Shrimp Cocktail Cucumber Cups

Serve these mini shrimp cocktail cucumber cups at your next get together for a light and refreshing appetizer.

  

These Shrimp cocktail cucumber cups are a great make-ahead snack, perfect for a barbecue, dinner party, or cocktail party. 

The contrast between the spicy sauce and the cooling cucumber brings big flavor to these small bites. You may find yourself coming up for reasons to have people over. Or... you can just make these for yourself!

These appetizers pack lots of flavor into a tiny package. 

Here is what you will need to make these mini shrimp cocktails:

Cooked shrimp, any size. You can buy cooked shrimp or, if you prefer, you can cook it yourself. I cooked large raw shrimp in a little butter and seasoning and then chopped it into half-inch pieces. 

Cocktail sauce along with canned chipotles in adobo sauce. I usually blend the chipotles into the adobo sauce from the can with an immersion blender and keep a jar of it in the refrigerator or freezer to add to recipes such as barbecue beef brisket, chipotle lime chicken wings, or tomato and corn chipotle salsa. 

You will also need fresh lime juice, corn kernels, red onion, chives, and cilantro. 

For the cucumbers, I used English cucumbers, also known as hot house cucumbers. They are milder, have a thinner skin, and less seeds. 

Sprinkle the tops with a few crumbles of queso fresco. 

How to make these mini shrimp cocktail cucumber cups:

First, make the sauce by combining the cocktail sauce, chipotles, and lime juice. 

Next, chop the cooked shrimp into half-inch pieces and stir it together with thawed frozen corn kernels, some diced red onion, chopped chives, and chopped cilantro. 

After that, stir in the sauce. At this point, you can refrigerate the shrimp mixture until you are ready to assemble the appetizers. 

When you are ready to assemble the shrimp cocktails, scoop a cavity into cucumber slices to make room for the shrimp mixture. You can use a small melon baller or a round measuring spoon to create the cavities. 

Finally, fill the little cucumber cups with the shrimp mixture and sprinkle with crumbled queso fresco, and serve. 

Tips and Substitutions:

For the seafood, you could use a mixture of scallop, crab, or lobster meat, along with the shrimp, and for the queso fresco, you could substitute crumbled feta or gorgonzola. 

If you have any leftover shrimp mixture, it's amazing whisked into eggs and cooked to your liking for breakfast tacos. You can also toss the mixture with lettuce for a salad topped it with ranch or blue cheese dressing.  

For a well-rounded appetizer buffet, serve these appetizers along with other bites, including a hot appetizer such as spicy salmon croquettes and perhaps some crostini or egg and tapenade toasts. 

Cocktail suggestions include Bloody Marys, Margaritas, or Sangria. 

For another shrimp appetizer, be sure to try Shrimp Salads with Bibb Lettuce, Tomatoes, and Peas. 

Welcome to this month's Fish Friday Foodies. Our theme this month is "small bites" and our host is Culinary Adventures with Camilla. 

Check out everyone's small bites that include seafood: 

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Smoked Salmon Rolls
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Marbled Smoked Salmon-Topped Deviled Eggs
  
• Food Lust People Love: Baked Crawfish Rangoon
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Shrimp Cocktail Cucumber Cups
• Of Goats and Greens: Steamed Scallop Wontons
• Palatable Pastime: Kung Pao Shrimp Lettuce Wraps
  
• Sneha’s Recipe: Pudina/Minty Shrimp Skewers

Shrimp Cocktail Cucumber Cups

Yield: 30 appetizers

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 20 MinTotal time: 20 Min

Serve these mini shrimp cocktail cucumber cups at your next get together for a light and refreshing appetizer.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup seafood cocktail sauce
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped chipotles chiles in adobo sauce
• Juice of one lime
• 12 ounces cooked shrimp, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 1/2 cup finely diced red onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 2 to 3 English cucumbers (depending on length), cut into inch slices
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Crumbled queso fresco for garnish

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, mix together the cocktail sauce, chipotles, and lime juice.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the shrimp, corn, red onion, chives, and cilantro.
3. Add the sauce mixture to the shrimp mixture and stir to combine. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.
4. Scoop out about half of the flesh of the cucumber slices to form cups. You can use a melon baller or a round measuring spoon.
5. Lightly salt and pepper the cucumber cups.
6. Fill the cups with a teaspoon of the shrimp mixture and sprinkle with a little bit of the queso fresco. Serve.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

31.38

Fat (grams)

0.21

Sat. Fat (grams)

0.04

Carbs (grams)

5.05

Fiber (grams)

0.74

Net carbs

4.3

Sugar (grams)

2.82

Protein (grams)

2.8

Sodium (milligrams)

71.46

Cholesterol (grams)

18.28

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2022/05/shrimp-cocktail-cucumber-cups.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

Seafood, shrimp

Appetizers

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Recipe adapted from Tiny Food Party! Bite-size Recipes for Miniature Meals.