Loaded with fresh seafood and swimming in a mildly spicy tomato broth, this Easy Seafood Cioppino Recipe is a healthy meal that’s easy to prepare. A perfect alternative to a calorie laden chowder and ready in under 30 minutes.

Two white bowls filled with seafood copping on a blue background.


This post may contain affiliate links to products I use and love.

Seafood Cioppino

I LOVE seafood, especially that of the shellfish variety. If it has a shell and comes from the sea, chances are I’ll eat it. We kinda live on it during the summer months with frequent trips to the Jersey shore where shellfish is a staple but if you’ve ever been to San Francisco, that’s really the shellfish capital in my opinion.

A quick trip to San Francisco and I was immediately smitten by the outdoor restaurants bursting at the seams with fresh seafood. Everything you can imagine like freshly steamed Dungeness Crab and Cioppino Seafood stew at just about every eatery. It was so fresh and flavorful, hard to beat coming back to the east coast unless you make it yourself.

Pot of seafood copping with a blue and white speckled ladle.

What is Cioppino?

Wondering what Cioppino is? Well, Cioppino, pronounced “Chu – Pe – No”, is an Italian-American seafood stew that’s made up, primarily, of the catch of the day. Created in the 1800’s by Italian fishermen who settled in San Francisco and threw in anything they had from their return from the sea, mainly Dungeness Crab, clams, shrimp, scallops, mussels, squid and fish.

It’s really up to you what you want to include in this recipe, for mine…I used what I could easily find at the fish market that day. I, usually, add mussels and dungeness crab but they didn’t have it the day I shot the photos so for this recipe I used jumbo lump crab, clams, shrimp and scallops.

I’ve also made my Cioppino recipe with fresh fish, mussels and calamari when the budget was a little tighter. That’s a great way to stretch it out, too, if you’re feeding a crowd.

Ladle filled with seafood cioppino

You can also tailor the recipe to feed as little or as many people as you like. The broth is easily doubled or tripled to make enough for entertaining. To punch up the flavor a bit, I like to use Fire-Roasted crushed tomatoes. If you can’t find fire-roasted tomatoes, regular crushed tomatoes will work also.

I like to serve it at the table right in the pot, this is my favorite one and I use it several times a week because it’s a real workhorse in the kitchen!

Cioppino vs. Bouillabaisse

If you’ve made my Bouillabaisse recipe already, then you may thing this is the same thing. While Cioppino and Bouillabaisse are very similar, they are different in that Cioppino is more tomato based while traditional Bouillabaisse has more of a fish stock base with very few tomatoes in the stew.

White bowl with Seafood Cioppino with a silver soup spoon on the side of the bowl.

Pro Tips

  • If using clams, be sure to clean the clams by soaking the clams in cold water for one hour. Clams will filter the sand out themselves if soaked in water. I place the clams in a fine mesh sieve and place the sieve in a bowl filled with water. After one out, lift the strainer with the clams out of the water and rinse. Sand free clams!
  • Cook the clams first….just until they open before adding the other seafood.
  • Shrimp cooks quickly so add the shrimp and crab to the soup last.
  • You can make the cioppino base in advance and freeze it. Do not add the seafood until just before serving. To reheat, simply bring to a boil and then add the seafood as instructed below in the recipe card.
  • If you don’t want to use wine in your Cioppino, you can skip it or replace it with apple juice. The sweetness is lovely with the acidity of the tomatoes.
Stacked bowls with the top bowl filled with cioppino with crusty bread in the background.

What To Serve With It

This easy seafood stew is a one pot dinner that I usually just serve with a crisp white wine and some crusty bread (with lots of butter, of course.) But if you want to add some additional freshness, we love to serve a light green salad with a homemade Thousand Island dressing. 

Or you could serve your Cioppino alongside this epic Wedge Salad or this easy Pear Salad.

Ready in under 30 minutes, Easy Seafood Cioppino is a healthy stew perfect for an easy, and pretty high brow, weeknight dinner. 

If you’re looking for a few more easy soup recipes, this Easy Seafood Gumbo is on repeat pretty much weekly. Also, this simple and quick Gazpacho is a summertime dream. 

Looking for something a little more fancy, this super simple Lobster Bisque is totally amazing! Or try this easy Mussels Marinara!

Want to see what else we’re serving up? Follow us over on Instagram and Facebook!

Get the Recipe: Easy Shellfish Cioppino Recipe

Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Easy San Francisco Style Seafood Cioppino made with fresh seafood is a classic seafood stew that comes together in just 30 minutes.
5 from 9 votes
Print Recipe Rate Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 vidalia onion, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 1/4 cup dry white wine
  • 1 28- ounce can crushed tomatoes
  • 4 cups fish stock, or you can use chicken stock in a pinch
  • 3 tablespoons fresh chopped tarragon
  • 12 littleneck clams
  • 1 lb medium uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 1/2 lb large sea scallops
  • 1/2 pound jumbo lump crabmeat
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Equipment

  • 1 dutch oven

Instructions 

  • In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.
  • Add the onion and Cook until softened. Stir in the garlic. Cook for 1 minute. Add the red pepper flakes, oregano and tomato paste. Cook the mixture until the tomato paste turns a deep red color.
  • Stir in the wine and deglaze the pan scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Continue cooking until the wine is reduced by half.
  • Add the tomatoes and fish stock. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir in the tarragon.
  • Add the clams to the broth and cook until the clams open. Stir in the shrimp and scallops continuing to cook until they become opaque. Add the crab and cook until warmed through.
  • Top with the parsley and basil. Serve immediately with warm crusty bread.

Video

YouTube video

Notes

The Cioppino base can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
You can also freeze the Cioppino base for up to 3 months.
Be sure to bring the mixture to a boil before adding the seafood and cooking to completion.
Serving: 1g, Calories: 349kcal, Carbohydrates: 32g, Protein: 29g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 39mg, Sodium: 1902mg, Potassium: 1527mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 15g, Vitamin A: 1735IU, Vitamin C: 42.8mg, Calcium: 284mg, Iron: 7.1mg
Course: Seafood
Cuisine: American