Eat more fish- that’s one of my biggest healthy eating goals for 2018. Packed with omega-3 fatty acids and lean protein, fish and seafood is a staple of the Mediterranean diet. This Instant Pot Fish Stew is a perfect way to incorporate more fish into your diet! And it only takes 20 minutes to make start to finish in your pressure cooker (but you can make it on your stovetop or slow cooker too!).
I used sea bass to make this. It’s a relatively inexpensive fish, it’s mild tasting, sturdy, and usually wild caught. And it’s easy to find in the freezer section of your grocery store. You can use any other firm white fish, such as cod or halibut, or even tilapia, if you want.
The thing I love about this stew is the fish stars as the main ingredient. It’s bulked up a bit with some potatoes and tomatoes, and flavored simply with fresh lemon juice, fresh dill, and extra-virgin olive oil, with just a pinch of red pepper for spice.
I cut my fish into large pieces- about 2 inches each. This ensured it wouldn’t vanish into the soup. Instead, it was easy to get big, satisfying bites of the sea bass. It also ensured it didn’t overcook.
The fish takes almost no time to cook- only 5 minutes in the simmering stew. In fact, you don’t pressure cook the fish at all in this recipe. Instead, the pressure cooker is used to cook the broth with the potatoes, tomatoes, clam juice, wine, onions, garlic, and red pepper, creating a super flavorful base for the stew with perfectly cooked potatoes. Then, after it’s done pressure cooking, the fish is poached gently for only 5 minutes in the hot broth, leaving it perfectly flaky and melt-in-your-mouth tender.
This Instant Pot Fish Stew is perfect all year round. It’s warm and cozy for the winter (unlike many other fish dishes), but light and bright for the summer (not to mention using an Instant Pot won’t heat up your kitchen!). In the summer, I’ll use fresh tomatoes for this, but I just used canned this time around.
When looking for recipe inspiration, I came across so many similar version of fish stew from all over the Mediterranean- Greece (called Kakavia), Sicily, Provence, etc. Some incorporated many different kinds of seafood (cuttlefish, shellfish, etc.), some used different herbs and spices (like oregano or basil). This is a mash-up from a bunch of different recipes I came across with some of my favorite flavors (dill is my jam), and, in true Bowl of Delicious style, made to be simple and easy to cook up on a busy weeknight.
Don’t have an Instant Pot (or other pressure cooker)? No problem- there are instructions below for making this in your slow cooker or on your stovetop. An Instant Pot makes this recipe super quick and easy- the potatoes only need 5 minutes of cooking time total, whereas on the stovetop they take about 20. I highly recommend getting one if you are a generally “busy” person- your cooking time is cut in half for so many things!
Other Pressure Cooker Soups and Stews
- Instant Pot Split Pea Soup
- Instant Pot Pumpkin Chili
- Pressure Cooker Loaded Baked Potato Soup
- Instant Pot Black Eyed Pea Soup
- Instant Pot Chili with Ground Beef and Kidney Beans
Check out all my Instant Pot Recipes here!
Here’s an awesome Dutch Oven Crusty Bread recipe to pair with this stew. You may also like this New England Fish Chowder, my dad’s famous, authentic recipe!
Here’s the recipe for Instant Pot Fish Stew. Enjoy!
Instant Pot Fish Stew
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil divided
- 1 medium red onion quartered and thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup dry white wine such as pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc
- 8 oz. bottled clam juice (see notes)
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 lb. red or gold potatoes diced
- 15 oz. canned diced tomatoes or 1 1/2 cups diced fresh tomatoes, with their juices
- kosher salt
- black pepper to taste
- pinch crushed red pepper or to taste
- 2 lbs. sea bass cut into roughly 2" pieces (see notes)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice from about 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill chopped
Instructions
- Use the "sauté" function on your instant pot or pressure cooker to cook the onions in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, until browned and softened (about 3 minutes).
- Add the chopped garlic (4 cloves). Sauté until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
- Add the white wine (1/2 cup) to deglaze, scraping up any browned bits with a wooden spoon, until about half the wine has evaporated (about 1 minute).
- Add the clam juice, water (2.5 cups), potatoes, canned diced tomatoes, plenty of salt and pepper, and a pinch of crushed red pepper.
- Turn the “sauté” function off, cover and seal your Instant pot, and set manual pressure to “high” for 5 minutes.
- Once your pressure cooker is done, quick release the pressure until the float valve is depressed.
