When you want a seafood recipe brimming with fresh-tasting fish, go straight to the source: the fishermen. That’s where cioppino, a classic homemade soup recipe, originated. Since the first bowl was mopped clean with a piece of sourdough bread nearly 200 years ago, it has appeared in endless versions ranging from simple to elegant.
What makes this soup so varied is the fish. It began as a way to use up leftovers, but some high-end restaurants turned it into a top-dollar stew rich in halibut, sea scallops and lobster.
Our cioppino recipe contains a combination of fish and shellfish—haddock fillets, shrimp and clams, among them—that you can pick up at the grocery store without emptying your wallet (and even stash in your freezer and pantry for a rainy day). In this simplified version, you cook the broth in a slow cooker and add the seafood shortly before dinnertime so that it stays flaky and tender. Bread is completely optional but highly encouraged!
What is cioppino?
Italian fishermen who immigrated to San Francisco in the 1800s created cioppino (pronounced chuh-PEE-noh) to use leftovers from their daily catch. It always includes tomatoes, onions, herbs, assorted fish and shellfish, preferably stewed in wine. However, the specific ingredients and portions varied depending on what the fishermen hauled in. They collected edible scraps for the soup pot as they filleted fish or sorted shrimp and crab to sell. Their creation was so delicious that waterfront eateries and restaurants soon adopted the soup and popularized it citywide and beyond.
The soup, or stew if you like, was cooked initially right on the fishing boats, so the process was intentionally simple: Cook the broth ingredients until the flavors blend, and then add the seafood and cook it until just done. For this authentic cioppino recipe, we use a slow cooker to gently meld the broth’s flavors in a hands-off way those hardworking fishermen would appreciate.
Ingredients for Cioppino
- Tomatoes and tomato paste: Be sure to grab both. The uncooked tomato flesh and canned juice from diced tomatoes add a bright, fresh flavor, while cooked-down tomato paste adds a rich umami taste.
- Onions and celery: Onions form the traditional base of this soup, and adding a little celery increases the savory notes. Use any type of onion, from yellow to white or a larger sweet onion.
- Clam juice: Clam juice adds ocean-fresh flavor even when you live hundreds of miles from the coast. It’s simply the broth left after steaming clams in salted water, so you can make your own if you have access to fresh clams. Commercial clam juice that has been strained and bottled for easy use—and the clam juice that comes packed with chopped canned clams—is high in sodium, so this recipe doesn’t need additional salt.
- White wine or broth: New-world Italians had no qualms about cooking with wine, which puts a mild acidic note in this soup. Learning how to cook with wine lets you recreate authentic cioppino. If you’d rather skip the alcohol, substitute vegetable broth.
- Garlic: This allium is key in many Italian recipes, so don’t hesitate to pile it on. The sharp taste of raw garlic mellows as the broth slowly cooks.
- Seafood: Cioppino has boundless seafood options, but our recipe starts with haddock fillets, shrimp, clams and crabmeat. Choose uncooked fish and shrimp when possible for prime flavor and texture. Thaw frozen fish and shellfish before you cut the fillets or clean the shrimp. Canned clams and crabmeat come precooked and ready to use.
- Seasonings: Italian seasoning contains herbs traditionally used in this dish, making it a blend worth keeping on hand. This authentic cioppino recipe expands on those herbs with a bay leaf, a little fresh parsley, red wine vinegar, olive oil and sugar to round out the broth.
Directions
Step 1: Cook the broth
In a 4- or 5-quart slow cooker, combine the diced tomatoes, onions, celery, clam juice, tomato paste, wine, garlic cloves, red wine vinegar, olive oil, Italian seasoning, bay leaf and sugar. Cook, covered, on low for four to five hours.
Step 2: Add the seafood
Stir in the haddock, shrimp, clams and crabmeat. Cook, covered, until the fish begins to flake easily with a fork and the shrimp turn pink, 20 to 30 minutes longer.
Editor’s Tip: If you’re concerned about overcooking the fish and shellfish, add it in stages. Thicker fillets and larger shrimp need more time than thin and small ones, even with low, slow heat. Precooked canned seafood really only needs to be reheated, but longer cooking flavors the broth. Thaw any frozen seafood ahead of time so that it cooks evenly.
Step 3: Finish
Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the parsley and serve.
Recipe Variations
- Change the fish: Haddock is just one fish option for cioppino. Other firm white fish like tilapia, cod, lingcod and rockfish are good to use. Some fishmongers portion out fillets of expensive fish, like halibut, and then sell the trimmings at a reduced price—and they make ideal scraps for a soup upgrade.
