Creamy Seafood Stew

Creamy Seafood Stew has a creamy texture, full of seafood, and has delicious flavor from the blackening seasoning and coconut milk we added to this dish. You can get this one pot meal on the table in 30 minutes!

What is Seafood Stew?

This is inspired by Brazilian fish stews also known as Moqueca, where they use coconut milk and tomatoes to make a smooth delicious soup base. We follow most of the popular ingredients Brazilian fish soups call for but, we decided to add some creole seasoning and wine for an extra layer of flavor and to give more depth to the recipe. Although this is a cream-based recipe, it still has a light and delicate soup base.

Why This Recipe Works

This is an easy to make recipe that is great comfort food for cold and rainy days. This one pot recipe helps cut your cooking time and clean up! Saving time is always a win win when we can.

What Goes Into This Recipe

Coconut Milk– Coconut milk is a popular ingredient in Brazilian fish soups giving it a slightly sweet taste that is not too overbearing.

Leeks– Leeks have a sweet onion taste that is great for soups.  

Cod– We are using firmer fish so the fish doesn’t break down into crumbles so that we have a chunkier soup with nice size pieces of fish.

How To Make This Recipe

1. Heat large sauce pan using medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the olive oil. Then add the leeks, garlic, red peppers and celery to the pan.
2. Let the vegetables cook for about four to five minutes until soft. Make sure to stir the vegetables while they cook.
3. Next, add your blackening seasoning, tomato paste and bay leaves to the pot and stir well until combined.
4. Add the wine and clam juice to the pot and stir until combined. Cook the soup mixture for about two minutes using medium heat.
5. Now add the fish and shrimp to the soup mixture and gently stir until well combined making sure not to break up fish pieces. Using medium heat, cook the soup for five minutes or until the fish and shrimp have cooked through.
6. Turn the heat off and add the coconut milk. Gently stir until combined.
7. Add additional creole seasoning to taste. Salt and pepper the soup mixture to taste. Remove bay leaves and serve immediately.

Expert Tips

Easier Meal Prep – You can make prep for this meal easier if you purchased shrimp that have already been shelled and cleaned.

Don’t over salt – If you use store bought blackening or creole seasoning, please take caution in reference to the salt content in your selected seasoning.  There are some low sodium store bought seasonings available. 

Coconut flavor tips – If you decide to add more blackening or creole seasoning, it may take away from the coconut flavor. 

How to prevent the coconut milk from breaking down and curdling – Make sure to stir the coconut milk until it is well combined before adding it to the pot. Also, add the coconut milk in last after everything has cooked. Before adding the coconut milk into the pot, turn off the heat. Bringing the coconut milk to a boil will cause the coconut milk to breakdown with a gritty consistency, and the soup won’t be as creamy.

Variations

Fish – Cod fish may be easier to find and the cheaper choice. I have used both red snapper and cod when testing this recipe to share with great results. Haddock (a firm fish also part of the cod family) is also another fish substitute to use if this is available to you.

Scallops– You can add scallops if you want more seafood added. Add the scallops at the end of cooking time for the seafood. This prevents over cooking the scallops, which can make them rubbery.

Onions- If it’s hard to find leeks, use yellow onions instead. Yellow onions and leeks have similar flavor, so this ingredient change won’t affect the recipe.

Vegetables- To make it heartier, add a chopped green, yellow, and red pepper. This also adds great color for a beautiful presentation.

Claim Juice- If you don’t have clam juice available or would like to use something else instead, use a good chicken stock or seafood stock. You can find both in the broth/soup sections of your grocery store.

FAQ’s

Here’s more delicious warm and comforting soups to try!

Inspired Taste has a great creamy seafood stew recipe, too.

Made this recipe? 

♥♥♥ Did you make this recipe? If so, please rate this recipe and leave a comment below to let me know if you enjoyed it. And follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more delicious inspiration! ♥♥♥

BHM Virtual Potluck

I was invited again to the BHM virtual potluck! Here are the other participant’s delicious recipes from the BHM virtual potluck. And there are so many great contributors bringing a covered dish to this thing too! 

• Beautiful Eats & Things ~  Turkey Sausage Stuffed Collard Green Wraps
• Better With Biscuits ~ Corn Pudding
• Beyond The Bayou Food Blog ~ Redfish Courtbouillon
• Brandi’s Diary ~ Better than Jiffy Cornbread from Scratch
• Butter Be Ready ~ Southern Style Mac and Cheese
• Chef Kenneth ~  Fried Sweet Potato Hand Pie
• Chocolate For Basil ~ Pilau and Kachumbari (Spiced Rice with Pico)
• Cooks with Soul ~ Braised Short Rib Meatloaf
• D.M.R. Fine Foods ~ Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding
• Dash of Jazz ~ Nigerian Jollof Rice
• Domestic Dee ~ Fried Peach Hand Pies
• Eat.Drink.Frolic. | Olive Oil Braised Collard Greens
• Food Fidelity ~ Mofongo Relleno
• Food is Love Made Edible ~ Buttermilk Biscuits with Fried Chicken and Tabasco Honey
• High Heels and Good Meals ~ Crawfish Etouffee
• HomeMadeZagat ~ Shrimp with Spicy Curry Cream Sauce
• Houston Food Fetish ~ Sweet Almond Tea Cakes
• In the Kitchen w/Kmarie ~ Pineapple Lemonade
• Marisa Moore Nutrition ~ Bourbon Peach Glazed Salmon
• Meiko and The Dish ~ Candied Bourbon Peach Cobbler
• My Life Runs On Food ~ Lentil Soup and Roast Okra
• Orchids + Sweet Tea ~ Carrot and Zucchini Noodles Stir Fry with Shrimp
• Raised on Ramen ~ Orange Glazed Brussels Sprouts
• The Hungry Hutch | Orange Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze
• The Kitchenista Diaries | Smothered Turkey Wings
• Simply LaKita ~ Blackberry Cobbler
• The Seasoning Bottle | Honey Turmeric Skillet Chicken