Marie Rose sauce recipe

Marie Rose sauce is a tangy dressing also known as seafood, cocktail, or burger sauce, and is easily made with just a few store cupboard ingredients.

This Marie Rose sauce recipe is made from good quality mayonnaise, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and a hint of seasoning. Often used as the base sauce for the 1980s' classic starter prawn cocktail, this rich and creamy sauce also pairs well with crab, salmon and other kinds of seafood.

It can also be served as a dipping sauce.

Ingredients

• 200ml mayonnaise
• 2tbsp tomato ketchup
• ¼tsp cayenne pepper
• Dash of Tabasco or Worcestershire sauce
• Squeeze of lemon juice, to taste
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Place the mayonnaise in a bowl and stir in the tomato ketchup, cayenne pepper, and Tabasco or Worcestershire sauce.
2. Add lemon juice to taste and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hrs before serving. For a quick and easy prawn cocktail starter, mix the sauce with 350g cooked peeled prawns and a little fresh chopped dill. Divide between four individual glasses and garnish each with a sprig of fresh dill.

Watch how to make Marie Rose sauce

Top tips for making Marie Rose sauce

The calorie count provided with this Marie Rose sauce recipe is for full-fat mayonnaise. For a less calorific version, replace half the mayo with natural yogurt or half-fat crème fraiche. This sauce recipe makes 250ml of sauce and takes 10 mins to create, plus chilling time.

Is Marie Rose sauce the same as Thousand Island dressing?

Marie Rose sauce and Thousand Island dressing are very similar - some say they are praticially the same thing. They have the same consistency, look, taste but can vary slightly in flavour depending on the ingredients you choose to use. 

One of the interchangable ingredients in both sauces is the use of paprika instead of cayenne pepper. Most Thousand Island sauce recipes use paprika, whereas Marie Rose sauce is traditional made with cayenne pepper. 

In America, Thousand Island dressing is also referred to as special, secret or burger sauce.  

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