Fish Ragù is a delicious and versatile pasta sauce, popular in Mediterranean and Italian coastal cuisine. This flavorful sauce is a classic Italian recipe made with fresh seafood and is lighter than traditional meat-based ragù.
Depending on the region and the fish that’s available, there are many delicious variations of fish ragù across Italy.
Unlike the rich and slow-cooked Bolognese meat ragù, fish ragù requires far less time to prepare. In just over an hour, you can cook the seafood to tender perfection, blending all the delicate flavors into a sauce that tastes as though it simmered for much longer.
Fish ragù is often enjoyed in warmer months, as it brings to mind seaside dinners on balmy summer nights. Meat ragù, on the other hand, is usually seen as a winter dish, rich and hearty for the colder season.
However, in Italy, both fish ragù and meat ragù are enjoyed year-round, alongside classic tomato-based sauces, making them top choices for pasta sauces among both adults and children alike.
This seafood-based ragù is ideal if you’re looking to bring a taste of the Mediterranean to your table with an authentic Italian touch.
Ingredients
Prep Time: 30 Min | Cook Time: 1 H 30 Min | Servings: 6
NOTE: The weight refers to the whole, uncleaned fish
- 150 g (5 oz) squid
- 150 g (5 oz) cuttlefish
- 1 whole sea bass of about 400 g (14 oz) or about 150 g (5 oz) of sea bass fillet
- 200 g (7 oz) scampi
- 150 g (5 oz) shrimps
- 350 g (~12 oz) tomato passata
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 small onion
- 1 small bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
- 60 ml (¼ cup) dry white wine
- 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
For the Fish Stock
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1 liter (4 cups) water
- ½ tablespoon coarse salt
- 1 medium shallot
- Fish scraps (excluding entrails) and crustacean shells, including claws
- 1 medium carrot
Instructions
How to Clean Fish for Fish Ragu Pasta
First, you need to clean the fish. If your fish is already cleaned, skip to step 4
Step 1) - Clean carefully squid and cuttlefish. Remove the entrails, the central cartilage and skin, then rinse under running water. Set aside.
Step 2) - Clean the sea bass, removing the entrails and the head and cut out the fillets. Remove carefully any bones and skin. Set aside.
Step 3) - Clean the crustaceans by removing the heads, the carapaces and the claws to get the white pulp. Set aside.
How To Make Fish Stock
Now that you have prepared and cleaned the fish, you need to make the fish broth. Let's see how to do it together. If you have a ready-made fish broth, go to step 5.
Step 4) - So now you take all the fish waste, except the entrails, and place them in a saucepan with the carrot, the celery, half onion and the coarse salt. Add the water and cook over medium heat for at least 45 minutes. In the meantime, continue preparing the fish ragu.
Step 5) - Cut the molluscs and crustaceans into small pieces. Keep them separate, as they have different cooking times and should not be added to the sauce together.
Step 6) - Chop the garlic, onion and parsley. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the minced vegetables for two minutes.
Step 7) - Add squid and cuttlefish cut into small pieces. Cook for a few minutes and add the white wine. Continue cooking over low heat for about 20 minutes.
Step 8) - Add the tomato passata and keep cooking for about 20 minutes. When necessary, add a ladle of fish broth. The sauce must be thick but not too dry.
Step 9) - Add the shrimp, prawns and sea bass fillet cut into small pieces. If you like, you can leave some whole shrimps to decorate the dishes. Finish cooking with another 10 minutes, mixing well. In this way the sea bass will melt and mix well, making the fish pasta sauce more creamy. At the end of cooking, add a little fresh parsley to taste. Fish ragu recipe is ready!
YOU MUST ALSO TRY:
- Baccalà alla Livornese (Salt Cod and Potatoes in Tomato Sauce)
- Spaghetti allo Scoglio (Italian Seafood Pasta Recipe)
- Spaghetti with Clams | Spaghetti alla Vongole
- Mussels Marinara Recipe | Cozze alla Marinara
Storage
You can make fish ragu ahead of time and heat it when needed. You can keep it in an airtight food container for a maximum of 2-3 days in the refrigeretor. If you prefer, you can even freeze it and keep it in the freezer for 2 months.
