This is the ULTIMATE guide for those who want to make an Italian Seafood Salad at home for Christmas Eve or your next get-together with friends. Italian Seafood Salad, or Insalata di Mare, can look intimidating, but when you break it down, it's easy, fresh, and so flavorful.
Looking for another delicious seafood salad? Try our Cold Shrimp Salad!
A Quick Look at The Recipe
- ✅Recipe Name: Italian Seafood Salad
- ⏲️Ready in: Active 2 hours, Resting 1 day
- 👪Makes: 10 servings
- 📋Main ingredients: Calamari, octopus, scungili, shrimp, and mussels.
- ⭐Why You'll Love This Recipe: This is a classic Italian-American seafood salad recipe that is perfect for serving on Christmas Eve for the Feast of Seven Fishes!
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Why this Recipe
Italian-American traditions all revolve around one thing: food. Coming together as a family around food. Sitting around the table on a Sunday afternoon, making Homemade Sausage in the winter, or jarring tomatoes at the end of the summer.
Italian Seafood Salad is a classic Christmas Eve tradition that I love having with our family. My son loves it when I pull out a whole octopus and cook it up. Will he eat it? Of course not, but it's all about being in the kitchen together.
Italian Seafood Salad can seem so intimidating, but if you just take it one step at a time, it's a simple salad that only takes about 1 hour of active cooking time. This recipe is perfect for families looking for an easy way to keep tradition but be able to use seafoods that work for their family!
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Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Mussels. Mussels are a great seafood to add to the salad. They're easy to find in the 'ber' months, plus you typically want to get farm-raised mussels, which you can easily find at a local grocery store. Plus, you can buy extra and make Mussels Fra Diavolo or Steamed Mussels in White Wine.
- Scungilli. Canned scungilli, or sliced conch, is getting more and more expensive, but it's an easy seafood to add to the salad that requires minimal work.
- Octopus. I like to think this is a non-negotiable piece of the salad because it's so much fun to pull out. The family always gets a kick out of an octopus, and it's the most delicious part of the salad, in my opinion.
- Shrimp. Shrimp is an easy and reliable seafood that most people have cooked before. It's the perfect addition to an easy Italian seafood dish.
- Calamari. Calamari, when carefully poached, is so tender and absorbs so much flavor when it's marinated!
- Olive Oil. This is one of those dishes that heavily relies on the flavor of olive oil. You need to use a high-quality extra virgin olive oil because it will command so much of the flavor in the dish.
- Celery and Red Onion. You can add other vegetables or substitute these with veggies like red peppers, carrots, green peppers, or spice it up with chile peppers.
- Salt. Even though seafood is salty as is, I like to season it with salt when marinating, and then add a little the following day if it needs it.
- Fresh Parsley. Fresh parsley can't be substituted with dried. It just won't give the same flavor or texture.
*Please see the recipe card below for more information about the ingredients.
Seafood Variations
This recipe can easily be modified to work for your family. It can be as simple as eliminating the seafood you don't like or might find more intimidating to cook. You can also replace it with some of your favorites. Here are some alternatives to add:
- Scallops. I like to prepare all the seafood separately, even if I'm poaching shrimp, I'll poach my scallops separately, so everything is perfectly cooked. Then, I'll put them in an ice bath.
- Clams. Steam clams along with the mussels for another delicious shellfish.
- Cuttlefish. Cuttlefish is similar to squid and can either be substituted for or added to the dish.
- Anchovies. Add a few chopped-up or whole anchovies to add salt and umami to the salad.
- Snapper. Cut the snapper into thick pieces and gently poach it to add a white fish to your salad.
How to Make Italian Seafood Salad
Depending on what variations or substitutions you use, the preparation may look a little different. My biggest piece of advice is to prepare all the seafood in its own batches so nothing gets overcooked.
How to Boil Octopus
Step 1: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water once it is boiling. Dunk your octopus into the boiling water 3 times for the tentacles to begin to curl. Then place the entire octopus into the boiling pot of water and boil for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, remove the octopus and place it in a small bowl. Wrap the octopus and refrigerate for 2 hours.
How to Steam Mussels
Prepare your mussels by rinsing them in a colander. Toss any mussels that have broken shells. Debeard any mussels that have any loose beard.
Step 2: Add 1 cup of water, ½ cup of wine, and juice from a lemon into a large saucepan. Place the mussels in the pan and raise the heat to medium-high. Cover the saucepan and steam the mussels until their shells open.
Strain the mussels and place them in a bowl. Remove them from the shells and place them in a bowl. Place them in a bowl and refrigerate.
How to Poach Shrimp and Calamari
Prepare the squid by slicing the tubes into rings. Peel and devein the shrimp.
Step 3: Transfer the liquid from steaming the mussels into a medium pot. Add water until the pot is ¾ full. Add 1 bay leaf and bring the water to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, add the shrimp and calamari to the water.
Within 2-3 minutes, the shrimp will become opaque. Immediately transfer the shrimp and calamari to a bowl using a slotted spoon. Refrigerate for an hour.
Making the Seafood Salad
Step 4: When all of the seafood has been chilled, remove it from the refrigerator. Chop the tentacles off the octopus. Chop the shrimp in half. Drain the scungilli and rinse them.
