This Italian Seafood Salad is one of my absolute favorite dishes. With plenty of fresh herbs and lemon, this salad is light, refreshing and super flavorful. This seafood salad gets better as it marinates so make it a day before serving for the best results!
My family makes seafood salad every year for Christmas Eve as part of one of the most delicious Italian traditions, the feast of the seven fishes, and I've always looked forward to it every year. Of course, this recipe can be made any time of year so feel free to make it whenever the seafood mood strikes!
*This post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure for further details.
All about the seafood
One of the great things about this seafood salad is that it's easy to customize to your tastes. Hate mussels? get rid of them! Love lobster? Add it in! Can't find scungilli? Well... look harder. The following is my go-to seafood lineup for this recipe.
Shrimp: People tend to like shrimp the most, so I make sure use large or jumbo shrimp for this recipe.
Squid: I buy the bodies and tentacles and cut the bodies into ½ inch rings. If the tentacles freak you out, opt for just the bodies.
Mussels: Mussels are inexpensive and delicious- a welcome addition to this seafood salad!
Scungilli: Scungilli is the Italian word for conch. It's the best part of the salad! (More on scungilli below).
Optional add ins: Lobster or crab would both be great in this recipe. Octopus is also a common choice for seafood salad.
What is scungilli?
Scungilli is conch. You know, those big ass sea snails? Well, turns out they are seriously delicious. I'd like to thank the first human who looked at one of those huge snails and said, "I'm going to eat that." You're weird and brave and we thank you for your service.
Scungilli comes cooked and sliced in cans. To prepare it, simply drain it into a colander and rinse it very well.
We buy this brand and it's great! You can find scungilli in many Italian specialty shops, some grocery stores, or order it online. Of course, you don't need scungilli in your seafood salad, but I hope you try it!
I know cooking seafood can be a little intimidating to people, especially seafood with tentacles, but I'm telling you, this seafood couldn't be easier to cook. Each type of seafood in this salad takes only minutes to cook! You'll bring a large pot of water, wine and salt to a boil and cook all of the seafood in this liquid, one type at a time. The reason to do each type separately is because they all have different cooking times and we don't want anything to be over cooked!
I start by dropping the squid in the liquid and cooking it for about 1-2 minutes—you'll see it become firm and opaque. Then the shrimp, then the mussels. Then use a slotted spoon or a spider strainer to transfer the seafood to an ice bath to stop the cooking.
The dressing for this recipe is simple and easy, and all the fresh herbs give it the prettiest bright green color! You'll just add everything to a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth. Easy Peasy.
As I mentioned above, this recipe is definitely better when prepared a day ahead of time. The seafood and the dressing need time to hang out and marinate! I just toss the seafood with the dressing, two smashed garlic cloves and some lemon slices, cover it with plastic wrap and let it do it's thing in the fridge for a day. Then take the salad out of the fridge about 30 minutes before serving so the seafood can come closer to room temperature—that's it! So if you're going to make this seafood salad for a party, plan on making it one day in advance! Not only will you end up with a much tastier dish, but you'll get some cooking out of the way—win win!
This Italian Seafood Salad really is one of my favorite recipes and I can't wait for you guys to try it. And remember, you don't have to wait until Christmas Eve!
This recipe was originally published December 28, 2019 and updated December 11, 2024.
You might also like
Italian Seafood Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Seafood Salad
- 10 Cups water
- 2 Cups dry white wine
- 2 Tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 Pound cleaned squid, tentacles and tubes tubes cut into ½ inch rings
- 1 ½ Pounds large raw shrimp shelled and deveined
- 1 Pound mussels scrubbed and debearded
- 1 (29 ounce) Can scungilli drained and rinsed
- 2-3 Celery stalks (about 1 cup), thinly sliced
- ¼ Cup Pickled sweet cherry peppers minced
- Fresh parsley for garnish
- 1 Lemon thinly sliced
- 2 Large garlic cloves smashed
For the dressing
- ¾ Cup olive oil
- ¾ Cup fresh parsley roughly chopped
- ½ Cup fresh chives roughly chopped
- 3 Tablespoons fresh oregano roughly chopped
- 1 Teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ Teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Make the dressing. Add the olive oil, herbs, and lemon zest to a blender and blend until smooth. Next add the lemon juice and salt and blend again. Set aside.
- Fill a large pot with the water and wine and bring to a boil. Add the salt to the water and stir.
- Prepare an ice bath. Fill a large bowl with lots of ice and cold water.
- Add the squid to the water and cook for 1-2 minutes; until opaque and firm. With a slotted spoon, transfer the squid to the ice bath. Next add the shrimp and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the shrimp are opaque and the tails have curled. Transfer the shrimp to the ice bath. Add the mussels to the pot and cook until they have opened and are firm; 4-5 minutes. Transfer the mussels to the ice bath and discard any that did not open.
- Drain the seafood well and remove the mussels from their shells. Add the seafood, celery, pickled peppers, and smashed garlic to a large bowl.
- Taste the dressing an adjust seasoning if necessary. Pour the dressing over the seafood and toss to coat. Add half of the lemon slices to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to a day to marinate.
- Remove the salad from the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving and discard the garlic cloves. Taste the salad and add salt or a squeeze of lemon if needed. Serve the seafood salad with the remaining lemon slices and garnish with fresh parsley.
- Enjoy!
Your recipes look great, but are very hard to read in light gray font. Frustrating, especially for people with older eyes. I suggest you stick with black.
P.S. I am an instructional design specialist, so cognition and readability is my specialty...plus, I have older eyes!
Hi Harry,
Thank you so much for letting me know! I will adjust the text.
Carolyn
I will thank you
You put the mussels in the water to open? Don’t they lose their flavor and than in ice water is this correct
Hi Lucille!
Yes, the mussels go in the water after the squid and shrimp. It's a combination of water and wine, which adds flavor to the seafood and a short cooking time so the seafood doesn't lose any of it's own flavor. Then into the ice water to stop the cooking. The cooking method and the dressing will make sure there's plenty of flavor. I hope you give it a try!
Carolyn