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Easy and Delicious Portuguese Seafood Rice: Traditional Recipe Step by Step

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Last Updated on 2025-04-16 by Jorge Bastos

Seafood rice (Arroz de Marisco) is a traditional Portuguese dish, especially popular in the country’s coastal regions. It is often associated with festive occasions and special gatherings like birthdays or family events. It is commonly prepared at home or enjoyed in restaurants. For most Portuguese people, this dish brings back warm memories of family and friends.

This rice is typically very moist, so many people prefer eating it with a spoon. Its flavor is rich, packed with the fresh taste of the sea, and loaded with various seafood. The type and amount of seafood used can vary depending on the restaurant, personal preferences, or the region where it’s made. It usually includes shrimp, clams, imitation crab, and mussels, but you can also add crab, squid, octopus, or even other shellfish like goose barnacles.

Traditionally, seafood rice is made with a homemade seafood broth prepared by simmering seafood shells and heads with onion, garlic, tomato, and aromatic herbs for several hours to extract an intense seafood flavor. The rice is then cooked in this flavorful broth.

However, we take a simplified approach to this recipe: instead of making the broth from scratch, we use a store-bought seafood soup mix. This method is much quicker and easier while still delivering the delicious taste of seafood rice.

So, if you’re looking for a quick and practical seafood rice recipe, follow the steps below!

A seafood rice dish with shrimp, seafood is served on a decorative white plate with a floral border. On a red and white checkered tablecloth, this recipe includes a vibrant array of colorful ingredients.
Traditional Portuguese dish – Seafood Rice
Contents hide
Ingredients – Seafood Rice
Necessary utensils to make Seafood Rice
Preparation
Seafood Rice – Easy step-by-step recipe
Side Dishes and Serving
Tips and Variations
Storage and Reuse
Conclusion
Portuguese Seafood Rice Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions

Ingredients – Seafood Rice

  • 1 large onion
  • 2-3 garlic cloves
  • 500 g (2 ½ cups) carolino rice
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 L (8 ½ cups) water
  • 1 packet of seafood soup mix
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Piri-piri powder or Tabasco
  • 900 g (2 lbs) seafood mix
  • 6-8 tiger shrimp
  • 150 g (5 oz) medium peeled shrimp
  • 200 g (7 oz) clams
  • 1 bunch fresh parsley

Tip

If you can’t find Carolino rice, a good substitute is Arborio rice – the rice typically used for cooking risotto.

The ingredients for a classic Arroz de Marisco are beautifully arranged on a red checkered tablecloth. Labels identify garlic, bay leaves, seafood soup mix, clams, shrimp, tomato paste, olive oil, rice, salt, cilantro, onion, pepper, and seafood mix.
Ingredients for making seafood rice

Necessary utensils to make Seafood Rice

  • Large pot
  • Spatula or wooden spoon
  • Fork
  • Spoon to taste the seasonings
  • Medium cup
A red and white pot is placed on a red and white checkered tablecloth, reminiscent of traditional Seafood Rice recipes. Above it are two stainless steel spoons, a spatula and chopsticks. A small white bowl sits in the upper right corner.
Necessary utensils to make Seafood Rice

Preparation

  • Servings: 6 to 8 servings
  • Preparation time: 35 minutes (Total time, including preparation and cooking)
  • Difficulty level: Easy

Seafood Rice – Easy step-by-step recipe

  1. Boil 2 liters of water in an electric kettle.
  2. Chop the garlic and onion into small pieces.
  3. Add the chopped onion and garlic to a large pot with hot olive oil, and sauté for 5 minutes over medium heat until golden.
A hand uses a pink silicone spatula to sauté chopped onions in a red pan on the stove, as if preparing a Seafood Rice recipe. The onions are translucent, suggesting they are being cooked. The inside of the pan is whitish.
Sauté the onion and garlic with olive oil in a large pot.
  1. Add the rice and let it fry for 30 seconds, stirring to coat the grains well in the sautéed mixture.
A person's hand stirs partially cooked white rice with a pink spatula in a red pot on the stove, capturing the essence of
Fry the rice with the onion sauté for a few seconds.
  1. Add the tomato paste and mix everything together, then add the boiled water. The amount of water should be double the amount of rice.
A person is pouring water from a red measuring cup into a pot on the stove containing rice and tomato paste — perhaps starting a delicious Seafood Rice Recipe. The pot has red handles.
Add tomato paste and boiled water to the rice.
  1. Prepare the seafood soup broth: in a bowl, combine the powder from the seafood soup packet with a bit of cold water until it dissolves into a smooth paste without lumps.
A hand holds a spoon stirring an orange sauce in a white bowl, suggesting the beginning of a Seafood Rice recipe. The bowl rests on a red and white checkered tablecloth.
Mix the seafood cream with cold water and stir until it reaches the above consistency without lumps.
  1. Stir in the paste and bay leaves to the rice. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Season with salt or chili to your preference.
  2. Mix in the seafood and clams. Let the rice cook over medium heat until everything is well blended.
A red pot on a black stove simmers with Seafood Rice, with clams and a rich tomato-based broth. A slotted spoon holds the seafood over the pan, ready to serve. The tiled wall in the background adds a rustic touch to this delicious recipe.
Add the seafood mixture to the rice.
  1. Add the small and large shrimp when the rice is half-cooked (approximately 15 minutes).
  2. After 5 minutes, when the rice is al dente, turn off the stove. Note: the rice should be very soupy, with plenty of sauce.
  3. Stir in the parsley and serve.
A red pot full of Seafood Rice simmers on the stove, its vibrant yellow broth bursting with shrimp, mussels, and a sprinkling of chopped parsley. The pot handles are visible against the black surface of the stove, dials in the background suggesting the perfect Recipe.
The final result of the seafood rice, as you can see in the image, should be very moist with a lot of broth.