- Adjust the shellfish: Instead of shrimp, use some combination of fresh or frozen and thawed prawns, lobster, scallops and octopus. If you’re preparing a classic crab boil or steaming clams or mussels, set some cooked ones aside for this recipe instead of the canned seafood.
- Go with fresh veg: Choose fresh tomatoes over canned, especially during fresh tomato season. Cut up and throw in other fresh vegetables, like carrots, fennel and red bell pepper. Replace the Italian seasoning with fresh oregano, rosemary and thyme, and sprinkle on fresh basil for garnish.
- Swap the liquid: If you can’t find clam juice or want to reduce the sodium in this recipe, fish stock makes a good substitute. Instead of white wine, splash in some dry vermouth or red wine, classic complements for tomatoes and seafood. Even a little brandy or bourbon tastes delicious in the broth.
- Make it spicy: Crushed red pepper flakes or a little hot sauce spices up this soup. A mild fresh chili, like an Italian long hot pepper or Anaheim pepper, adds a hint of heat plus flavor.
How to Store Cioppino
Cioppino recipes taste best when freshly made, but leftovers last in the refrigerator for a couple of days. You could freeze the soup for longer storage, but this will change the texture of the fish and shellfish, especially if they are already frozen and thawed. Before refrigerating the soup, cool it to room temperature within a couple of hours by spreading it in shallow pans and stirring often. Then, pour it into containers with airtight lids and refrigerate it immediately so that it cools completely.
How long is cioppino good for?
This seafood-laden soup has the best texture and flavor when eaten within two days. Store it in the refrigerator in a container with an airtight lid to keep it fresh. Soup cooled in the fridge can be frozen and used within six months, but expect texture changes. If you’re transferring a container from fridge to freezer, make sure it’s freezer-safe and leave plenty of headspace. Avoid freezing cioppino that contains previously frozen fish or shellfish.
Can you make cioppino ahead of time?
Cioppino lasts just a couple of days when refrigerated, and the seafood becomes stringy or rubbery when frozen and thawed, but you can make the broth beforehand. After cooking the broth in the slow cooker, pour it into shallow pans until cooled to room temperature, then refrigerate it until completely cooled. It will keep in a sealed container for up to four days, or it can be divided into freezer-safe containers, leaving headspace, and frozen for up to six months. To finish the soup, reheat the broth until warm and add the seafood.
How do you reheat cioppino?
Like most seafood recipes, the fish and shellfish in this soup overcook easily, so be careful when reheating it. If frozen, thaw the soup overnight in the refrigerator. Pour it into a pot and reheat it on the stove over low heat, checking the fish often so that it doesn’t become rubbery. For more assurance, strain the broth into the pot and reheat it first, then add the strained seafood and other solids and heat them gently until just warmed through.
Cioppino Recipe Tips
Can you cook cioppino on the stovetop?
Cioppino recipes are ready faster when cooked on the stovetop but require monitoring once you add seafood. To deepen the flavor, saute the onion and celery in the oil for a few minutes, add the garlic, tomato paste, herbs, and diced tomatoes and liquids. Once all broth ingredients are in the pot, bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes. Finally, add the seafood in stages, starting with the types that take the longest to cook and ending with any precooked shellfish, and simmer just until cooked through.
Can you use fresh clams and crab for cioppino?
Splurge for fresh when you can. Discard any fresh clams whose shells are broken or stay open after gently tapping the edge. Submerge the keepers in cold water until the sand sinks, and then lift out each clam and scrub the shell until grit-free. Fresh, unpasteurized lump crabmeat is as delicious as it is expensive, but cooking and cleaning the crab has been done for you. If you start with a whole live crab, boil it separately in a large pot of water, break apart the shell and remove the meat.
Fresh clams and crab cook quickly and turn rubbery when overcooked. Clams are done as soon as their shells open in the hot broth; simply pull out the meat as you eat the soup (don’t forget to set out seafood forks, an invaluable seafood tool for shellfish). Pre-boiled crab only needs to be warmed through before serving.
What can you serve with cioppino?
Almost every cioppino recipe needs an easy sourdough bread recipe to go along with it. If you didn’t plan ahead, buy a crusty loaf and whip up some garlic bread. For a side, toss a green salad or assemble a classic antipasto platter. The spread might add several seafood appetizers and mains if you’re celebrating the Feast of the Seven Fishes. For wine, choose a bottle of the same variety that you used when cooking the soup. Even if you poured a cheaper wine into the broth than you plan to sip, stick with similar grapes to connect the beverage with the food.