- Open the instant pot and turn the “sauté” function back on. Once soup is simmering (which shouldn’t take long since it’s piping hot already), add the fish pieces and simmer for about 5 minutes, until fish is just cooked and flakes apart easily.
- Turn off "sauté" function and stir in the lemon juice (2 tablespoons) and fresh dill (2 tablespoons), along with the remaining 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Serve immediately, with a good crusty bread if desired.
Notes
- Feel free to use another firm, white fish, such as cod, monkfish, or halibut, instead of sea bass.
- Stovetop Instructions: To make this on the stovetop, sauté onion and garlic, deglaze with wine, and add clam juice, tomatoes, seasoning, and potatoes as instructed in a large pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Uncover and add fish, continue simmering for 5 minutes or until fish is just cooked through. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, oil, and parsley. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve.
- Slow Cooker Instructions: To make this in your slow cooker, add all ingredients except for fish, lemon juice, dill, and 2 tablespoons oil. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours, until potatoes are tender. Add fish in the last 20 minutes of cooking. Turn off heat and stir in dill, lemon juice, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil just before serving, and adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Clam Juice Substitution: If you have a shellfish allergy, you can replace the clam juice with shellfish free fish stock, or just add another cup of water to the recipe as a replacement.
- I made this recipe in my 6 qt. Instant pot. It should work the same in an 8 qt., but you may need to cut the ingredients in half for a 3 qt. mini.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Lianne
Made this with bass we caught. We’ve been doing a lot of fishing. I used the progressive white clam garlic sauce and substituted white wine vinegar for the white wine. Had to use some sugar to cut out the vinegar taste. Overall it is delicious and I am so thankful I found the recipe. Glad to know it freezes good. Any recommendation on what type of container to freeze it in?
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! Yes, white wine vinegar may add a funky taste as a substitute for white wine- I think better to just omit the wine altogether (and maybe use chicken stock instead of water in this case to boost the flavor). I like freezing all my soups in a plastic or glass rectangular container. When I’m ready to cook, I just run hot water over the outside to loosen it up a bit, then pop out the entire block of frozen soup into a pot (you might need to run more hot water to loosen it from a glass container). I add just a little water, and then cover and defrost right on the stove until it’s completely thawed and simmering away. Hope that helps!
Mark Schenkman
This is a winner. I used haddock and tilapia due to cost of sea bass and I think any white fish well work. Next time I’ll eat with crusty ciabatta roll.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! I took some out of the freezer the other day to have with some homemade sourdough- it was great from the freezer, to my surprise. I used frozen barramundi sea bass for mine, which is cheaper than fresh, and I’ve made it with cod before too.
Lianne
Made this with bass we caught. We’ve been doing a lot of fishing. I used the progressive white clam garlic sauce and substituted white wine vinegar for the white wine. Had to use some sugar to cut out the vinegar taste. Overall it is delicious and I am so thankful I found the recipe. Glad to know it freezes good. Any recommendation on what type of container to freeze it in?
JANEEN THOMPSON
amazing. I used sea trout. I had some chicken stock to use up and used that in place of water. I didn’t have dill and used fresh chopped parsley. RAVE Reviews
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you liked it! We actually had this for dinner last night- thawed out from the freezer. I was a bit worried about the fish overcooking when reheating it from frozen and it did a bit, but also the flavors had developed so much that we didn’t care one bit! Thanks for the comment :-)
Karen W
The whole family LOVED IT! They’d been admittedly skeptical when I announced we were having a fish stew. But, fussy hubby, just-moved-back-home-27-y-rold-daughter, and often picky college freshman son (home for Spring Break, so a tad cranky, too) each proclaimed it totally delicious. Hubby was quite impressed with the broth. I added extra red pepper, as we all like spicy food. Served it with fresh organic sourdough. Frat boy really digs the DILL! Yummy!! Thx! Brought joy to our life! And I’m sure it’s helping keep us healthy!!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Aw, yay! So happy you and the whole family liked it! I’ve actually got a batch of this in my freezer- thanks for reminding me, I’m going to defrost it and have it soon! Hoping the fish won’t taste too overcooked from reheating, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take :-)
Priscilla Martinez
This soup blew me away!!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thank you! So glad you liked it :-)
Michael Lynch
I made this using cod and fresh dill in the Instant Pot. I left out the potatoes to reduce the carbohydrates. Thought it was quite good. I’m sure the potatoes make it more filling, but neither my wife nor I felt like something was missing when we ate it without them. Nice to see a recipe like this that doesn’t have dairy.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you liked it! I imagine it would be delicious with cauliflower florets or zucchini/summer squash in place of the potatoes, too.
