Considered by many to be the signature dish of San Francisco, Cioppino is a wonderful Italian seafood stew that is perfect for entertaining and holidays. Serve this with crusty sourdough bread to sop up all the delicious broth for a truly Californian dining experience!
Table of Contents
One of the highlights of a trip to San Francisco for lots of people is to enjoy fresh seafood at one of the many great restaurants in the city.
We live in the Bay Area and I try to get into the city often for date night with my husband who works in San Francisco or to take our girls to meet up with him for lunch sometimes when they aren't in school.
So imagine my chagrin when I was researching iconic foods that came out of California for the American Eats series I have been doing and realized that, despite all the fantastic restaurants I've eaten at in the city, I had never tried cioppino! I decided to remedy that double quick.
As it turns out, cioppino is easy to make and so delicious! It can be made with almost any combination of seafood in a large soup pot, but whole Dungeness crabs in the shell, clams, shrimp, bay scallops, and mussels are classic options. It's a great special occasion recipe for the holidays or dinner parties.
For more comforting cold-weather soups, be sure to check out our Maryland Crab Soup, Better-Than-Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup, and Tortellini Soup with Italian Sausage.
What is Cioppino?
Almost every seafood restaurant of note in San Francisco has cioppino on its menu. It was created here in the late 1800s by Italian immigrant fishermen from the Genoa region of Italy who lived and worked in the North Beach section of San Francisco by the Bay.
The story goes that when fishermen would return from an unsuccessful day of fishing out on the water, they would go around the docks and other fishermen would chip in a little something from the day's catch to the pot—a crab, some mussels, or a fish. There was an understanding that they too would have days in the future when they would come home empty-handed and need to rely on their fellow fishermen as well. It was a community effort.
Cioppino is traditionally made with the freshest seafood possible in a thin broth made from tomatoes, herbs, and white wine. The catch of the day from the San Francisco Bay is usually a combination of Dungeness crab, clams, bay scallops, shrimp, squid, mussels, and fish.
Bowls of cioppino are served with plenty of fresh San Francisco sourdough bread that is dipped into the sauce to sop up the rich, flavorful broth.
Why We Love This Recipe
- Use your favorite seafood and seasonings, but this recipe has what you need for the most authentic flavors.
- Made with the freshest fish is the best way to go for the best flavors.
- Serve this delicious cioppino recipe with glasses of dry white wine for a special dinner party!
What You'll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Granulated Sugar - This thickens the fruit into a sauce and makes it deliciously sweet.
- Butter - Use salted butter to bring out the flavors when sautéeing the veg. You can use olive oil if you prefer, but I like the buttery flavor.
- Vegetables - We'll use sautéed onion and a fennel bulb to give us a great savory taste.
- Seasoning - Use fresh garlic that you mince yourself, along with fresh parsley, dried basil, kosher salt, dried thyme, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, and bay leaves for a dish that is bursting with flavor!
- Wine - Use white wine for an added bitter-sweet taste to the hearty stew. This can be replaced with additional fish or chicken stock.
- Tomatoes - Use crushed tomatoes as well as diced tomatoes for the cioppino base.
- Stock - Fish or seafood stock will bring the seafood flavors together well. You can use a mixture of chicken stock and clam juice instead if you need.
- Seafood - Use a mixture of fresh fish: small clams, mussels, a Dungeness crab**, large shrimp, bay scallops, and a cod fillet for this recipe.
- Garnish - Use fresh basil and fresh parsley to garnish.
How to Make San Francisco Cioppino Seafood Stew
- Prepare the broth. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large dutch oven, then add the onion, fennel, garlic, and parsley, sautéing until the onions are soft. This will take about 10 minutes.
- Add seasoning. Add the garlic, basil, salt, thyme, oregano, and red pepper flakes, and sauté for 2 minutes longer.
