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Host an Italian Christmas Eve “Feast of the Seven Fishes,” dinner for family and friends with these seven simple recipes. It’s a delicious way to celebrate with loved ones, regardless of your heritage.

Seven fish and seafood dishes including baked stuffed shrimp, steamed mussels, seared scallops, scungilli salad, clams casino, linguine with calamari, and baked cod.

Table of Contents

Our Feast of the Seven Fishes Italian Christmas Eve Menu

The recipes below are our favorite combination of dishes for a Christmas Eve fish and seafood feast. The seven dishes we’ve chosen for our family celebration include mussels, clams, shrimp, squid, scallops, cod, and scungilli (whelk). The recipes are divided by course, so scroll on for details.

Appetizers / Antipasti

We start our meal with an assortment of light dishes to leave room for the pasta course and main dishes to come.

Steamed Mussels Italian Style

#1 – FRESH MUSSELS
Served with toasted slices of crusty bread to mop up all the delicious juices, these Italian-style steamed mussels make a delicious, light starter course that won’t spoil appetites for the feast to come.

Crock filled with steamed mussels topped with sautéed onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, and parsley.

YIELD: 6 servings TOTAL TIME: 35 minutes

KEY INGREDIENTS: Fresh mussels, onion, garlic, plum tomatoes, white wine, breadcrumbs, parsley.

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Clams Casino

#2 – LITTLENECK CLAMS
Tender, sweet, littleneck clams topped with a combination of bacon, shallot, red bell pepper, and white wine make a light, flavorful appetizer for an Italian-style dinner menu.

Clams casino arranged on a serving plate with lemon wedges and parsley garnish.

YIELD: 6 servings TOTAL TIME: 35 minutes

KEY INGREDIENTS: Littleneck clams, bacon, shallots, red bell pepper, white wine, parsley.

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Snail (Scungilli) Salad

#3 – SCUNGILLI (WHELK / SNAILS)
With a texture similar to calamari, Snail Salad (also known as Scungilli Salad) is a delicious appetizer to serve with a full-course Italian meal.

Serving bowl filled with snail (scungilli) salad with celery, onion, parsley, and crushed red pepper.

YIELD: 4 servings TOTAL TIME: 50 minutes

KEY INGREDIENTS: Scungilli (cooked and sliced), celery, onion, garlic, lemon juice, parsley.

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Seared Scallops with Roasted Tomatoes

#4 – SEA SCALLOPS
Seared sea scallops, roasted tomatoes and a savory sauce of sautéed shallots, wine & lemon make a light, savory addition to this festive dinner celebration.

A serving dish of seared sea scallops and roasted grape tomatoes topped with shallot-butter sauce.

YIELD: 6 servings TOTAL TIME: 35 minutes

KEY INGREDIENTS: Sea scallops, grape tomatoes, shallots, butter, olive oil, white wine, lemon juice, parsley.

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First Course / Primi

The first course in an Italian meal is usually a pasta course. Here, we’ve chosen to serve squid in a light, homemade marinara over linguine.

Calamari Pasta with Homemade Marinara

#5 – CALAMARI (SQUID)
Squid only takes a few minutes to cook in the marinara, so if you prep it advance, and make the sauce ahead too, you can finish up as your pasta cooks. Easy!

Two servings of linguine tossed with squid in marinara sauce.

YIELD: 4 servings TOTAL TIME: 45 minutes

KEY INGREDIENTS: Squid (calamari), linguine, garlic, canned tomatoes, oregano, parsley.

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Main Course / Secondi

Our second, or entrée course consists of two baked dishes filled with Italian-inspired flavors that can be prepped ahead of time.

Baked Cod with Buttered Crumb Topping

#6 – ATLANTIC COD
This baked cod recipe can be assembled in advance and baked later making pulling off a Feast of the Seven Fishes menu a little bit easier on the cook.

Baked cod with buttered crumb topping in an white baking dish with handles.

YIELD: 4 servings TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes

KEY INGREDIENTS: Cod fillets, fresh breadcrumbs, butter, garlic, parsley, lemon.

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Baked Stuffed Shrimp

#7 – COLOSSAL SHRIMP
Baked stuffed shrimp is a time-tested New England restaurant dish that’s easy to make at home and an elegant choice for this Christmas Eve menu.

An overhead view of a round white plate filled with baked stuffed colossal shrimp with seafood forks and lemon slices for garnish.

YIELD: 4 servings TOTAL TIME: 40 minutes

KEY INGREDIENTS: Colossal shrimp, butter, garlic, fresh breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley.

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Don’t want to make all seven dishes?

Try our Linguine with Seafood (Linguine ai Frutti di Mare). It includes shrimp, scallops, squid, fish, mussels, and clams – six of your seven fishes. Add in one more dish (perhaps the Scungilli Salad), and you have your entire Feast!

Dessert Course / Dolci

For a sweet finish, we serve a small assortment of Italian cookies with espresso or cappuccino.

Italian Ricotta Cookies

Top off your Italian menu with these cake-like, lemony ricotta cookies. They’re a cinch to make and sure to be a family favorite for the holidays.

An overhead view of three lemon ricotta cookies glazed and sprinkled with powdered sugar on a linen napkin, a cooling rack with more cookies to the left.

YIELD: 36 cookies TOTAL TIME: 1 hr

KEY INGREDIENTS: Ricotta cheese, egg, lemon extract, lemon zest, limoncello liqueur, confectioners’ sugar.

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Orange Rosemary Biscotti

Flavored with fresh rosemary, orange zest, orange liqueur, and toasted pine nuts, these biscotti are a grown-up treat that goes great with a cup of espresso.

Buttery biscotti with orange, pine nuts, and rosemary on a red napkin next to a mug of coffee, more biscotti and Christmas table decor in the background.

YIELD: 36 biscotti TOTAL TIME: 1 hr 5 min

KEY INGREDIENTS: Flour, butter, sugar, eggs, orange zest, pine nuts, fresh rosemary.

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A Brief History of The Feast of the Seven Fishes

Although gathering friends and family together for a meatless meal on Christmas Eve is common throughout Italy, The Feast of the Seven Fishes is actually an Italian-American tradition. Why the feast includes exactly seven types of seafood remains a bit of a mystery as some say it honors the seven holy sacraments of the Catholic Church, while others say it marks the seven days of creation.

The idea of a multi-course seafood dinner on Christmas Eve (La Vigilia) began in Southern Italy, an area surrounded by the sea and known for its bountiful fresh fish and seafood. Immigrants from this area brought the tradition to America, and hence, the Feast of the Seven Fishes began its rise in popularity.

Even if you’re not of Italian heritage (and we are not), an Italian Christmas Eve dinner is a deliciously unique way to celebrate with loved ones during the holiday season. Buon Natale!

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2 Comments

  1. Hi Lynne,

    Your recipes  are amazing. I have a quick question regarding the Scungilli Salad. If I use canned Scungilli (La Monica) I do not have to cook it, correct?
    Happy and healthy holidays to you and your family.

    Thanks,
    Gina

    Reply

    1. Hi Gina,
      Thank you so much for the kind words. To answer your question, I’ve used LaMonica’s canned scungilli a number of times and have always found it to be a quality product. The scungilli is fully cooked, nice and tender, and easy to work with. Just drain it well and proceed with the recipe. Happy Holidays to you as well.

      Reply