Calamari Squid Soup

This calamari squid soup is a little different from the usual seafood soup. Instead of simmering the squid directly in the broth, I fried baby calamari until lightly crispy, then add it to a simple tomato, onion and vegetable broth base. The result is a quick squid soup with plenty of tomato flavor and tender, flavorful calamari.

If you love calamari but are looking for something different from the usual fried calamari rings, this is a delicious way to use it. The tomato base is simple, the ingredients are easy to find, and the whole recipe comes together quickly.

Instead of simmering the squid directly in the broth, this recipe starts with crispy fried baby calamari. The fried squid is then added to a tomato and onion base, creating a seafood soup that’s rich, savory and completely different from the usual broth-based squid soups.

Recipe at a Glance

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4
Main Ingredient: Baby calamari
Type of Soup: Tomato-based seafood soup
Cooking Method: Fried calamari with a tomato and vegetable broth base

This Squid soup is made with crispy fried baby squid, fresh tomatoes, onion, tomato paste and vegetable broth.

Why You’ll Love This Calamari Soup

• The calamari is fried first. I prefer the texture of fried calamari, and frying it first gives this soup something different from a regular simmered squid soup.
• It is quick to make. The soup takes about 25 minutes from start to finish.
• The ingredients are simple. You only need a few ingredients to make a flavourful tomato-based seafood soup.
• You can adjust it to your taste. Add more seasoning, garlic, herbs or a little chilli if that is how you enjoy your seafood soup.
• It is a different way to cook squid. If you usually only eat calamari fried, this recipe gives you another way to enjoy it.

Ingredients

I only used 7 easy ingredients to make this Calamari squid soup, which there is a high chance that you already have in your pantry. Please check the quantity in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Below is a list of ingredients needed, click on this jump to recipe to see the quantity needed for each recipe on the recipe card.

1. Calamari
2. Tomatoes
3. Tomato paste
4. Onion
5. Sugar (optional)
6. Vegetable broth
7. Cooking oil

How to make this Easy Calamari Soup recipe

1. I started by seasoning the calamari with salt while I was doing this I had about a cup of cooking oil in a deep saucepan over medium-high heat. Once it was hot (at around 325–375°F), I added the seasoned calamari to the saucepan and deep fried until they were golden brown and set it aside.

2. You can drain the hot cooking oil into a cup or wherever you keep your used cooking oil (if you do that of course) and leave about 2 tablespoons of it in the saucepan. To that add the diced onion and sauté for like 5 minutes.

3. Add the fried squid and grated tomatoes to the pot and cook that for 5 minutes over medium heat or medium-high heat. I prefer to cook tomatoes with the pot uncovered to allow the excess water to evaporate quickly.

4. Next, I went in with a tablespoon of tomato paste and a cup of vegetable broth. I cooked that for another 5 minutes with the pot covered this time.

5. Then this is the time when I add a tablespoon of sugar to balance the acidic taste of the tomatoes, if you want you can season with spices of choice., to give you an idea you can add garlic powder, dried herbs, fish sauce, etc.
6. Because I only added sugar, My calamari soup was ready to be served. You may not need it, I suffer from terrible heart burn so I added sugar to balance the acidic of the tomatoes.

How to serve this calamari and tomato soup

• You can serve this seafood soup as a starter.
• With the tomato relish, this calamari stew will be a great companion to pasta.
• I enjoyed this with homemade Irish bread.

How to store leftover seafood soup

Allow the soup to cool down then transfer it into an air-tight container and put it in the fridge. This soup will be good for up to 4 days. I also came to realize over the years that anything stored in a mason jar type of container lasts longer in the fridge. You should try that too, it can be any glass container with a lid.

You can freeze it for up to 3 months. Soup lover Tip: To save on space in your freezer, store your soup in serving portions in zip lock bags and let the air out before you zip. Stack them up on top of one another in the freezer.

How to reheat

From the fridge, reheat in the microwave or a saucepan over medium heat until it’s warm, and if it looks watery just let it simmer with the pot uncovered.

From the freezer, let it thaw then warm it the same way as if it was from the fridge.

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