Dave d
Thanks for the recipe! Great job. I added lemongrass, ginger, saffron, and baby bok choy. Lots of options with your excellent base recipe.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks so much! Love your additions. Glad you liked it :-)
Carla
Magnificent recipe, I’ve made it with cod and sword fish. It was so delicious my friends gave me many compliments and told me it was like from an upscale fancy restaurant. Since I had it all, I had to run to the market to make it again, this time they didn’t have cod fish so I went with Sea bass which was 29$ the pound, and sword fish again, it is the perfect soup for the winter here in NC. I can’t thank you enough, it was delicious.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Aw, what a great review! Thanks so much, and I’m so glad you liked it!
Sherri
I just made this and it is DELICIOUS!! I used tilipia and added chopped green beans. So so so good on this cold, rainy evening in NYC. Thank you for this terrific recipe.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Tatyana Safonov
It is so good and i used fresh caught carp which is not the best fish and it turmed out deliceous. I used water instead of clam juice otherwise did exactly like you said. I also saute on stovetop. Dont like to deglaze pot.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! :-)
Justin
I’ve made this about 6 times now and feel obligated to post and say THANK YOU! So good!
The only change I made is to sauté on stovetop then transfer to pot as I don’t like the sauté function on the instant pot. (it always seems to burn).
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks so much, what a nice comment! Made my day :-) I have a love-hate relationship with the instant pot sauté function, but I agree, you do have to keep an eye on it! And sometimes the stovetop is easier because there’s just more surface area. So glad you liked the recipe!
Sylvia A
Now my go-to for stylish guest lunches. I add a slug of orange zest and use herbs de Provence for that extra old je-ne-sais-quoi.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you like it! Love those suggestions, thanks for sharing :-)
Maria
Can I make this in my 3q instant pot?
Elizabeth Lindemann
I used a 6 qt. for this, but it wasn’t very full. You may want to cut the ingredients down just a little bit but I think you’ll be fine! If it seems too full, you can always not add as much liquid, and after it’s done cooking add a bit more. Hope that helps, and hope you like it!
Beckie
This came out amazing! I used chicken broth instead of water, worked lovely. My husband was very sceptical when I said fish stew, but very impressed once he ate it (two bowls worth). Thanks for a new way to make fish.
Elizabeth Lindemann
I’m so happy you and your husband liked it! “Fish Stew” doesn’t have the most delicious name but man, it’s tasty! ;-)
Linda B. Key
The recipe took longer for me also, but I wasn’t in a rush. We enjoyed it with flounder and subbed white grape juice for the wine. Sea bass is a favorite fish so we’ll look forward to making it again soon. Thank you for the healthy recipe! Dinner reminded us of happy days living on the Central CA coast.
Elizabeth
So glad you liked the recipe, and that it brought back happy memories for you! Thanks for the comment :-)
nkb
This dish is shockingly easy. I made it with monkfish because it was on sale. I would add a bit more water or clam juice next time to have a bit more broth. Otherwise is it is a fabulous weekday meal that dirties minimal dishes.
Oh , I put in a handful of fresh spinach and it was a great addition!
Elizabeth
So happy you liked it! I’ve never actually cooked with monkfish- maybe I’ll try it out next time I make this!
Jdshiv
Nice recipe — good flavors and directions. Caution that it took me almost an hour from reading recipe to sitting down to eat. Vegetable prep, waiting for pressure cooker to come up to pressure, then the extra step to add fish all took a fair amount of time. Still pretty fast for a home cooked meal.
Elizabeth
So happy you liked the recipe! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I’m going to go back into the recipe and make a note of this :-)
Slenny
Wasn’t sure if fish can go in frozen or not?
Elizabeth
Hm, good question. I didn’t use frozen fish. I probably wouldn’t, since you’d have to cook it for longer and you don’t want it to overcook (fish easily turns tough if it’s cooked for too long). But if you want to give it a shot, I’d just add another minute or two onto the cooking time! Hope that helps :-)
Brian
This is a fantastic recipe. Thank you!
Elizabeth
So glad you liked it! :-)
2pots2cook
Love your version of week dinner, quickly done. Thank you !