Step 5: Add all of the seafood to a large bowl and combine.
Step 6: Add the extra virgin olive oil, juice from 1 lemon, salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, celery, red onion, and garlic to the bowl.
Step 7: Mix all of the ingredients well and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator overnight to marinate.
Step 8: Marinate for 24 hours. Add a drizzle of olive oil when you're ready to serve. Serve cold with crusty Italian bread or more delicious seafood dishes!
Pro-Tips
- Cook each seafood separately, as they will all have different cooking times based on their size. Certain things cooked together are okay, but for the most part, cooking things together can result in overcooking.
- Use salted water when boiling or poaching. You'll be able to taste the difference.
- Seafood salad is best enjoyed after marinating overnight.
- Start by boiling the octopus, and you can cook the rest of the seafood while that is boiling.
- Refrigerate each seafood separately for an hour or 2. Combining them can make them overcook because of the extra heat.
- Use frozen squid and octopus. The freezing and thawing will help tenderize the muscles.
Recipe FAQs
Most Italians I know prefer to use frozen seafood. Almost all shrimp will have been frozen at some point, and using frozen squid and octopus will almost always result in more tender meat.
Some of the seafood can be a little more "adventurous" for kids, so depending on your kid, you can slowly introduce more seafood. Instead of doing 5 seafood types in one dish, try just 2, like shrimp and calamari, and see if they like that.
You can make this up to 2 days in advance. Just always add extra olive oil and lemon juice when you're ready to serve.
Of course, you can find a lot of these types of seafood pre-prepared at some supermarkets. Discern what you think would be okay to use as precooked, just keep in mind, pre-cooked seafood can be less flavorful.
Serving Suggestions for Christmas Eve
Insalata di mare is a quintessential Christmas Eve dish. You can basically knock out more than half the 7 fish in one dish! Here are some recipes I like to serve on Christmas Eve!
- Appetizers: Try our Homemade Shrimp Cocktail, Italian Stuffed Baked Clams, or Garlic Sage Seared Scallops!
- Pasta dishes: Christmas Eve always needs a pasta dish like Linguine with Clams, Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Linguine, or Squid Ink Pasta with Calamari!
- Main Seafood Dishes: I love to serve some filets on the table, like Pan-Seared Vermillion Snapper, Pistachio Crusted Fish, Stuffed Calamari, or a whole roasted branzino.
More Delicious Seafood Recipes
Please leave a comment and star rating below in the recipe card! I love to hear what you think of our recipes. Feel free to tag us on Instagram @vindelgiudice.
Italian Seafood Salad
Equipment
- 1 large bowl
- 1 large pot
- 1 large saucepan
- 1 colander
- 1 medium pot
Ingredients
- 2 lb octopus
- 2 lb mussels
- 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 lb calamari
- 24 oz scungilli, drained and rinsed
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 lemons
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoon oregano
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water once it is boiling. Dunk your octopus into the boiling water 3 times for the tentacles to begin to curl. Then place the entire octopus into the boiling pot of water and boil for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes, remove the octopus and place it in a small bowl. Wrap the octopus and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Rinse your mussels in a colander. Toss any mussels that have broken shells. Debeard any mussels that have any loose beard.
- Add 1 cup of water, ½ cup of wine, and juice from a lemon into a large saucepan. Place the mussels in the pan and raise the heat to medium-high. Cover the saucepan and steam the mussels until their shells open.
- Strain the mussels and place them in a bowl. Remove them from the shells and place them in a bowl. Place them in a bowl and refrigerate.
- Transfer the liquid from steaming the mussels into a medium pot. Add water until the pot is ¾ full. Add 1 bay leaf and bring the water to a boil.
- Prepare the squid by slicing the tubes into rings. Peel and devein the shrimp. Once the water comes to a boil, add the shrimp and calamari to the water. Within 2-3 minutes, the shrimp will become opaque. Immediately transfer the shrimp and calamari to a bowl using a slotted spoon. Refrigerate for an hour.
- When all of the seafood has been chilled, remove it from the refrigerator. Chop the tentacles off the octopus. Chop the shrimp in half. Drain the scungilli and rinse them. Add all of the seafood to a large bowl and combine.
- Add the olive oil, juice from 1 lemon, salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, celery, red onion, and garlic to the bowl. Mix all of the ingredients really well and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator overnight to marinate.
- Marinate for 24 hours. Add a drizzle of olive oil when you're ready to serve. Serve cold with crusty Italian bread or more delicious seafood dishes!
Notes
- Cook each seafood separately, as they will all have different cooking times based on their size. Certain things cooked together are okay, but for the most part, cooking things together can result in overcooking.
- Use salted water when boiling or poaching. You'll be able to taste the difference.
- Seafood salad is best enjoyed after marinating overnight.
- Start by boiling the octopus, and you can cook the rest of the seafood while that is boiling.
- Refrigerate each seafood separately for an hour or 2. Combining them can make them overcook because of the extra heat.
- Use frozen squid and octopus. The freezing and thawing will help tenderize the muscles.
Vincent DelGiudice says
A classic Italian Seafood Salad our family loves! Make this when you're serving a large group and let us know what you think by leaving a review!