Easy Cioppino Recipe (Fisherman’s Stew)

What Seafood Is Best for Cioppino?

The beauty of cioppino is that there really isn’t one required combination of seafood. It was traditionally made with whatever fishermen had from the day’s catch, so consider this a choose-your-own-seafood situation.

For the best mix of flavors and textures, I like to use a few different types:

• Clams or mussels for briny shellfish flavor.
• Shrimp because they cook quickly and soak up the broth.
• Scallops for a tender, slightly sweet bite.
• Crab for richness and sweetness.
• Firm white fish like cod, halibut or sea bass if you want to stretch the stew or keep it more budget friendly.

Fresh seafood is wonderful, but good-quality frozen shrimp and scallops work, too. Thaw them completely and pat them dry before cooking.

How to Make Cioppino

1. Sauté the aromatics. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Cook the onion until softened, then stir in the garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano and tomato paste. Cook until the tomato paste darkens to a deep red.
2. Deglaze the pot. Add the wine and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom. Simmer until the wine is reduced by about half.
3. Make the broth. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and fish stock. Bring to a simmer and add the tarragon.
4. Cook the clams first. Add the clams, cover and cook just until they open.
5. Add the quick-cooking seafood. Stir in the shrimp and scallops and cook just until opaque. Add the crab last and cook only until warmed through.
6. Finish and serve. Stir in the fresh parsley and basil and serve immediately with plenty of crusty bread.

Cioppino Variations and Substitutions

• No scallops? Add chunks of firm white fish such as cod, halibut or sea bass.
• No crab? Add extra shrimp, mussels or clams.
• Want to splurge? Lobster tails are a delicious addition.
• Regular crushed tomatoes: Use them in place of fire-roasted tomatoes.
• No fish stock? Chicken stock works in a pinch.
• Prefer less heat? Reduce or omit the crushed red pepper flakes.
• No wine? You can omit it or use your preferred alcohol-free substitute.

Cioppino is supposed to be flexible, so don’t worry about having the exact same seafood combination every time.

What is Cioppino?

Cioppino, pronounced chuh-PEE-noh, is an Italian-American fisherman’s stew that originated in San Francisco. It’s made with a tomato and wine-based broth and a combination of seafood that traditionally depended on the catch of the day.

That flexibility is one of the reasons I love it. Clams, mussels, crab, shrimp, scallops, calamari and firm white fish can all find their way into a pot of cioppino.

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 classic 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.

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.

Storage, Freezing and Make Ahead

• Make Ahead: The cioppino broth can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat the broth before adding the seafood and finishing the recipe.
• Leftovers: Store leftover cioppino in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1–2 days. Remove clams from their shells before storing to make reheating easier.
• Reheating: Reheat gently on the stovetop just until warmed through. Avoid bringing leftover seafood to a hard boil because it can become tough.
• Freezing: Freeze the cioppino broth before adding the seafood for up to 3 months. I don’t recommend freezing the finished stew because the seafood can become rubbery when thawed and reheated.