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Stuffed Calamari in Tomato Sauce is filled with a delicious and light bread and seafood mixture with aromatics, white wine and pecorino cheese, then simmered in a fragrant tomato sauce until tender. Perfect over pasta or on its own, it’s a great year-round entrée that many enjoy on Christmas Eve. Read on for more!
Stuffed Calamari, known as calamari ripieni in Italian, is perhaps not your everyday dish, but it is season-less for sure!
In this recipe, a filling made with chopped calamari tentacles, your choice of shrimp, scallops and/or crab (or all three), day-old bread, onion, garlic, parsley, Pecorino Romano cheese and dry white wine is gently stuffed into prepped calamari tubes, sealed with a toothpick, then simmered in a simple tomato basil sauce for close to an hour.
While it may seem a bit fussy to prepare as compared to stuffed peppers or stuffed eggplant or even as compared to other calamari recipes, the extra effort is definitely worth it. I promise!
The stuffing makes the calamari quite hearty, and the finished dish is both rustic and impressive.
A lot of people are intimidated by the thought of a stuffed squid recipe, but it’s really not difficult. It just takes a bit of time to stuff the calamari tubes. The key to this recipe, in addition to great ingredients, is to not overstuff the calamari as there is significant shrinkage while cooking. To avoid the calamari tubes from bursting or the stuffing oozing out into the sauce, leave about a ¾” unstuffed space at the top of the tube. (See photos below.)
This stuffed calamari in tomato sauce would be a great addition to your Feast of the Seven Fishes menu for Christmas Eve (La Vigilia di Natale). Stuff the squid one day prior for efficiency, then cook them on the day of the big meal.
I love to enjoy this dish over pasta with all the extra sauce. And I cannot begin to tell you how flavorful the tomato sauce is after the calamari has been simmering in it for about one hour. But, I will try–it’s SO INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS!
Having said this–this stuffed squid recipe is a proper entrée on its own and can simply be accompanied by a nice hunk of good Italian bread to fare la scarpetta and sop up all that wonderful sauce. It can also be a light first course or part of a hot antipasto at your next dinner party, especially if you have calamari on the small side.
And, in case you were wondering, leftovers of this braised calamari reheat really well and are perfect.
If you enjoy calamari and seafood, I hope you give this restaurant-worthy recipe a try. Mangia bene!
How To Cook Calamari Properly
Cooking calamari until it is just right can be challenging. It can go from perfect firmness and tenderness to tough, chewy and rubbery in a matter of seconds.
One of the first things that I learned in culinary school from my favorite instructor, Chef Scanlan, was “always cook calamari one minute or one hour”.
What he meant was that calamari can be cooked in one of two ways: for the blink of an eye, as in fried, grilled, sautéed calamari or crispy baked calamari, or for a longer amount of time so that it passes through the middle cooking stage when it is unappetizingly rubbery and arrives at the tender and super-appealing stage.
Like my calamari potato and peas and calamari pasta sauce recipes, this stuffed calamari recipe takes the longer approach to cooking calamari. Once stuffed, the squid is immersed in a savory tomato sauce and lightly simmered for close to one hour until very tender. Foolproof and easy peasy.
Main Ingredient Notes
We’ll need the following ingredients for this Italian Stuffed Calamari in Tomato Sauce recipe:
- Calamari: Sometimes fresh calamari is difficult to find. I generally use a high-quality frozen calamari that is pre-cleaned, saving me lots of time. (Check the freezer section near the seafood department of your grocery store or head to your favorite fishmonger.) Cleaned fresh squid comes at a premium at the fish market but is worth it in my opinion. Having said that, cleaning squid is not difficult, just time consuming (and a bit slimy), as the outer skin, innards and all cartilage must be removed. (Click here for a great resource on the process.)
- Seafood: While not a common ingredient in most stuffed calamari recipes, I love including shrimp, scallops and/or crab (or any combination thereof) in my filling. It adds so much flavor and brings the entire dish up several notches. Plus, I prefer a stuffing that is more than just bread and aromatics.
- Bread: The bulk of the stuffing. Use day old, Italian bread and chop or tear it up finely. Bread keeps the stuffing light, whereas breadcrumbs seems to weigh a stuffing down. Use bread.
