Sopa de Marisco is the rich seafood soup of the Cantabrian and Galician coast — a deep broth made from fish bones, crabs, prawns, and clams, with pieces of fish, prawns, and mussels in the bowl. It is the fisherman's celebration soup, made when the catch is good, eaten with crusty bread and a glass of crisp white wine.
Sopa de Marisco is the feast-day soup of the northern Spanish coast, from Galicia to the Basque Country. It is built on a rich broth made from the parts of the catch that could not be sold — fish heads and bones, broken crabs, small prawns — simmered for hours. The good pieces (fish fillets, whole prawns, mussels) go into the bowl at the end. Every coastal family has its version, and every seaside restaurant serves it.
A deep bowl of golden-orange broth, dense with prawns, white fish, mussels, and a piece of crab. The broth is rich and briny, slightly thickened from the shellfish; the seafood is sweet and perfectly cooked. Sop it with bread; drink the broth to the last spoon.
The broth is the foundation: fish bones, prawn heads and shells, and crab are sweated in oil, then simmered with water, onion, and tomato for an hour. This extracts all the gelatin and flavor from the shells, giving the broth body without cream. The seafood pieces are added at the very end and barely cooked — overcooking toughens them. Prawn shells left in the broth give it the orange color.
Variations
Some add langoustines or lobster; some use saffron; the seafood mix changes with the catch; some add a splash of brandy.
On the Palate
Where Sopa de Marisco sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 40 min active + 35 min waiting
- 15 min
Ask the fishmonger for 1 kg fish bones and heads; reserve 8 prawns with heads on.
- 28 min
In a wide pot, sweat onion, garlic, and grated tomato in olive oil 8 minutes.
- 35 min
Add the fish bones, prawn heads and shells (save the bodies), and a broken crab; cook 5 minutes.
Watch outSweat the shells and heads in oil until they turn bright orange and smell sweetly of the sea — that color and aroma is the flavor you're extracting into the broth.
- 445 min
Add 2 liters water, a bay leaf, and a splash of white wine; simmer 45 minutes.
- 55 min
Strain the broth through a fine sieve; press on the solids to extract all flavor.
- 64 min
Return broth to the pot; add fish fillet chunks and the prawn bodies; cook 4 minutes.
Watch outAdd the fish and prawns at the very end and cook them barely through — a few minutes only; the seafood turns tough and dry if it simmers on.
- 73 min
Add mussels; cover; cook 3 minutes until they open.
- 82 min
Adjust salt; ladle into bowls with the seafood; finish with parsley.
Archive tool suggestions — not reviewed
These legacy suggestions have not been evidence-reviewed and are not presented as required tools.
