Easy Cioppino (Seafood Stew)
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This easy cioppino is a cozy, hearty seafood stew, loaded with clams, mussels, cod (or halibut), shrimp, and scallops! Made in less than 1 hr!
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Why you’ll love this easy cioppino seafood stew
- Underrated stew that’s easy to make. Cioppino tends to be one of those underrated intimidating stews that’s actually really easy to whip up, making it on your dinner table in less than an hour.
- Packed with seafood. This is one of those dishes packed with all the seafood – little neck clams, mussels, cod (or halibut), shrimp, and scallops, which all gets cooked right in a garlicky, tomato-based broth.
- Flexible, giving recipe. Homemade cioppino can easily be doubled or tripled as needed (if you have a large enough pot, of course), making it perfect for when company stops by for dinner.
- Best served with crusty bread. All you need to round out this meal is some freshly toasted baguette (or sourdough or french bread) slices to sop and soak up this broth, leaving zero leftovers behind.
What is cioppino?
Cioppino is an Italian-American seafood stew that is purely a rich, garlicky tomato-based broth featuring various seafood such as dungeness crab, halibut, cod, scallops, shrimp, clams and mussels.
What is the difference between cioppino and bouillabaisse?
While cioppino and bouillabaisse are both seafood stews, bouillabaisse is made with fish broth, saffron and chopped tomatoes.
how to make cioppino
- Prep the seafood. Scrub the clams and mussels, cut the fish into chunks, and peel and devein the shrimp.
- Sauté the aromatics. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium high heat, then cook the onion and fennel until the onions are soft and translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Simmer. Stir in the wine, diced tomatoes, vegetable stock, clam juice, and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer to allow the flavors to meld and marry, about 15 minutes.
- Add the shellfish. Stir in the clams and mussels, then cover with a tight-fitting lid, cooking just until they begin to open, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the remaining seafood. Gently nestle in the cod or halibut, shrimp, and scallops in the broth. Cover and simmer for another 3-4 minutes until the fish is opaque and all the clams and mussels have opened. Pro tip: avoid any heavy stirring so the fish pieces do not break apart.
- Discard. Discard any clams or mussels that remain closed.
- Garnish and serve. Remove the bay leaf and stir in chopped fresh parsley, seasoning one last time with salt and pepper. Serve warm with crusty bread to soak up the rich broth.
PRO TIP
Be mindful of different cooking times.
The key to a great cioppino is serving right when the seafood is perfectly cooked through. Clams and mussels go in first, cooking until they just begin to open, then the fish, shrimp, and scallops go in last.
Tools For This Recipe
Easy Cioppino (Seafood Stew): Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all! Additional vegetable stock can be used for white wine as a non-alcoholic substitute.
You’ll want to rinse and scrub the clams from debris under cold running water. This will also give you a chance to check (and discard) clams that are cracked, feel hollow, or gaping open. All clams should be tightly closed.
You’ll want to rinse and scrub the mussels from debris under cold running water. This will also give you a chance to check (and discard) mussels that are cracked, feel hollow, or gaping open. All mussels should be tightly closed.
The mussels should already be debarded but if they are not, you can do so by removing the short brown strings that sprouts from the shell with your fingers or tweezers, pulling firmly until detached completely and discarding.
You can thaw frozen shrimp and scallops overnight, transferring it from the freezer to the fridge the day before. For a quick thaw, you can run the shrimp under cold water until completely thawed, about 5-10 minutes, and run the scallops under lukewarm water until completely thawed. Pat them dry as thoroughly as possible to remove any excess moisture.
Absolutely! The cioppino broth can be made 1-2 days in advance and stored in the fridge. To reheat, bring to a simmer before adding the seafood as directed.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 days, removing the clams and mussels from the shells prior to storing.
Easy Cioppino (Seafood Stew)
Video
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 1 small fennel bulb, cored and diced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ¾ cup dry white wine
- 1 (28-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups clam juice
- 1 bay leaf
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 12 little neck clams, scrubbed
- ½ pound mussels, scrubbed and debearded
- 1 pound cod or halibut filets, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- ½ pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 8 large sea scallops
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add onion and fennel. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in tomato paste, garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in wine, diced tomatoes, vegetable stock, clam juice and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until flavors have blended, about 15 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in clams and mussels. Reduce heat to low; cover, with a tight-fitting lid, and cook until the clams and mussels are just beginning to open, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in cod or halibut, shrimp and scallops. Reduce heat and simmer until cod or halibut, shrimp and scallops are just cooked through and clams and mussels have opened completely, about 3-4 minutes. Discard any unopened clams.
- Stir in parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Equipment
Notes
- Choose a wine you will drink. A dry white wine (pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc) is great here – it does not have to be anything fancy or overpriced. Just something you don’t mind sipping on since you will have an open bottle.
- Use a blend of seafood and shellfish. A mixture of clams, mussels, white fish, shrimp, scallops, squid and dungeness crab are all great options.
- Soak the clams. This is key to clean off all the sand and grit from the clams.
- Check over the mussels. Rinse and scrub the mussels, and debeard as needed. Although farm-raised mussels will already come debearded, it’s still a good idea to do a once-over, discarding any mussels that are open or have cracked shells.
- Avoid storing the mussels in water prior to cooking. Uncooked mussels should not be stored in water or in an airtight container as they need to breathe. The uncooked mussels can be placed in a bowl, covered with a damp dishtowel, in the fridge for 1-2 days.
- Prep the scallops. Although safe to eat, gently peel away the small side muscle from the scallops as it is tougher and chewier than the rest of the scallops. Rinse and pat dry.
- Use dry scallops. Dry scallops are generally preferred over wet scallops as the latter is treated with preservatives, retaining excess water.
- Add the seafood in stages. To avoid any overcooking, add the shellfish first (clams and mussels), then finish with quick-cooking fish, shrimp, and scallops.
- Make ahead of time. Cioppino is a great dish to make ahead of time, cooking the broth just before adding the seafood and storing in the fridge.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
Did you make this recipe?
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Wow! This was delicious and SO easy to make. Super recipe.
Very easy and delicious. I added crab meat at the end too.
Absolutely delicious! Great recipe – simple yet so flavorful! It is supposed to feed 4, but I would say this feeds 8!
This was my first time cooking a Seafood Stew and OMG!!! it was delicious. My family LOVED it. I served it with some hot garlic bread. I will be cooking this again. I doubled the recipe. The directions were so easy to follow. Thank you so much.
Perfect as is, although, it seems like fish/shell fish amounts and combinations could easily be adjusted to suit tastes and save on sales.
Can I use canned clams? and shelled mussels?
So so yummy. Wished we had some rustic sourdough to go with it. We also might cook some wild rice in the broth for another night. It says 4 servings, but I imagine that we’ll have 6-8 servings when all is said and done.
We made it once…and now we make it once a month…at least. We double the recipe to make 2 dinners. With a baguette and a salad, it is a perfect meal!
This was so easy and delicious. Makes a great weeknight dinner. The last time we made it simply with 2 bags of frozen seafood medley.
Made this for Christmas Eve and it was amazing. Simple and delicious. Was easily adjustable to feed a crowd. Highly recommend this one. Made it exactly as written and there were zero left overs as everyone went back for seconds and thirds.
4th or 5th time making this for Christmas Eve. So delicious. Leave out the scallops and substitute more of the other seafood. Our tradition is this stew for our Italian heritage, Yorkshire pudding for English ancestry and Buche Noel for our French side!
What a wonderful Family Tradition!
Absolutely fabulous–easy and fun to make and delicious. My picky husband said it was perfect and its now his favorite meal. This recipe is just “damn delicious”!!
Do you have an instant pot version of this? I love your recipes and have used several that are the instant pot version.
Super easy and so flavorful! Had to swap out shrimp and just added extra cod and scallops. Love this recipe!
Thank you! This Cioppino was excellent. Next time I might use a fish stock and fresh homegrown tomatoes, always experimenting. Served with garlic bread and a lovely french Chardonnay.
Happy Friday!
This is one of the best stews that I have ever eaten.
Made a few adjustments for my preference. Cut the butter in half on a diet. Omitted the clam juice and cod. Have no other use for the juice and I hate cod. So I doubled the stock and used unsalted chicken and added 1 cup of wine, you can use whatever seafood you like really. Because of the adjustments I added more seasonings than advised, except the salt and added thyme. Delicious.
This was outstanding. Made as written; however, I served with tiny shot glasses of cream sherry for those who wanted it. (What wasn’t used became my “washing up aperitif.)
I adjusted it only because missing ingredients I used celery also bar harbor seafood stock no vegetable broth
How do you core a fennel bulb?
I have tried a few bouillabaise recipes with failure. This looked easier and more tasty and I was right! You can change the ingredients but the base of the recipe is fantastic! Perfect on a cold winter night!