Is it possible to can shrimp cocktail?

i'm wondering if you can do the following: shrimp cocktail

not just the sauce, but the sauce with shrimp in the jars.. like the ones i used to buy.. but they were always refrigerated when you bought them. i just want to make it and cann it and be shelf stable for whenever i want it..


i seen a couple of people doing it, but i don't know if it's safe or can really be done - (see links below).. if so, is it best to pressure canned or water bath?

Mexican shrimp cocktail - not real canning, just watched the vid he posted.. he made it and took it to the beach.

regular shrimp cocktail

Plain shrimp can only be pressure canned.
Cocktail sauce can be water bath canned or pressure canned.
or https://www.bernardin.ca/recipes/en/seafood-cocktail-sauce.htm?Lang=EN-US

It's important with seafood to not use jars larger than called for in the recipe.
Some people say you could can them together if you pressure can them for as long as needed for the longest needed pressure canning times for the individual ingredients (shrimp, tomatoes, horseradish, ...) . However, I don't see any recipes for both cocktail sauce and shrimp in the same jar from the NCFHP, university extension offices, Ball, or Bernardin.

Ruffsta, I think there can be nothing faster nor fresher than shrimp cocktail. Jars of cocktail sauce, even after opening, last forever in the fridge, at least in my experience. Shrimp, frozen, cooked, defrost in minutes. Just be sure to sop up the defrosting water to dry them.

Spread them on a plate on layers of paper towel and zap in micro wave for seconds at a time to defrost.

However, I don't see any recipes for both cocktail sauce and shrimp in the same jar from the NCFHP, university extension offices, Ball, or Bernardin.

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that's unfortunate, as i do want both in a jar.. that's what it's meant to be and what i am looking for.


@dragnlaw, i'm a chef by trade for the past 15yrs and worked with chef Robert Irvine.. i know how to cook and use shrimp. i just wanted to know if you could cann shrimp in cocktail sauce like what i used to buy back in the day. and

that's a bad way to defrost shrimp on top of it all! either run them under cold water or take them out and put in the fridge a day before.

I didn't say it was a good way or the best way... I'm saying it is the fastest way I know when I want shrimp NOW.

Of course when planning ahead one should defrost in the fridge. I will never run them under cold water. I will place them in a bowl of cold water, but not running water. (You know.. save the planet type of thing. And when you are on a water meter or limited well, I think you can see why not.)

Also not saying it is for everyone... so whether raw or pre-cooked, it is how I've been doing it for years and I stand by it.

As to canning, I believe it can be done but you'll have to check the various times for the pressure cooker. Anything wrong with shrimp in one jar and sauce in another? Just a second lid to twist? Again, honestly, think the shrimp would not do well being pressured canned along with the sauce. Wouldn't they end up absorbing too much of the sauce and you'd lose the taste of the shrimp.
A commercial canning might be able to... but there isn't any on the market anymore and guessing there might be good reasons for it.

Please, please! if you are successful would you let us know? Certainly hope you are! I'm sure there are quite a few here who would love to know!

Please, please! if you are successful would you let us know? Certainly hope you are! I'm sure there are quite a few here who would love to know!

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if i do , i will.. but i am new and most of you are more experienced.. so, i think someone else should do it.. but i will try for myself.. it CAN'T be hard to accomplish. i'm thinking baby shrimp, as it was meant to be and bought that way in the sauce jars as i showed.. may over cook. so, i'm thinking medium to large shrimp.

but there HAS to be a way to do this! there just MUST be.. if you can cann chicken, beef, etc.. raw or cooked in a sauce or marinade, then surely you can do the same with shrimp in a sauce! it may or may not be an "approved" thing.. but surely it CAN be done.. they just don't have the funds to do it or just choose not to and that creates rebel canners.. so, who's safety are they really looking out for? i think they are just looking out for their own legal status when they put out their LIMITED "approved" recipes. they just make up their own recipes and rules. and i say that, cause nor i or anyone has been there to witness their "testing".. anybody ever been to one of their test kitchens and witnessed what they are doing.. cause i sure haven't! i see no official vids of them doing their testing either.. just words on paper/website.. are they the food gods? it's this way until we say otherwise?

personally, i feel they make people become rebel canners because they are not doing enough nor is the country giving them enough funding to do it.. so people hurt themselves and others food wise. again, thankfully i am a chef by trade, so i have more respect and due diligence when it comes to food. so, i'll try it and keep trying until i find the way it works. however, if someone with more experience in canning can do it before me, i would love to know!

@Ruffsta, I will hazard an experienced guess, that the recipe for canned shrimp and cocktail sauce has not been tested by NCFHP or the extension offices. Since it wasn't tested they can't say yes or no about it. It takes money to pay for the extensive testing that they do and there are many items they have not done testing on for various reasons. They usually say no, to be on the safe side because unsafe food is a good reason.
I have searched their sites and I have emailed them to ask questions and they do respond within a week.
Here's where the email address information is: https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/...fic-publications/contact-for-more-information

that's pretty much what i just said..

Ruffsta said:

that's pretty much what i just said..

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It didn't look like that to me. You were casting doubt on whether or not they even do any testing. And, it's not just the National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia that tests methods and recipes. Other universities do that as well.

When they tested steam canners, they explained about the tests they had done to determine that certain brands are safe to use with the same timings as water bath canning. They also explained that they had only tested a few brands, so they could not state that steam canners from other companies would produce equally safe home canned foods.

Of course they are covering themselves for legal consequences. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you be cautious when telling people that something like that is safe, when doing it wrong could kill someone?

In Denmark they have a completely different way of dealing with preserving. They tell people that any home method that will be kept at room temperature is dangerous if you don't include "Atamon", which is sodium benzoate packaged for home canning.

I just had a thought. The commercially canned shrimp cocktail with shrimp in it, does it have preservatives? Is that how they manage to do it?

@taxlady I don't know how they did it.
In the 1960's Sau Sea made the shrimp in cocktail sauce in cans/jars. They, I read, want to come back but they've dragged their feet on it.
They only make the sauces now. https://www.sauseafoods.com/our-story

i haven't realled at buying any from any store.. so i cannot say i have seen any shrimp cocktail sauces. i know for a fact kroger doesn't carry them. stop and shop used to.. haven't there in a long time.

The commercially canned shrimp cocktail with shrimp in it, does it have preservatives? Is that how they manage to do it?

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@taxlady i wouldn't know.. one would have to get their hands one of their old jars with the label.. or find a good pic of the label online.