- Onion, Garlic, Herbs and Spices: The very important aromatics! Onion, garlic, fresh parsley, black pepper, crushed red pepper and salt are all part of the flavorful calamari stuffing. Lots of garlic and fresh basil is also used in the tomato sauce.
- Wine: Use a dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio, to add flavor and acidity to the filling and overall dish. (Wine is also used in the tomato sauce.) As an fyi, I always keep bottles of Pinot Grigio on hand that are less than $10 for cooking purposes. And, if you prefer to not use wine, add a bit of lemon juice to the filling and just leave it out of the sauce recipe.
- Cheese: Sharp and salty pecorino cheese is combined with the other filling ingredients and adds so much flavor. And yes–it’s allowed! Don’t worry about the “no cheese with fish rule”.
- Tomatoes: In a break from my usual whole-canned-tomatoes-that-I-then-hand-crush, I use smooth tomato passata in this recipe. Passata is an uncooked, smooth tomato purée that has been strained of seeds and skin, has a fresh, bright tomato flavor and is generally packaged in tall, carafe-like glass jars. You can use your favorite canned tomatoes, though, if you prefer–hand-crushed if whole.
- Pasta: Serving this stuffed squid recipe with pasta is completely optional. But, if you do, I suggest a long thin pasta, such as spaghetti, linguine or bucatini.
How to Make Stuffed Calamari in Tomato Sauce
- Gather and prep all ingredients. Clean the calamari if you did not purchase them already cleaned. Chop the tentacles for the filling. Pat the tubes and tentacles dry with paper towels.
- Next, make the calamari filling by combining the following ingredients in a bowl and mixing until well-combined: chopped calamari tentacles and other seafood, bread, onion, parsley, grated cheese, wine, garlic and spices.
- Stuff the calamari. Using either a very small spoon or your fingers, carefully fill the calamari tube with the stuffing, leaving about ¾” at the top unstuffed. This is because the squid will shrink as it cooks and too much stuffing will ooze out. Fasten the calamari with a toothpick and set these aside while you start the sauce.
- PRO-TIP: If the tube opening is just a bit too small, you can take some kitchen shears and cut the tube a very small bit just to make the opening a bit larger and easier to stuff. I had to do this with several of the small calamari. The trick is to not cut too much. Be very careful if you decide to do this and cut slowly.
- When ready to cook the calamari, start the tomato sauce. Pour the olive oil into a Dutch oven, large braiser or rondeau over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, basil and crushed red pepper, if including, and cook until the garlic has softened (about 5 minutes).
- Pour in the wine and deglaze the pot, scraping up any brown bits. Then, add the tomatoes, salt, black pepper and dried oregano and stir to fully combine everything. Increase the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a light simmer. Carefully add all of the stuffed calamari to the pot, making sure to submerge them as much as possible in the sauce.
- Partially cover and bring the sauce back to a simmer over medium heat, stirring (carefully) a few times. Uncover, reduce heat to a low simmer and simmer for about 45 to 60 minutes or until the calamari are very tender, stirring occasionally.
- PRO-TIP: The best way to determine if the calamari are ready is to test one. Note that the actual length of time may vary based on the size of the calamari.
- Once the calamari is tender, it’s ready to serve! (If, you’re also making pasta along with it, see detailed steps in recipe below.) Transfer the stuffed squid to a serving platter, remove the toothpicks, and top with lots of sauce, the chopped parsley and optional chopped black olives and serve.
More Seafood and Fish Recipes You’ll Love
If you like this Stuffed Calamari recipe, check out these other Italian-inspired seafood recipes:
- Crispy Salt Cod Fritters
- Scungilli Pasta Fra Diavolo
- Baccala Livornese with Potatoes in Tomato Sauce
- Crispy Pan Fried Smelts
- Italian Baccala Salad
- Scungilli (Conch) Salad
- Stoccafisso ~ Baked (Air Dried) Cod, a.k.a., Stockfish
- Italian Fried Shrimp
- Shrimp Oreganata in White Wine Lemon Butter
- Stuffed Baked Clams Oreganata with Lemon Garlic Breadcrumbs
- Zuppa di Clams in Red Sauce
- Linguine with Clams in a Red Sauce
- Mussels Marinara in Red Sauce (Zuppa di Mussels)
- Spaghetti and Crabs
- Shrimp Scampi Pasta with Arugula
- Spicy Garlic Shrimp
Frequently Asked Questions
Proper cooking technique! As I mentioned above, calamari is unique in that it should either be cooked very quickly or longer (closer to one hour) until it passes through the unpleasant rubbery stage and arrives at a very appealing tenderness. This should result in perfect calamari every time.
