This eye-catching little appetizer was unmistakably influenced by the iconic Bloody Mary Cocktail, it’s one of my favorite drinks of all time. The Bloody Mary is the perhaps the world’s most famous brunch cocktail, and it’s typically brimming with peppery heat and bold flavors that are said to help heal hangovers.
While the tomato juice-based drink itself is so tasty, I’m always a bit more excited to see how the glass is dressed up if we order Bloody Mary’s at a bar; many pubs and touristy bars will pack the glasses full of wildly unexpected savory garnishes.
Some of Bloody Mary drinks we’ve been served at various establishments could have doubled as appetizers or a light lunch. They were so generously adorned with goodies such as pickles, olives, and pickled peppers, as well as crunchy celery sticks and strips of bacon and cheese! We’ve seen other Bloody Mary’s that were very elaborately decorated with cheeseburger sliders, chicken strips and onion rings! I only wish I had pictures to share of those mile-high, specialty drinks.
This recipe for an Easy Bloody Mary Shrimp Cocktail was created after I read a recipe from Southern Living for Bloody Mary Poached Shrimp. I have not yet made that recipe as it’s written, but after finding it I knew immediately that boiled shrimp and a good Bloody Mary drink mix would be fantastic friends.
I also thought this recipe idea of mine might be one-of-a-kind, but a search of the internet revealed that a handful of other websites have also published versions of a Bloody Mary Shrimp Cocktail! All of those recipes look and sound delicious, but they are not exactly like this one.
This one is super duper easy.
How To Make an Easy Bloody Mary Shrimp Cocktail
To make these scrumptious, individual shrimp cocktails I use precooked, frozen shrimp (defrosted), shredded lettuce, Cajun seasoning, quality bottled Bloody Mary Mix, dill gherkins, stuffed green olives, bacon, celery sticks and sometimes whole pepperoncini peppers.
Using store-prepared, cleaned shrimp really takes the edge off of any smelly prep work associated with this recipe, and it’s a short cut I’m perfectly okay with. Y’all, I grew up on the Texas coast, and I’ve peeled and deveined my fair share of fresh Gulf shrimp through the years. I have nothing to prove with this step and I’m quite happy to let someone else clean and boil shrimp for me. I’ll just skip to the good part, thank you! However, if you prefer to clean and boil your own shrimp for this shrimp cocktail you can certainly do that as well.
The cooked shrimp are lightly dusted with Cajun seasoning, served on a bed of shredded lettuce, and topped with a generous pour of prepared Bloody Mary Drink Mix. And just like the fantastical Bloody Mary cocktail, these little appetizers are then generously garnished with delicious, briny things on skewers! My personal favorites are the ones I share in this post namely olives, strips of crispy bacon, and pickles. I have also used pickled okra, and pepperoncini peppers to garnish at times as well.
However, this is where you can get creative with this concept and and make this recipe your own. Feel free to use your favorite savory extras for this pretty little dish.
Even though vodka is an ingredient in the namesake cocktail, I do not include vodka in this recipe. Nope, we keep our Bloody Mary Shrimp Cocktails booze-free and family friendly around here.
I prefer to serve this shrimp cocktail over a bed of shredded lettuce, and that means these are best served immediately to prevent the lettuce from getting too soggy. However, if you wanted to make these appetizers several hours ahead of time, I suggest skipping the lettuce for best results.
These Bloody Mary Shrimp Cocktails were a huge hit when I served them the first time on New Year’s Eve 2024. We loved them so much I made them again on New Year’s Day 2025! I plan to serve these again for Mother’s Day and they might be seen around here on the 4th of July as well.
Next time, I might go wild and add in some crispy chicken strips or a fried mozzarella stick? Or Fried pickles?? Oh, I think yes.
I hope you all enjoy this recipe, however you serve it!! What are your favorite Bloody Mary garnishes??
🛒If you’re interested in the lovely metal cocktail picks I have and use often, here’s an Amazon link (affiliate) to check them out: https://amzn.to/4it5Aq2
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More Brunch Recipes:
- Easy Banana Snack Cake from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Lemon Basil Chicken Salad from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
- BLT Eggs Benny from A Day in the Life on the Farm
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- Rhubarb Crumble Muffins from Hezzi-D’s Recipe Box
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Easy Bloody Mary Shrimp Cocktail
Course: AppetizersCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy2
servings10
minutes10
minutesThis eye-catching yet easy Bloody Mary Shrimp Cocktail is the perfect appetizer for your next brunch event! I’ve suggested garnishes for this flavorful shrimp cocktail that are some of my personal favorites for this recipe, but you can sub in other savory extras to suit your taste. This flavorful shrimp cocktail recipe is the ultimate starter to serve on Mother’s Day or New Year’s Day. (see notes below)
Ingredients
- Special items needed for this recipe:
two dessert dishes (8 oz capacity)
cocktail skewers- For two Bloody Mary Shrimp Cocktails:
2/3 cup shredded ice berg lettuce
14 precooked medium shrimp, deveined and shelled
Cajun seasoning salt, such as Tony Chachere’s
1 bottle regular or spicy bloody Mary drink mix (non-alcoholic)
4 dill mini gherkins
2 slices crispy cooked bacon
4 pimiento-stuffed green olives
2 celery sticks
whole pepperoncini peppers, optional
Directions
- Divide the shredded lettuce between the dessert dishes (1/3 cup in each). In another small bowl, lightly season the shrimp with Cajun seasoning and gently toss to coat. Divide the shrimp (7 shrimp for each dish) and transfer them to the beds of lettuce. Set the dessert cups aside.
- Divide the olives and gherkins between two cocktail skewers, placing 3 olives and 2 gherkins on each skewer. Set the prepared skewers aside.
- Pour 1/3 -1/2 cup Bloody Mary Mixer over each portion of shrimp. Garnish each shrimp cocktail with a prepared olive skewer, one slice of bacon, one celery stick, and 1 whole pepperoncini pepper, if using. Serve immediately.
- Enjoy!!
Notes
- I added 10 minutes of cook time to this recipe assuming one might have to cook a few strips of bacon or may decide to boil a small measure of shrimp for this recipe instead of using prepackaged shrimp as I do.
- Recipe as published on A Little Fish in the Kitchen at www.alittlefishinthekitchen.com. All content is owned by Marcelle G. Bolton. Please contact the author for permission to republish.
What a fabulous presentation and recipe! YUMMO!
Thank you so much!
You had me at shrimp! What a great recipe!
Thank you!! xo
What a fun shrimp cocktail for a brunch! That along WITH a bloody mary would make my morning!
This is such a fun idea! My brother-in-law is the hugest bloody mary fan and I’m going to serve this to him!
Thank you so much!!
That is an A+ for presentation! What an eyecatcher that would be on brunch buffet!
Thank you so much!! xo
What a fun start to a dinner party. They sound wonderful
Thank you, Wendy!
WHOA! Now this looks like my kind of brunch! Serve this with a bloody Mary and breakfast is served.
Thank you, Heather!
This looks wonderful — and so simple to prepare! And I love all the garnishes (I should add those to my actual Bloody Mary!)
Thank you so much, David!! I hope y’all enjoy them!! xo
Thank you very much, David!
I love prawns! Sounds delicious.
sherry
Hi Sherry, thank you so much!