Cocktail sauce is perhaps the ideal name for this sauce as it combines horseradish, sweet ketchup, lemon juice, hot sauce, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. A remarkable combination of ingredients.
Some people might also call it seafood sauce because it goes along nicely with seafood, particularly raw seafood, which would lead most people to think that it’s not vegan.
Well, most people would be correct to assume that most cocktail sauce isn’t vegan as it generally includes Worcestershire sauce, a sauce that traditionally contains anchovies and fish sauce.
However, there are brands that make vegan cocktail sauce, even brands that you would normally assume aren’t vegan, such as Heinz.
In this article, I’ll explore the reason why most cocktail sauces aren’t vegan and also show you a few brands that are vegan-friendly.
Why Most Cocktail Sauces Aren’t Vegan
So, as I’ve briefly mentioned a typical cocktail sauce recipe will include the following ingredients:
Horseradish – Despite the name, horseradish does not contain any horse. It’s a root vegetable, much like a beet or a carrot. Both horseradish and prepared horseradish are vegan, but horseradish sauce is not vegan because it usually contains a creamier element such as heavy cream, sour cream, or mayonnaise. Fortunately, for the cocktail sauce, only horseradish is used.
Ketchup – Ketchup is also generally suitable for vegans. Most ketchup is made from tomatoes, vinegar, salt, spices, and some kind of sweeteners such as sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Refined sugar is not always vegan, but it’s more likely to be so nowadays.
Lemon juice – This one is pretty obvious. Fresh fruit will always be vegan unless it’s covered in dairy or honey.
Hot sauce – Most hot sauces are vegan. Brands such as Cholula, Frank’s RedHot, Tabasco, Tapatío, and most Sriracha brands are suitable for vegans. With that being, some hot sauces might also contain non-vegan ingredients such as cream, milk, or honey. Therefore, be sure to pay attention to ingredients on the label, or ask the restaurant what ingredients they’ve used to make their cocktail sauce to make sure
Worcestershire sauce – We’ve mentioned it earlier, but it’s common for Worcestershire sauce to contain anchovies and fish sauce. You’re able to find vegan-friendly Worcestershire sauce, but it’s more common for it to contain the aforementioned ingredients.
Therefore, the primary reason why the cocktail sauce isn’t vegan, it’s because it contains Worcestershire sauce, an ingredient made from anchovies and fish sauce.
HOWEVER, it’s still possible to find cocktail sauces that are vegan, as some brands do not contain Worcestershire sauce.
Vegan Cocktail Sauces
The cocktail sauce that is made by Heinz doesn’t contain any Worcestershire sauce and it seems to be totally vegan.
Its ingredients are the following:
- Tomato Concentrate (Water, Tomato Paste)
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Distilled White Vinegar
- Horseradish
- Corn Syrup
- Salt
- Soybean Oil
- Natural Flavoring (Contains Mustard)
- Dehydrated Onions
- Spices
- Onion Powder
- And Garlic Powder.
As you can see, there are no animal ingredients in this recipe, and there are also no controversial ingredients like refined sugar, so you shouldn’t worry about it.
St. Elmo’s cocktail sauce is also suitable for vegans, simply because it doesn’t contain any Worcestershire sauce.
According to its listing on Amazon, it has the following ingredients:
Summary
Most cocktail sauces are made with Worcestershire sauce, which is generally not vegan, but it’s also possible to find vegan cocktail sauces.
A few brands that make vegan cocktail sauces are Heinz, St. Elmo’s, and Primal Kitchen. Curiously, none of these brands uses Worcestershire sauce.
Cocktail sauces prepared in restaurants are usually not vegan, but if you want to be sure you can always ask the restaurant staff just to be sure.
