Quick Cioppino

Cioppino is a fish stew from San Fran with lots of wine in the sauce. There’s also a lot of basil in there too, both dried and fresh. You have got to try this one!

Have you had Cioppino before? If yes, you know it’s awesome. If no, you are in for a treat!

What is Cioppino?

Cioppino is an American-Italian fish stew that originated in San Francisco. It’s loaded with tons of delicious seafood all floating in a tomato and wine sauce. So good, right? You can read more about the origin of this tasty dish here.

As you may know, here on TheCookful right now we’re featuring all things basil. We’ve been giving you all kinds of tips for growing and cooking with basil and lots of delicious basil-spiked recipes too. This recipe in particular is full of basil. There’s dried basil in the broth and then you add fresh basil leaves at the end when you serve it. So you get the deep warm earth dried basil flavor as well as the bright fresh flavor in this soup. It’s pretty great. Enjoy!

Quick Cioppino

Contributor: Christine Pittman

Cioppino is a fish stew from San Fran with lots of wine in the sauce. There’s also a lot of basil in there too, both dried and fresh. You have gotta try this one!

• Author: Christine Pittman
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Category: Entrée
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: American

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Ingredients

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• 2 (8 oz.) bottles clam juice
• 1 (28 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 2 poblano peppers (or use 1 large bell pepper)
• 2 garlic cloves
• ½ tsp. dry basil
• ⅛ tsp. dry oregano
• ¼ tsp. coarse black pepper
• ⅛ tsp. salt
• 1 cup dry red wine
• ½ lb. cod
• ½ lb. live mussels (buy them already debearded and cleaned)
• ¾ lb. deveined large shrimp with shells on
• 4 fully cooked crab claws, sometimes called cocktail claws (for garnish)
• 12 fresh basil leaves (for garnish)

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Instructions

1. Pour clam juice and diced tomatoes into a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat while you chop onion. Add onion to pot. Seed, core, and chop poblano peppers and add to the pot.
3. Peel and finely chop garlic. Add to pot along with dry basil, oregano, black pepper and salt.
4. Stir, then add wine. Increase heat to high and bring to a simmer.
5. Pour hot clam broth mixture into pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer.
6. While the soup is heating, cut cod into 1-inch pieces. Rinse mussels in cold water.
7. Once the soup is simmering, add cod and mussels. Cook until mussels are open and the fish is cooked through, about 3 minutes.
8. Add shrimp and stir occasionally until all are pink.
9. Ladle into large bowls and top each with a cooked crab claw and a few fresh basil leaves.

This post originally appeared in June 2016 and was revised and republished in May 2021.