This recipe uses the longer cooking technique and the squid cook in lightly simmering sauce for about one hour. However, I do provide tips in the recipe below if you’d like to try it with the quick cooking technique.
I do not suggest it, although many will disagree with me. Breadcrumbs tend to weigh down a stuffing, whereas bread tends to keep it light. Use bread in this recipe.
No, there is no need to tenderize the calamari for this recipe. Tenderizing calamari in a mixture of milk or buttermilk and salt is a common practice for fried calamari. But, you can certainly tenderize the squid if you want to.
While the squid tentacles are chopped and included in the filling, it’s ok if the calamari that you buy does not come with tentacles and is tubes only. Just increase the amount of other seafood in the recipe a bit.
Great question! During recipe testing, I tested this recipe both with eggs and without and, quite honestly, I forgot to take photos without the eggs. Having said this, this is what I discovered. The filling is a bit easier to stuff into the calamari tubes with the egg and the result is a firmer stuffing. (Eggs are a binder and help hold the stuffing ingredients together.) Without the eggs, the filling is a bit more difficult to stuff into the tubes, but the resulting stuffing is a bit softer. I preferred the version without the eggs. However, if you’d like to try the version with eggs, include 2 large eggs in the filling recipe below.
TOP TIPS FOR STUFFED CALAMARI IN TOMATO SAUCE
- Calamari: Try to buy already cleaned calamari, if possible. (Most of the frozen calamari out there is already cleaned.) However, if you need to clean it yourself, you will need to remove the beak, eyes, skin and the hard quill, which is the bone-like piece inside the squid. Then, rinse the calamari under cold water. Click here for a great video on the process.
- Prep In Advance: You can stuff the calamari in advance and hold them in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours before cooking, if desired. Package them carefully in on a sheet pan or in a large container between layers of parchment paper and seal or cover well with plastic wrap. Also, if you’re serving this dish with lots of other dishes, say, on Christmas Eve’s Feast of the Seven Fishes, you may want to cook the stuffed calamari one day in advance for efficiency and then heat it up when ready to eat.
- Shrinkage: The calamari do shrink a good bit while cooking, fyi. So, it’s really important not to fully stuff them or they may burst! Leave about ¾” or so unstuffed at the top. But, it’s happened to all of us and that’s how you learn. Do your best.
- Recipe Substitutions and Variations:
- Sauce: Fra diavolo it and make it spicy! Increase the amount of red pepper flakes or add some Calabrian chili paste. Seafood and spicy tomato sauces go really well together.
- Add some peas or potatoes to simmer in the sauce along with the calamari for a more stew-like dish.
- Filling: Capers and black, oil-cured olives would be a great addition here. For a serious Sicilian twist, include pine nuts and raisins. Leave the seafood out if you prefer but increase the other ingredients a bit so that you have enough filling for all the calamari.
- Serving Suggestions: Stuffed Calamari in Tomato Sauce is a great entree year-round. I especially like to include this dish on my Christmas Eve menu for the Feast of the Seven Fishes celebration. It’s fairly hearty, especially if you include the pasta, and only needs a light green salad to accompany it. I definitely suggest serving some homemade spicy pepper oil alongside this dish so everyone can add a little picante if they want.
- Sauce: You’ll have enough sauce left over to dress one pound of pasta, but the pasta in this recipe is optional and really depends on what else you’re serving. I definitely suggest it as the sauce is SO darn delicious! Having said this, the sauce freezes really well, so you can always make it with pasta on another day.
- Leftovers and Storage: Leftovers can be held for up to 4 days in the refrigerator in a sealed container. Also, this Italian stuffed calamari freezes really well! For best results submerge the calamari in the sauce first. Freeze for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Thaw in the refrigerator and heat on the stove in a covered skillet over medium low heat until heated through.
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Stuffed Calamari in Tomato Sauce (Calamari Ripieni)
Equipment
- Dutch oven or rondeau/large braising pot
Ingredients
- 2 pounds cleaned calamari (See Notes.)
- 1 pound spaghetti, linguine or other long, thin pasta + salt for pasta water (optional; see Notes.)
- Black, oil-cured olives, pitted and chopped (optional topping)
For the Filling:
- Any calamari tentacles that you have, chopped (See Notes.)
- ½ pound mixed seafood, such as shrimp, bay scallops or crab meat (I used shrimp and scallops); chopped into small pieces
- 3 cups day-old bread, small diced
- ½ cup finely chopped or minced yellow onion
- ½ cup chopped flat-leaf/Italian parsley + more for topping
- ¼ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 6 Tbsp dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- Pinch black pepper
- Pinch crushed red pepper (optional)
For the Tomato Sauce:
- 6 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup chopped or hand-torn fresh basil leaves (or 1 Tbsp dried basil)
- 2 Tbsp chopped garlic
- Pinch crushed red pepper (optional)
- ½ cup dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio
- 2 (24-ounce) bottles tomato passata or your favorite canned tomato, hand-crushed if whole
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp dried oregano
Instructions
- Prep: Gather all ingredients according to the specifications above. Clean the calamari if you did not purchase them already cleaned (See Notes below for details.) Rinse the tubes and tentacles well under lightly running water, then drain in a colander. (NOTE: Sand seems to hide in the tentacles, so be sure to rinse them very thoroughly.) Pat dry with paper towels and separate the tubes from the tentacles. Chop the tentacles for the filling.(Please see the section above in the blog post for Step-By-Step instructions with photos.)2 pounds cleaned calamari
- Make the Filling: Next, make the calamari filling by combining the following ingredients in a bowl and mixing until well-combined: chopped calamari tentacles and other seafood, bread, onion, parsley, grated cheese, wine, garlic and spices.Any calamari tentacles that you have,, ½ pound mixed seafood,, 3 cups day-old bread,, ½ cup finely chopped or minced yellow onion, ½ cup chopped flat-leaf/Italian parsley, ¼ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese, 6 Tbsp dry white wine, 1 Tbsp minced garlic, ½ tsp salt, Pinch black pepper, Pinch crushed red pepper
- Stuff the Calamari: This part takes a bit of finesse and patience. While some recipes recommend using a pastry bag to pipe the filling into the squid, this filling is not a creamy enough consistency to do so and is a bit chunky. Using either a very small spoon or your fingers (I used my fingers), carefully fill the calamari tube with the stuffing, leaving about ¾” at the top unstuffed. This is because the squid will shrink as it cooks and excessive stuffing will ooze out. Fasten the calamari with a toothpick and set these aside while you start the sauce. (See Notes below about prepping these one day in advance.)NOTE: If the tube opening is just a bit too small, you can take some kitchen shears and cut the tube a very small bit just to make the opening a bit larger and easier to stuff. I had to do this with several of the small calamari. The trick is to not cut too much. Be very careful if you decide to do this and cut slowly.
- Make the Sauce: When ready to cook the calamari, start the tomato sauce. Pour the olive oil into a Dutch oven, large braiser or rondeau over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, fresh basil and crushed red pepper, if including, and cook until the garlic has softened (about 5 minutes). Cover the pot for a couple minutes to speed up the softening process, if desired. (NOTE: If using dried basil, add it along with the tomatoes.)6 Tbsp olive oil, ½ cup chopped or hand-torn fresh basil leaves, 2 Tbsp chopped garlic, Pinch crushed red pepper
- Pour in the wine and deglaze the pot, scraping up any brown bits. Then, add the tomatoes, salt, black pepper and dried oregano and stir to fully combine everything. Increase the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a light simmer. Carefully add all of the stuffed calamari to the pot, making sure to submerge them as much as possible in the sauce.½ cup dry white wine, 2 (24-ounce) bottles tomato passata, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp dried oregano
- Cook the Calamari: Partially cover and bring the sauce back to a simmer over medium heat, stirring (carefully) a few times. Uncover, reduce heat to a low simmer and simmer for about 45 to 60 minutes or until the calamari are very tender, stirring occasionally. Be sure to keep the sauce at a low simmer and stir (gently) regularly–you don’t want the calamari to stick to the bottom and burn!The best way to determine if the calamari are ready is to test one. Note that the actual length of time may vary based on the size of the calamari. The calamari in the photos above simmered in the sauce for about 60 minutes.