Tips
Variety of Fish
For fish ragu recipe you need a mix of fishes such as: molluscs (e.g. cuttlefish, squid, octopus), crustaceans (e.g. shrimp and scampi) and fish fillets (e.g. sea bass, sea bream, cod or monkfish) carefully deprived of the bones.
The white fish fillet is essential for a good result of the ragù. Because, unlike molluscs and crustaceans, it melts during cooking, making the sauce tastier and creamier.
For a successful fish sauce, cooking times are very important. Each type of fish has a different cooking time and you have to add it to the fish ragu based on that. For example, molluscs have long cooking times. While crustaceans and fish fillets cook very quickly and you have to add them to the sauce at the end.
Fish ragu is really delicious and quite simple to make. The only hassle is cleaning the fish. But you can buy it already clean and ready to cook! Sure it's essential for the fish to be extremely fresh and of excellent quality.
Now follow this step by step recipe to make a delicious fish ragu!
How to Taste and Serve
The perfect match with fish ragu is fresh pasta in both long (for example "tagliolini," "scialatielli" or "fettuccine") and short (for example "strozzapreti" or "maltagliati") formats. In fact, fresh pasta absorbs the sauce better than dry pasta: it's tastier and more cut out for this type of sauce.
Perfect combination with fish ragu are soft and delicate Potato Gnocchi. Or is also the right sauce for making a delicious baked seafood lasagna.
In Italy, in the Marche region, they sometime season Passatelli with fish ragu, made with sole, sea cicadas and clams: the typical fish of the Adriatic Sea.
Often, especially in Veneto and in the coastal areas of central Italy, they serve fish ragu with Polenta, as a delicious single main course.
Here is a TIP for a more savory fish ragu pasta: cook the pasta in the fish stock, the one you made for the fish ragù; if necessary dilute it with some water.
Recipe Card
Italian Fish Ragù Recipe
Ingredients
- 150 g squid - 5 oz
- 150 g cuttlefish - 5 oz
- 1 sea bass - whole sea bass of about 400 g/14 oz or about 150 g (5 oz) of sea bass fillet
- 200 g scampi - 7 oz
- 150 g shrimps - 5 oz
- 350 g tomato passata - ~12 oz
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 onion - small
- 1 bunch parsley - fresh, chopped
- 60 ml dry white wine - ¼ cup
- 5 tablespoons olive oil - extra virgin
For the Fish Stock
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 liter water - 4 cups
- ½ tablespoon salt - coarse
- 1 shallot - medium
- fish - Use the scraps, excluding entrails and crustacean shells, including claws
- 1 carrot - medium
Instructions
- Clean carefully all the seafood.
- Take all the fish waste, except the entrails, and place them in a saucepan with the carrot, the celery, half onion and the coarse salt. Add the water and cook over medium heat for at least 45 minutes. In the meantime, continue preparing the fish ragu.
- Cut the molluscs and crustaceans into small pieces. Keep them separate, as they have different cooking times and should not be added to the sauce together.
- Chop the garlic, onion and parsley. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the minced vegetables for two minutes.
- Add squid and cuttlefish cut into small pieces. Cook for a few minutes and add the white wine. Continue cooking over low heat for about 20 minutes.
- Add the tomato passata and keep cooking for about 20 minutes. When necessary, add a ladle of fish broth. The sauce must be thick but not too dry.
- Add the shrimp, prawns and sea bass fillet cut into small pieces. If you like, you can leave some whole shrimps to decorate the dishes.
- Finish cooking with another 10 minutes, mixing well. In this way the sea bass will melt and mix well, making the fish pasta sauce more creamy.
- At the end of cooking, add a little fresh parsley to taste. Fish ragu recipe is ready!
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