Seafood Marinara Pasta (Printable)

Italian dish with fresh seafood simmered in tomato sauce, served over perfectly cooked pasta.

# Ingredient List:

→ Seafood

01 - 7 oz large shrimp, peeled and deveined
02 - 7 oz mussels, cleaned and debearded
03 - 5 oz squid rings
04 - 5 oz sea scallops

→ Pasta

05 - 12 oz spaghetti or linguine

→ Marinara Sauce

06 - 2 tbsp olive oil
07 - 1 small onion, finely chopped
08 - 3 garlic cloves, minced
09 - 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
10 - 28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
11 - 2 tbsp tomato paste
12 - 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp dry white wine
13 - 1 tsp dried oregano
14 - 1 tsp dried basil
15 - 1/2 tsp sugar
16 - Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

→ Garnish

17 - 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
18 - Lemon wedges, to serve

# Steps:

01 - Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente according to package directions. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water.
02 - Heat olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Sauté onion until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes; cook for 1 minute.
03 - Pour in dry white wine, simmer for 2 minutes until slightly reduced.
04 - Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, basil, sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir well and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
05 - Add squid rings and scallops to sauce, simmer 2 minutes. Incorporate shrimp and mussels, cover and cook 3-4 minutes until shrimp are pink and mussels open. Discard unopened mussels.
06 - Add drained pasta to the sauce and gently toss to combine. Adjust consistency with reserved pasta water if necessary.
07 - Adjust seasoning to taste. Garnish with fresh parsley and lemon wedges. Serve immediately.

# Tips from the Pros:

01 -
  • The wine and tomato base creates a sauce so silky it makes you wonder why you ever bought jarred marinara.
  • Four types of seafood mean you get different textures and flavors in every bite, but they all cook fast enough for a weeknight dinner.
  • It feels elegant enough to impress guests, but honest enough that it tastes like someone who actually loves cooking made it.
02 -
  • Don't add seafood to the sauce until you're ready to serve; cooking it too far in advance makes shrimp tough and mussels rubbery.
  • Mussels that don't open during cooking aren't being stubborn—they're dead, and eating them is genuinely risky; toss them without guilt.
  • The sauce needs that pasta water; it's not cheating, it's the difference between sauce that coats and sauce that pools at the bottom of the bowl.
03 -
  • Reserve that pasta water before draining—it's not extra work, and it saves you if your sauce is too thick.
  • A squeeze of fresh lemon at the very end transforms the whole dish by brightening the rich sauce and cutting through any heaviness.
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