Side Dishes and Serving

Seafood rice pairs very well with a light salad of lettuce, onion, and tomato. As for wine, we recommend serving it with a dry white wine or a slightly chilled Vinho Verde.

Tips and Variations

  • Before adding salt to the rice, taste it first, as the seafood broth is already quite salty.
  • The amount and type of seafood used depends on personal preference and availability.
  • The rice should be moist and soupy. Over time, it tends to absorb the broth and may become too dry.
  • The recipe we’ve explained here is a simplified version of seafood rice. If you choose to prepare your broth instead of using store-bought seafood cream, you’ll get an even richer and more flavorful dish, although it’s more time-consuming. Still, this simplified version is delicious and rivals many seafood rice dishes served in restaurants.
A Seafood Rice dish, featuring a large shrimp, clams and smaller shrimp mixed with creamy rice, is garnished with herbs and served on a white plate with a colorful design. The background shows a checkered tablecloth.
Seafood Rice is the perfect dish to celebrate a special event.

Storage and Reuse

You can store seafood rice in the fridge for 2 to 3 days but remember that seafood is a delicate ingredient and can spoil quickly. It’s also possible to freeze the seafood rice in an airtight container for up to one month. Seafood is known to become rubbery when frozen, but we often freeze the rice, and it still tastes good, though not quite as great as when freshly made.

To reheat, let it thaw in the fridge overnight and then heat it in the microwave or over medium heat on the stove. The rice may lose some of its creaminess, but it’s still a convenient solution we frequently use.

Conclusion

With this recipe, we’ve turned a complex dish into something simple, quick, and delicious. You can prepare it at home with a taste worthy of many seafood restaurants.

In Portugal, seafood rice is often associated with family gatherings or important dates like birthdays. It’s a dish that brings to mind special occasions. We hope this recipe helps make your next event even more memorable with delicious seafood rice.

Bon Appetit!

Um prato de Arroz de Marisco com camarão, mariscos é servido em um prato branco decorativo com uma borda floral. Sobre uma toalha de mesa xadrez vermelha e branca, esta receita inclui uma vibrante variedade de ingredientes coloridos.

Portuguese Seafood Rice Recipe

Jorge Bastos
Seafood rice (or Arroz de Marisco) is a traditional Portuguese dish highly appreciated, especially in the country's coastal regions. It is often prepared at home or enjoyed in restaurants and associated with festive days and special occasions like birthdays or family gatherings.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 days
Cook Time 30 days
Servings 6

Equipment

  • 1 Large cooking pot
  • 1 Spatula or wooden spoon
  • 1 Fork
  • 1 Spoon

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Large onion
  • 2-3 Garlic cloves
  • 500 g Carolino rice Arborio rice, if you can't find Carolino rice
  • 3 tbsp tomato pulp
  • 2 l water
  • 1 Seafood cream packet
  • 1 Bay leaves
  • sal a gosto
  • 1 Tabasco or chili powder Only if you like spicy food
  • Seafood mix
  • 6-8 tiger prawn at least one per portion
  • 150 g medium-sized peeled shrimp
  • 200 g clams
  • 1 bunch of parsley

Instructions
 

  • Boil 2 liters of water in an electric kettle.
  • Chop the garlic and onion into small pieces.
  • Add the onion and garlic to a large pan with hot olive oil, and sauté for 5 minutes over medium heat until golden.
  • Add the rice and let it fry for 30 seconds.
  • Add the tomato paste and mix everything together, then add the boiling water. The amount of water should be twice the amount of rice.
  • Prepare the seafood soup stock: in a bowl, mix the contents of the seafood soup sachet with a bit of cold water until dissolved into a smooth paste without lumps.
  • Add the paste and bay leaves to the rice. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add salt or spice to taste.
  • Add the seafood mixture and the clams. Let the rice cook over medium heat.
  • Add the small and large shrimp when the rice is halfway cooked (about 15 minutes).
  • After 5 minutes, when the rice is al dente, turn off the stove. The rice should be quite soupy with plenty of sauce.
  • Add parsley and serve.

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Seafood rice - Portuguese recipe
Portuguese seafood rice - easy recipe

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