pale pink because mayonnaise is the main ingredient with just a touch of ketchup added. The other ingredients are similar to American cocktail sauce and include Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice and sometimes something spicy like cayenne or Tabasco sauce. Even though some of the ingredients are the same, the flavors are very different. This is mostly because the British version is very creamy and doesn’t have the sweetness of all that ketchup.
Using Marie Rose Sauce
Check out my recipe for making a British prawn cocktail using the Marie Rose sauce recipe below. You’ll definitely try this twist on your homemade cocktail sauce some day soon. But that’s not all it can be used for. Try it as a dipping sauce for popcorn shrimp or French fries. Or the condiment for your burger. Let me know how you use it in the comments below. Enjoy!
Podcast Episode: Making Marie Rose Sauce
Listen to learn how to make this recipe, along with some great tips from Christine, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintMarie Rose Sauce Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Mix
- Cuisine: English
DESCRIPTION
Marie Rose is the classic cocktail sauce used in England. It’s creamy and full of flavor, and it’s a great way to add a twist to your shrimp cocktail. The main ingredients are the mayonnaise and ketchup with a pinch of salt. After that, add the other ingredients if you have them and if you want to go the extra distance.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp. ketchup
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp. lemon juice (optional)
- 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (optional)
- 1/4 tsp. hot sauce, like Tabasco (optional)
- Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, ketchup, and salt. Taste.
- Add any or all of the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and cayenne pepper. Stir.
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This post originally appeared in December 2017 and was revised and republished in July 2022.