San Francisco’s Italian-immigrant seafood stew — crab, clams, and fish in a garlicky tomato-wine broth, eaten with sourdough.

Where does Cioppino come from?

Cioppino is a American (Californian) dish from California (San Francisco), United States.

Can Cioppino be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?

Yes. This Cioppino recipe includes ingredient substitutions to make it vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, or egg-free — including several of those at once, such as gluten-free and dairy-free together.

How long does Cioppino take to make?

About 60 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 35 minutes cooking), serving 4.

Recipe

Name: Cioppino
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: American (Californian)
Ingredients: 3 lbs assorted mixed seafood (Dungeness crab, clams, mussels, firm fish, shrimp); 28 oz can crushed tomatoes; 1 cup dry white wine; 1 bulb fennel; 1 onion; 6 cloves garlic; 1 tsp red pepper flakes; 2 bay; 1 tsp oregano; 1/4 cup olive oil; a handful parsley; 1 lemon; 1 loaf sourdough bread, to serve

North America → 🇺🇸 United States → California (San Francisco)

Cioppino

American (Californian) · medium · serves 4

prep 25 min · cook 35 min

~465 cal · 85g protein · 18g carbs · 1g fat (estimated, per serving)

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Tomato seafood stew with crab and mussels, sourdough alongside

🇺🇸 California (San Francisco)

Cioppino was invented by Genoese and Sicilian fishermen on San Francisco’s wharves, who pooled the day’s unsold catch into a communal tomato stew. The name may come from "chip in." It’s messy, hands-on food, meant for cracking crab with sourdough to sop the broth.

Make it yours

Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.

🥕 Vegetarian

🌱 Vegan

🌾 Gluten-Free

🥛 Dairy-Free

🥜 Nut-Free

🥚 Egg-Free

Ingredients

Serves 4 —

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3 lbs assorted mixed seafood (Dungeness crab, clams, mussels, firm fish, shrimp)

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28 oz can crushed tomatoes

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1 cup dry white wine

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1 bulb fennel

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1 onion

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6 cloves garlic

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1 tsp red pepper flakes

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2 bay

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1 tsp oregano

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1/4 cup olive oil

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a handful parsley

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1 lemon

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1 loaf sourdough bread, to serve

Instructions

Soften the fennel, onion, and garlic in olive oil with the pepper flakes; add the wine and reduce by half.

Add the tomatoes, bay, oregano, and 2 cups water; simmer 20 minutes into a rich broth.

Add the seafood in order of cook time: crab and clams first, then mussels and fish, then shrimp last. (Plant version: add mushrooms and palm hearts with the kombu.)

Cover and simmer just until the shells open and the fish flakes, 6–8 minutes — discard any shells that stay shut.

Finish with parsley and lemon. Serve in deep bowls with sourdough and a bib’s worth of napkins.

San Francisco wharf tradition.

Ratings & reviews

No reviews yet — be the first to cook it.

🌏 While it simmers — know your destination

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California (San Francisco). Where immigrant fishermen invented a tomato-seafood stew.

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United States. Regional cooking shaped by migration and the land.

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North America. A collision of Indigenous, colonial, and immigrant tables.

The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.

👩‍🍳

Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker

Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →