Winter Seafood Recipes

A fresh catch isn't just for the summer. Cozy up to these winter seafood recipes, including shrimp-filled paella, oyster chowder, and easy pasta with mussels and beans.

Related To:

Photo By: Evan Sung for The New York Times

Photo By: Teri Lyn Fisher

Photo By: Kathryn Cooper

Photo By: Evan Sung for The New York Times

Make-Ahead Paella Casserole

This make-ahead one-pot wonder is packed with flavor from a smorgasbord of ingredients, like fresh seafood, tender chicken thighs and smoky chorizo. It comes together in a flash, and you'll be feasting on leftovers for days.

Get the Recipe: Make-Ahead Paella Casserole

The Ultimate Crab Cakes

Tyler Florence's key to killer crab cakes is filling them to the brim with fresh crabmeat, and then adding cilantro and lemon for extra pops of freshness.

Get the Recipe: The Ultimate Crab Cakes

Scallops with Pancetta

Laura Vitale's quick-seared scallops topped with crisp pancetta, shallots and garlic are fancy, yet the dish takes only 15 minutes to prepare.

Get the Recipe: Scallops with Pancetta

Brothy Clams and Chorizo

The bold flavors of smoky chorizo sausage, licorice-y fennel bulbs, fruity white wine and a pinch of spicy red pepper flakes get into every nook and cranny of littleneck clams.

Get the Recipe: Brothy Clams and Chorizo

Spicy Shrimp with Avocado Puree

Roger transforms shrimp skewers into party-perfect starters by pulling in Caribbean-tinged flavors and pairing them with a creamy avocado puree. Serving the starters in individual glasses means guests don't have to skip the double-dip.

Get the Recipe: Spicy Shrimp with Avocado Puree

Pickled Bamboo and Tamarind Seafood Soup: Canh Hai San Mang Chua

You'll have to hit a specialty Asian food market for most of the ingredients, but the hot-and-sour soup — filled with calamari and tiger prawns simmered in tangy fish sauce and tamarind pulp — is worth the trip.

Get the Recipe: Pickled Bamboo and Tamarind Seafood Soup: Canh Hai San Mang Chua

Scallops with Cream and Basil

Sometimes the fanciest dinner can be the simplest. A chiffonade of fresh basil, dry white wine, shallots and garlic combine for an easy scallop dish that takes only 15 minutes to prepare.

Get the Recipe: Scallops with Cream and Basil

Spicy Mussels with Bacon

Turn up the heat and warm yourself from the inside out with chile-spiced mussels accented with salty, smoky, crisp pieces of bacon.

Get the Recipe: Spicy Mussels with Bacon

Creamy Lobster Bisque

Combine a veggie-centric base with a buttery roux and mounds of lobster meat to create this rich, creamy bisque.

Get the Recipe: Creamy Lobster Bisque

Shrimp and Angel Hair Fra Diavolo

Emeril Lagasse utilizes thin, quick-cooking angel hair pasta to soak up super-spicy tomato sauce and plump shrimp.

Get the Recipe: Shrimp and Angel Hair Fra Diavolo

Oyster Chowder

If you love potato leek soup, the base to Kelsey Nixon's chowder is right up your alley. Adding 40 oysters bulks it up into a hearty fish soup, with a little bottled clam juice adding the flavors of the ocean without overpowering the bowl.

Get the Recipe: Oyster Chowder

Spaghetti with Bay Scallops, Guanciale and Parsley

Michael Symon makes his own egg yolk spaghetti to toss with crisp bay scallops and guanciale — aka cured and spiced tender pork cheek — but in a pinch, you can use boxed spaghetti and pancetta.

Get the Recipe: Spaghetti with Bay Scallops, Guanciale and Parsley

Everything Gumbo

When Rachael Ray says everything, she means stewing together lump crabmeat or shrimp, andouille sausage and two pounds of chicken breasts for a rib-sticking winter meal. Her "Trinity-Plus-Two" mix includes onions, bell peppers, chiles, celery and garlic, marrying the traditional trinity and a French mirepoix.

Get the Recipe: Everything Gumbo

Sweet Potato Curry with Mussels

Open up your horizons when you steam open fresh mussels for Bal Arneson's creamy yogurt-tinged sweet potato curry. The bivalves soak up plenty of traditional Indian flavors like garam masala and turmeric.

Get the Recipe: Sweet Potato Curry with Mussels

Chile Crab

The fiery red chiles in Ching-He Huang's dish are seeded before cooking, so it may not be as spicy as you think. Sugar and fresh ginger simmer together to make ginger juice that spices up the crab and noodles with a different kind of heat, though, so proceed with caution.

Get the Recipe: Chile Crab

Portuguese Fish Supper

Thick pieces of firm, white fish like cod or haddock are the centerpiece of this fish supper, but supporting players like hearty garbanzo beans and a whole bunch of dinosaur kale round out the filling meal.

Get the Recipe: Portuguese Fish Supper

Cod Fish Croquettes

Change up your fish-fry routine with bite-sized cod croquettes, ready to be dipped in tartar sauce.

Get the Recipe: Cod Fish Croquettes

Savory Seafood Stew: Zuppa di Pesce

Zuppa di pesce is a labor of love that could almost be a one-pot version of the Feast of the Seven Fishes. The classic Italian stew really has only five types of fish, but rosemary-flavored braised beans add some extra protein.

Get the Recipe: Savory Seafood Stew: Zuppa di Pesce

Pasta with Beans and Mussels

Mark Bittman's minimalist recipe takes only 20 minutes to throw together. Most of the time is spent shelling three pounds of mussels before they get happy with white wine, garlic and red pepper flakes.

Get the Recipe: Pasta with Beans and Mussels

Crab Cakes with Tartar Sauce

Tender, succulent jumbo lump crabmeat is worth the splurge. Tiffani Thiessen lets the crab's texture and flavor shine, adding only a little flour and breadcrumbs to bind the cakes.

Get the Recipe: Crab Cakes with Tartar Sauce