Cioppino Seafood Stew Recipe (2024)

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

This recipe for Cioppino Seafood Stew makes a hearty meal for seafood lovers. This version of the traditional stew can be part of a low-carb, keto, diabetic, gluten-free, grain-free, Atkins, or Banting diet.

Disclaimer: Some of the links on this site are affiliate links which means we make a small commission from any sales to help keep the recipes coming! You do not pay any more. Thank you for your support!

I’ve been promising you more seafood, and here it is! I developed this recipe because one of my readers requested a recipe for low-carb cioppino. I loved the idea and decided to take on the challenge.

In this recipe for Cioppino Seafood Stew, I tried to capture all of the flavors of this Italian/San Francisco classic, while keeping the carb count to a level that would still work for my followers. This was a bit of a challenge because of the tomato-based broth.

While tomatoes can be part of a low-carb diet, when the flavors are concentrated, the natural sugars are also concentrated, so it’s easy to get more carbs than we want. In the first version of this stew, I used some tomato paste–okay, a lot of tomato paste. The carbs just didn’t work out.

In subsequent versions, I found that tomato sauce worked just as well, but kept the nutritional values to a level most of my followers can tolerateBe sure to use the plain tomato sauce (not spaghetti sauce) that doesn’t contain any added sugars.

In addition to using the tomato sauce, a homemade stock brings loads of flavor to this stew. While it’s an extra step, it doesn’t really take much time to get it simmering. Besides, I love the idea of using the shrimp shells to make a stock instead of just discarding them. To save time when I make this dish, I get the stock simmering, then chop the rest of the vegetables and start making the soup while the stock simmers.

When I first started working on this recipe, I based the tomato broth loosely off of my recipe forLow-Carb Italian Sausage Soup-Instant Pot Recipe.The Italian herbed broth in this recipe reminds me a lot of cioppino. Seafood stock and the addition of shrimp, clams, and white fish created the recipe I was hoping for.

I like to serve this soup with a salad to make a complete meal. MyLow-Carb Onion Dill Savory SconesorLow-Carb Sour Cream Biscuitswould also be amazing with it. Enjoy!

-Annissa

4.88 from 8 votes

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian, low-carb

Prep Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the stock:

1 pound large shrimp raw, defrosted, and unpeeled
1 clove garlic whole
1 small onion quartered
1 stalk celery
5 whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf

For the stew:

1 tablespoon butter (or oil of choice)
4 ounces onion chopped
2 ribs celery sliced
1/2 red pepper seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 cup dry red wine
15 ounces tomato sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pinch fennel seeds (optional)
1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
12 ounces white fish (such as cod or haddock)
12 clams or mussels cleaned, but in the shell
3 cloves garlic crushed

Instructions

For the stock:

Rinse the shrimp well. Peel, placing shells in a large saucepan that has a tightly fitting lid. Devein shrimp, cover, and refrigerate for later.
Add the garlic, onion, celery, peppercorns and bay leaf to the saucepan. Cover with 4 cups of water. Bring stock to a simmer over medium high heat, When it reaches a simmer, turn heat to low. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Strain.

For the stew:

Heat a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add butter. When butter has melted and stopped foaming, add the onion, celery, and red pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until edges of onion begin to brown. Turn heat to medium-low, then continue cooking until vegetables are tender.
Stir the garlic into the vegetables. Cook until garlic is fragrant--about 30 seconds. Stir in the red wine vinegar. Cook until vinegar has almost completely evaporated. Add the wine and turn heat to medium-high.
Simmer for a few minutes to allow the wine to reduce by about half. Stir in the tomato sauce, basil, oregano, fennel seeds (if using), red chili pepper flakes, sea salt, and black pepper.
Slowly stir in the reserved stock. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add the white fish. Cook white fish for 2-3 minutes, then add the shrimp. When the shrimp and the white fish are almost tender, add the clams or mussels. Cover and steam for a few minutes, or until shells have opened.
Taste and adjust seasoning. If any clams or mussels remain closed, discard them.

Recipe Notes

Note: Calculations do not include the vegetables that were filtered out of the broth as they are not in the final product.

Serving size: 1/6th of recipe

Per serving:

Calories: 188

Fat (g): 3

Carbs (g): 8

Fiber (g): 2

Protein (g): 32

Net Carbs (g): 6

Sherri on October 30, 2018 at 12:15 pm
All this delicious seafood in one dish…yes, please! Love the flavors in this stew! So comforting, hearty and healthy!

Reply
Jacqueline Debono on October 30, 2018 at 12:22 pm
This seafood stew looks delicious. We love seafood and eat a lot of it here in Northern Italy but i’ve never had cioppino! Absolutely have to try it!

Reply
Caroline on October 30, 2018 at 12:28 pm
I love a good seafood stew – it’s that combination of comfort food and feels a bit healthier too. Looks great.

Reply
Lisa Bynum on October 30, 2018 at 12:30 pm
I visited San Francisco in high school (20 years ago!) and remember falling in love with cioppino. I haven’t had it since that trip! I need to make this recipe and relive that experience.

Reply
ali randall on October 30, 2018 at 12:53 pm
Wow…I am loving this recipe. It is perfect way to warm up on a cold evening. Sharing with my mom who lives at the beach and get get the freshest fish to make this dish.

Reply
Jen on September 6, 2020 at 1:35 pm
This was very nice, and the tomatoey broth was delicious. I hardly ever cook seafood, and your directions were so thorough and helpful.

Reply
Holly M on April 26, 2021 at 7:26 pm
Loved it and so did my children. Great low cal, low everything recipe!

Reply
- Annissa Slusher on April 27, 2021 at 2:46 pm
  Glad it was a hit with your family!
  -Annissa
  
  Reply
Laura on March 6, 2022 at 7:33 pm
I have to be on a low salt diet and this was easily transformed to a low salt dinner. It had so much flavor! I used no salt added tomatoes, unsalted butter, left the sea salt out (even my salt loving husband said he didn’t want to add any salt to this dish) and used no salt chicken broth instead of the fish stock. I also added a squeeze of lemon at the end. It is one of my (salt loving) husband’s favorite dishes and he suggested we make it for company and not even mention the low salt content.

Reply
- Annissa Slusher on March 28, 2022 at 8:08 pm
  Yay! Glad it was a hit even without the salt!
  -Annissa
  
  Reply

Cioppino Seafood Stew Recipe (2024)

Ingredients

For the stock:

For the stew:

Instructions

For the stock:

For the stew:

Recipe Notes

Submit a Comment