- Add wet ingredients and bay leaves. Add the white wine, crushed and diced tomatoes, fish stock, and bay leaves, then cover and reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Cook. Simmer for 30 minutes so the flavors can blend. While the broth simmers, prepare the crab by removing the crab legs from the body (if not already done for you) and using a nutcracker to crack the shells (leave the meat in the shell) so that the meat can be easily removed once the cioppino is served.
- Add seafod. Increase the heat to medium and add the clams and mussels to the broth and cook for 5 minutes until they start to open. Then add the crab legs and cook for another minute, followed by the shrimp and scallops. Finally, lay the chunks of cod on top of the broth and cover, and cook for 3-5 minutes until the mussels and clams are open, the shrimp curl, and the scallops are just firm.
- Serve. Ladle the cioppino into large bowls and garnish with chopped fresh parsley and basil. Serve with warm, crusty sourdough bread! Have plenty of napkins, extra bowls for shells, nutcrackers, and tiny forks on hand for the crab.
Recipe FAQ's
Some say that the name "cioppino" actually comes from the idea of "chipping in," although the more likely answer is that it is derived from the name of a Genoese fish stew called cioppin, which is very similar to the cioppino that is so popular in San Francisco today.
Serve cioppino stew in a large bowl with a side of crusty bread like my Garlic and Rosemary Artisan Bread or Garlic Bread, in Homemade Bread Bowls for a fancy presentation, or with Homemade Croutons for an added bready crunch. Alternatively, you can serve it over another kind of carb like pasta or White Rice to make it a fuller meal. Make an extra bowl available for people to discard the inedible shells in.
I would recommend making fish stews fresh every time, rather than making them and storing them for the next day.
Tips for Success
- Buy fresh. Buy the freshest seafood available to you for making San Francisco cioppino. Whole Foods is one of my go-to sources for good seafood, but Asian markets can also be a good, economical source of fresh seafood as well. Depending on where you live, there might also be a good fish market or fishmonger at your local farmer's market that you could go to for the freshest seafood possible.
- It's messy. Fair warning that authentic cioppino is typically served with the crab and other shellfish still in their shells, which means you're in for some hands-on, messy eating. But I think that's part of the fun for an informal gathering with friends who appreciate good seafood. Just be sure to have lots of napkins on hand!
- Stock. If you can't find fish or seafood stock, you could use chicken stock with a small can of clam juice instead.
- Wine. Replace the white wine with more stock, if you aren't comfortable cooking with wine.
If you are planning a trip to San Francisco in the future, be sure to check out this 3-Day San Francisco itinerary for all the best places to see!
Substitutions and Variations
- Stock. Replace all or part of the fish or seafood stock with the same amount of chicken stock along with a small bottle of clam juice instead.
- Dungeness Crab. If Dungeness crab is not available, you could use snow crab, blue claw, stone crab claws, or even Alaskan King crab. Also, you could just use crab meat instead of the legs and body, which would certainly make this cioppino easier to eat, although it is such a fun presentation to have the crab legs.
- Fennel. If you can't find fennel bulbs, don't substitute them for fennel seeds. They are quite different in flavor and substance. The bulb is best substituted for the same amount in celery or bok choy plus a small amount of fennel seeds. For example, for this recipe, 1 fennel bulb will need about ½ lb celery and ½ teaspoon of fennel seeds as a substitution.
- Turn up the heat. Add some chili pepper to the mix for some added spice.
More Hearty Soup Recipes
- Creamy Irish Leek and Potato Soup
- New England Fish Chowder
- Zuppa Toscana
- Smoked Salmon Chowder with Bacon
- One Pot Lasagna Soup
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Authentic San Francisco Cioppino Seafood Stew
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 fennel bulb thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ bunch fresh parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 ½ cups white wine optional - can replace with additional fish or chicken stock
- 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 5 cups fish or seafood stock*
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 pound small clams
- 1 pound mussels scrubbed and debearded
- 2 pounds crab I used 1 whole cooked Dungeness crab**, with its legs removed from its body
- 1 pound uncooked large shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 pound bay scallops
- ½ pound cod fillet cut into large chunks (or other firm-fleshed fish like halibut or salmon)
- Fresh basil and parsley chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a large dutch oven, then add the onion, fennel, garlic, parsley, sauteing until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, basil, salt, thyme, oregano, and red pepper flakes and saute 2 minutes longer.
