35 Italian Seafood Recipes for the Best-Ever Feast of the Seven Fishes

Eating fancy at home has never been so easy. Serve crab cakes as an appetizer with tartar sauce, or as a main dish with pasta al limone and an endive salad.

Shrimp cocktail is so simple and so classic that this recipe is about the details. This is the time to splurge on the extra-jumbo shrimp and to make cocktail sauce from scratch.

Fried calamari is the perfect appetizer. It's crisp and tender, and perfect for eating all on its own with a spritz of lemon (or dipped into marinara sauce).

Made with fresh lump crabmeat, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and Old Bay seasoning, this hot and creamy dip is a dinner party classic.

The oysters are topped with a combination of watercress and parsley in a buttery sauce made with a splash of Pernod. Panko breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan cheese make for a crisp topping that becomes golden and bubbly in the oven.

Gently poached aromatic shrimp served with a tangy Thousand Island dressing is the perfect starter for a multi-course holiday meal.

For this classic appetizer, all you'll need is a dozen oysters plus a few simple ingredients for breading and frying. They're delicious with creamy and crunchy remoulade sauce for dipping.

A filling of lump crab meat, Parmesan cheese, lemon, and chives makes these stuffed mushrooms extra special and festive.

You'll love this classic appetizer of fresh clams topped with breadcrumbs and bacon, and broiled until crispy.

Grilling sea scallops is easy and quick — it only takes about five minutes. The easy lemon-garlic brown butter sauce cooks directly on the grill, too. It's the perfect starter for your holiday feast.

This dish boasts garlicky, buttery spaghetti and easy-to-cook clams and mussels, and although it looks and tastes luxurious, absolutely anyone can pull it off.

Shrimp scampi is a classic Italian dish made from plump shrimp cooked in a buttery, garlicky white wine sauce. With just six ingredients and 20 minutes on the clock, it’s the perfect recipe to showcase how good restaurant-style meals can be if you make them at home.

Cioppino is a big seafood stew of briny abundance, best shared among a crowd of people. Serve it with crusty sourdough bread to soak up the flavorful broth.

Linguine and clams, or vongole, is a dish that celebrates the best that canned fish and pasta has to offer. Lucky for us, this version excludes those fussy clam shells.

The perfect make-ahead Christmas Eve meal for when you're craving seafood and lasagna.

You're just 10 minutes away from a fancy addition to your holiday dinner. If you have a choice between wet or dry scallops at your seafood counter, it’s best to opt for dry.

It’s the ultimate low-effort, high-reward pasta recipe.

Littleneck clams are steamed in a fragrant and tasty broth made with melted butter, garlic, and white wine.

A spicy tomato-based sauce studded with luscious pieces of jumbo shrimp and seasoned with lots of fresh oregano and garlic.

Good-quality frozen lobster tails are pretty easy to find, making them an especially good choice if fresh seafood is hard to come by where you live. Instead of going the standard route of dipping the lobster in melted butter, spend a few extra minutes making a garlic butter and you’ll be rewarded with something extra special for your holiday table.

This spaghetti laced with red pepper flakes, garlic, umami-packed anchovies, and black olives is a quick and tasty addition to your Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner.

Start with our go-to homemade pasta recipe for this special-occasion dish. The tomato and wine cream sauce comes together in less than 10 minutes and tastes as silky and rich as any long-simmered pasta sauce.

Buttery panko breadcrumbs turn simple baked scallops into a dinner that's extra special.

If you love canned sardines, consider this your family's new favorite flavor-packed, pantry-friendly pasta recipe.

Break out the table linens and candles: Lobster risotto is a special-occasion dinner that’s absolutely worthy of both. This creamy risotto is studded with seafood, tinged with saffron, and brightened with chives and lemon.

Upgrade your pasta game with sea scallops and shrimp drenched in a white wine-based sauce, served over linguine.

This super-simple baked shrimp recipe delivers buttery, garlicky, full-flavored shrimp in under an hour. To make it a meal, simply serve with rice pilaf, cooked orzo, creamy polenta, or good crusty bread.

This low-effort pasta is packed with crab, white wine, cherry tomatoes, and fresh herbs.

There are many methods of cooking lobster tails, including boiling, steaming, and grilling. But baked lobster tails is one of the easiest ways to have a special seafood meal when you’re in a celebratory mood.

Because clams are so quick-cooking, yet not really an everyday buy, they are arguably one of the most fast and fancy things you can make. Pair them with linguine, tons of garlic, and a healthy splash of white wine and the results are all the proof you need to understand why this is such a tried-and-true Italian dish.

Calling all seafood-lovers! This restaurant-quality crab-stuffed salmon can be made at home in under 40 minutes and tastes just like the real deal.

Fennel pieces add a fresh crunch to balance all the deep savory flavors in this epic clam dish.

A cozy, creamy risotto in a garlicky clam butter sauce crowned with Parmesan cheese, tomatoes, scallops, shrimp, and shucked mussels.

Grilled swordfish pairs well with a simple green salad and some crusty bread, or with rice pilaf.

This acqua pazza, or “crazy water,” recipe features salmon fillets gently poached in a garlicky fresh tomato broth.