- Make Pasta and Serve: Once the calamari is tender, it is ready to serve (once the toothpicks are removed)! If, however, you are also making pasta along with it, this is what I suggest:• Start cooking the pasta once the calamari is finished. Add salt, then the pasta, to boiling water and stir.• While the pasta is cooking, transfer the calamari to a different pot or pan with all but about 3 cups or so sauce and hold it on low heat to keep it warm.• The reminder (3 cups) of the sauce can stay in the pot to be tossed with the pasta. Keep this remaining sauce at a medium low heat while the pasta finishes.• Cook until the pasta is not quite al dente, or about 2 minutes less than the package directions. Reserve about 1 cup or so pasta water.• Drain the pasta and stir it into the sauce to finish cooking and to absorb all those wonderful flavors. Add some pasta water if needed for extra moisture.• Transfer the stuffed squid to a serving platter, remove the toothpicks, and top with lots of sauce, the chopped parsley and optional chopped black olives and serve.• The (optional) pasta can either be served in the same platter as the calamari (under it, ideally) or in a separate bowl. Buon Appetito!1 pound spaghetti, linguine or other long, thin pasta
Notes
- The suggested recipe times assume you’re starting out with already cleaned calamari.
- You can easily cut this recipe in half or double it for a smaller or larger batch. If this is the main course, it’s enough for about 8 people. But, if this stuffed calamari in tomato sauce recipe is part of a larger buffet, such as the Feast of the Seven Fishes, it will go further. Adjust accordingly.
- Try to buy already cleaned calamari, if possible. (Most of the frozen calamari out there is already cleaned.) However, if you need to clean it yourself, you will need to remove the beak, eyes, skin and the hard quill, which is the bone-like piece inside the squid. Then, rinse the calamari under cold water. Click here for a great video on the process.
- Also, while the squid tentacles are chopped and included in the filling, it’s ok if the calamari that you buy does not come with tentacles and is tubes only. Just increase the amount of other seafood in the recipe a bit.
- Calamari comes in all sizes. My two pounds of calamari was 22 total squid, but yours may be different. So, be sure to purchase the squid by weight. Note that the calamari shrink quite a bit while cooking, so try not to buy very small squid (unless you want tiny stuffed calamari). Plus, larger squid are easier to stuff! I suggest medium sized for best results and tenderness.
- The calamari do shrink a good bit while cooking, fyi. So, it’s really important not to fully stuff them or they may burst! Leave about ¾” or so unstuffed at the top. But, it’s happened to all of us and that’s how you learn. Do your best.
- If starting with frozen calamari, be sure to fully defrost them in the refrigerator before using.
- Once the calamari is cleaned and/or defrosted, separate the rings from the tubes and pat them both dry with a paper towel to remove excess moisture before proceeding.
- The calamari can be stuffed in advance and held in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours before cooking, if desired. Package them carefully in on a sheet pan or in a large container between layers of parchment paper and seal or cover well with plastic wrap.
- You’ll have enough sauce left over to dress one pound of pasta, but the pasta in this recipe is optional and really depends on what else you’re serving. I definitely suggest it as the sauce is SO darn delicious! Having said this, the sauce freezes really well, so you can always make it with pasta on another day.
- If you’re serving this dish with lots of other dishes, say, on Christmas Eve’s Feast of the Seven Fishes, you may want to cook the stuffed calamari one day in advance for efficiency and then heat it up when ready to eat.
- This Stuffed Calamari freezes really well! For best results submerge the calamari in the sauce first. Freeze for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Thaw in the refrigerator and heat on the stove in a covered skillet over medium low heat until heated through.
- As I mentioned above, there is the quick way and the slow way to cook calamari. This above technique is the slow method that I feel is more foolproof and allows leftovers to be heated up successfully as well. However, you can also use a the quick-cooking-technique and cook the calamari and here’s how: Bring the sauce up to a boil, then add all of the calamari to the sauce, which will bring the temperature down. Bring the sauce back up to a boil, shut off the heat, cover and let it sit until you’re ready to eat it, but for at least 15 to 20 minutes. Stir a few times. Note that this technique is best with uniformly-sized calamari on the smaller side. If you try this technique, but then it becomes tough, just continue simmering it as per the recipe above until it becomes tender again.