- Add the white wine, crushed and diced tomatoes, fish stock, and bay leaves, then cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 30 minutes so the flavors can blend. While the broth simmers, prepare the crab by removing the crab legs from the body (if not already done for you) and using a nutcracker to crack the shells (leave the meat in the shell) so that the meat can be easily removed once the cioppino is served.
- Increase the heat to medium and add the clams and mussels to the broth and cook for 5 minutes until they start to open. Then add the crab legs and cook for another minute, followed by the shrimp and scallops. Finally, lay the chunks of cod on top of the broth and cover and cook for 3-5 minutes until the mussels and clams are open, the shrimp curl and the scallops are just firm.
- Ladle the cioppino into large bowls garnish with chopped fresh parsley and basil. Serve with warm, crusty sourdough bread! Have plenty of napkins, extra bowls for shells, and nutcrackers and tiny forks on hand for the crab.
Notes
Nutrition
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This is the best cioppino recipe ever!!!! This is most like what you would get served at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, because that is where I had my first cioppino bowl. Every other recipe I have tried has fallen way short of my memory. Try this and you will not be disappointed. Amy has many great recipes that just exhude great taste.
How big of a Dutch oven will I need to make this? I have a 7.25qt (I believe) Le Creuset Dutch oven...will that fit all of this amazing seafood?
That should be plenty big. I'm pretty sure mine is a 6.9 quart dutch oven.
Can I use fresh herbs (thyme, oregano, and basil) instead of dried?
Absolutely!
,This recipe took me back to San FranciscoÂ
I’ve eaten cioppino.  Wrong spelling : for years. This took me back to when San Francisco. Was a glamorous city. Thank you!
The broth was SOOO good! We live in the SF bay area and this is as good or better as anything we've tasted at the wharf. Definitely will be making this again!
I made this last night, it was AMAZING!!!! Better than any restaurant cioppino I have had.
Are use the whole bottle of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay, I didn’t have any dried basil so I added Italian seasoning, I couldn’t find fish stock so I use clam juice. It was off the charts amazing.
I served it with garlic bread, I used to carry gold butter room temperature, fresh garlic, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, grated Parmesan, and paprika .
😋😋😋😋
Thank you for the wonderful review, Kerry! So glad you loved this as much as we do!
How do u store leftovers? Could this be made ahead?
Keep any leftovers in the fridge and reheat on the stove. If you want to make this in advance, I would recommend making the broth, then reheating it before adding the seafood.
I made this recipe and it was wonderful! I doubled the sauce to have more and it got rave reviews from my Christmas Eve guests. I will use this recipe again. Goes well with an Italian Christmas Eve meal.
