Seafood Bouillabaisse
This Easy Seafood Bouillabaisse recipe is a classic French dish that’s perfect for the holidays! Quick and simple to make ahead, this flavorful seafood stew features whatever seasonal fish is available at the market.
Bouillabaisse
My whole adult life was spent trying to impress friends and relatives with my totally impressive cooking skills during the holidays. I was always trying to find the most complicated or over the top dish to serve so everyone would tell me how amazing my food was. Sometimes those dishes were an inedible fail.
Over the years, I did redeem myself with some of my friends by presenting an amazing fully baked Gingerbread Cheesecake. But really it was the uncomplicated dishes, like this simple Cioppino, that really knocked their socks off.
Another example is this Seafood Bouillabaisse recipe, this recipe proves that you don’t need to have a culinary education to make something that totally pops with incredible flavor in your mouth.
What is Bouillabaisse?
Originating from the port of Marseille, Bouillabaisse is a Provencal fish stew that’s made from whatever seafood is currently available for the season. Similar to Cioppino, Bouillabaisse contains saffron, which Cioppino does not.
Bouillabaisse also has a white fish stock base, whereas Cioppino is a very tomato-y based stock.
When we first made this dish, we were rather limited with the seafood they had available at the store – but that’s the beauty of this Easy Traditional Bouillabaisse recipe. You can make it with whatever seafood your store has at the moment!
What is Bouillabaisse made of?
A traditional bouillabaisse recipe is made of two things: 1. a rich soup base made of fish stock, vegetables and saffron, and 2. lean fish or shellfish. I like to make my Seafood Bouillabaisse with scallops, shrimp, mussels and crab, however, you can add whatever fish or shellfish you prefer to make it a dish your whole family will love.
To get maximum flavor in my bouillabaisse recipe, I like to make the stock ahead of time and let it simmer for awhile to give the flavors a chance to develop. Then, I add my seafood to the pot right before serving, since it takes just minutes to cook.
Ingredients You Will Need
- One orange – zested and juiced
- Saffron
- Olive Oil
- Onion
- Fennel
- Garlic
- Tomato Paste
- White Wine
- Clam Juice
- Vegetable Broth
- Crushed Tomatoes
- Fresh Thyme
- Assortment of Seafood – For this recipe I use fresh mussels, scallops, and lump crab meat
- Salt and Pepper
- For serving with the Bouillabaisse – pita crackers and shredded cheddar cheese
How To Make Bouillabaisse
This impressive seafood stew comes together quickly and easily. You can make the stock in advance and cook the seafood right before serving for easy entertaining.
- Place the orange juice in a bowl with the saffron threads and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot over medium high heat. Add the onions to the pan and cook until softened, approximately 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in the fennel and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes or until beginning to soften. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook until a deep Burgundy color, approximately 2-3 minutes.
- Add the white wine to the pan and bring to a boil scraping the bottom of the pan with a rubber spatula to release the brown bits. Boil the wine until reduced by half.
- Stir the clam juice, vegetable broth, tomatoes, orange juice and thyme into the wine mixture. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low.
- Add the mussels to the pan and cover. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the mussels begin to open.
- Stir the scallops and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in the crab. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the scallops and shrimp are cooked through.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve the Bouillabaisse immediately.
To serve along with your seafood stew, I recommend making some yummy cheesy crackers. Simply broil pita chips topped with shredded cheddar cheese for a few minutes, until the cheese has melted.
This Bouillabaisse Recipe couldn’t be simpler to make! It’s a one pot dinner that’s completely, over the top impressive without having to slave in the kitchen for hours. Just put everything together and let the magic happen!
You can easily make the stew broth a day or so in advance. Then when you are ready to eat, simply reheat the broth on the stove and add your seafood. In just a few minutes the seafood will cooked through and perfect for enjoying.
The Difference Between Cioppino and Bouillabaisse
If you’ve made my easy Cioppino recipe then you may think 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.
What to Serve with It
This seafood stew is fresh addition to any holiday spread: Serve it as a first course to the amazing Prime Rib recipe, or make it the centerpiece of your holiday dinner by pairing it with a fun and festive salad like this Bourbon Roasted Pear Salad.
Either way, your guests will correctly think you are the best chef there ever was and you won’t have to serve them a questionable cheesecake that runs out all over the table when you cut into it. Win-win!
More Easy Seafood Recipes
- How to Cook Lobster Tail
- Easy Grilled Lobster Tail
- The BEST EVER Crab Cake Recipe….no filler
- Super easy Hot Crab Dip
- Easy Seafood Gumbo
- Grilled Seafood Paella
- The BEST Clams Casino
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Get the Recipe: Seafood Bouillabaisse Recipe
Ingredients
- Juice and zest of one orange
- 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 1 fennel bulb, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 cup white wine
- 8 ounces clam juice
- 32 ounces Vegetable Broth
- 1 28 ounce can Crushed Tomatoes
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 pounds fresh mussels, cleaned and debearded (discard any open or broken mussels)
- 16 ounces Scallops
- 8 ounces jumbo lump crab meat
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
- 12-16 pita chips
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Equipment
Instructions
- Place the orange juice in a bowl with the saffron threads and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot over medium high heat. Add the onions to the pan and cook until softened, approximately 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in the fennel and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes or until beginning to soften. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook until a deep Burgundy color, approximately 2-3 minutes.
- Add the white wine to the pan and bring to a boil scraping the bottom of the pan with a rubber spatula to release the brown bits. Boil the wine until reduced by half.
- Stir the clam juice, vegetable broth, tomatoes, orange juice and thyme into the wine mixture. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low.
- Add the mussels to the pan and cover. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the mussels begin to open.
- Stir the scallops and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in the crab. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the scallops and shrimp are cooked through.
- Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm while you make cheesy pita crackers.
- To make the crackers: Sprinkle each pita cracker with shredded cheddar and melt under a boiler for 1 minute.
- Serve the Bouillabaisse with the cheesy pita crackers immediately.
Video
3 Comments on “Seafood Bouillabaisse”
thanks for providing the video along..it would be easy to make now..cheers
You’re welcome!
THS looks amazing. Must give it a try. Happy Holiday’s