This was fabulous.  Felt like it compared to any restaurant.  Did’’t use crab
Legs but with all the other fish/seafood didn’t miss it during COVID days.  Highly recommend. Â
Hi, for my birthday this year I decided to make it a dine in dinner due to the current situation of COVID 19. I chose to make this recipe because I am a seafood fan, and was looking for a restaurant style dish with lots of flavor. It seemed like a lot of food at first for little old me, but then again, tomorrow’s another day and I don’t plan on stopping eating any time soon. So thanks for this lovely recipe.Â
Absolutely delicious outcome. We followed the recipe to a tee and we were all delighted with the results. Everyone was soaking up the remaking liquid in the bowl with sourdough bread.Â
Absolutely beautiful. Crab isn’t readily available in the uk, but added everything else! I also added a small amount of tagliatelle to the bottom of our bowls. Absolute winner here. Beautiful recipe. Thankyou x
Madd this recipe for family. I was told this sauce was better then a sauce handed down for four generations. I bought a sea food " bundle " for cipino and it was wonderful. Lots of french bread and some pasta. Served with some red wine. It was a hit! Highly recommend this recipe
Made this recipe for family. I was told this sauce was better then a sauce handed down for four generations. I bought a sea food " bundle " for cipino and it was wonderful. Lots of french bread and some pasta. Served with some red wine. It was a hit! Highly recommend this recipe
I think one correction needs to be made to Step 1.  It references adding the garlic at 2 different times ... first to be sauteed with the onions, fennel, etc. for 10 minutes ... and then again to be added to the pan along with the herbs for a couple of minutes after the 10 minute onion/fennel sauté is done.Â
Knowing how easy it is to burn garlic, I can't imagine you would want to sauté it for 10 minutes with the onions/fennel ... so I am going to assume that it should only be added at the end for a couple of minutes with the herbs (like it is usually done in most recipes).
My husband and I tried this soup last night and were so excited after tasting it! Â It is now our favorite soup to make in our home. Â I have been sharing it with family and friends!
Use ouzo ir other Mediterranean liquor instead of wine it really adds to the flavor. Italians like aniseed flavor
How many does this serve
About 6-8 people.
Is a dutch oven needed for this recipe?
No, you can use any quality pot for it that you would typically use for soup.
Wow, this was tasty! My five year old inhaled it.
No celery. Interesting. Many cioppino recipes call for it.
You are certainly welcome to add it!
Celery is often used as a substitute for the fennel which is more Italian.
I’m making this for Christmas dinner in a couple days and can not wait! I do have a question I’m hoping someone can answer. I’m a bit confused on what to do with the crab body. Does that go into the cioppino as well or do just the legs go in? If the body does go in, I’d assume there’s meat in there too?
Thank you!
You can add the whole crab body or just the legs. There is meat in both although it can be a little harder to access the meat in the body of the crab so often people will cut them in half before adding to the broth.
Thank you so much for the reply!! I made the broth last night (to get that part out of the way) and it is delicious!!!! Can’t wait to serve this for Christmas dinner!!
This us by far the best cioppino recipe I've ever made. It's always my go to when I get fennel in my CSA box (I can't stand fennel in anything other than cioppino). Do you think I could potentially make the base soup and freeze it for future use? And then thaw and add the seafood later?
This is perfect.Havnt made this yet,but reading the ingredients it sounds spot on.What I like to do when I make a base is to use dried herbs,then let it sit for a day or two in the fridge.When I reheat it,I zap it with a bunch of fresh herbs 15 min or so before the seafood is added.Wonderful burst of fresh flavor with all the melded flavors from sitting for a day or two.
This was a hit last night for our Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes!! So good! Had to omit the Fennel bulb due to lack of availability. Used the alternate for the seafood stock for the same reason. Added Calamari tubes and tentacles as it's a favorite in our house. This recipe will be on our menu every Christmas Eve! Thank you!
Great recipe. Made these alterations. In the sauce, I used 2 onions, 3 fennel bulbs, 10 cloves of garlic, and 3 finely diced jalapeños. I added a tablespoon of Calabrian chili powder from Oaktown Spice Shop. 3 quarts of homemade fish stock (you can also buy at Tokyo fish market or other place). Made broth 4 hours in advance and simmered for 3 hours covered. Let sit, then heated to a boil before adding fish. The sooner you do the broth the better. I might even do it and wait a day. Not fresh local crab so I doubled the mussels, clams and cod.
I don't understand the instruction in Step number two that says"While the meat simmers." Is it a typo or am I missing something? Could you please clarify? Thanks so much!
Sorry! That was a weird typo - it should have read "broth" instead of "meat". I fixed it in the recipe instructions. Thanks!
Thank you! Made Cioppino and it came out delicious!