Summary:
This Instant Pot Fish Stew is inspired by the Brazilian dish moqueca, combining coconut milk, tomatoes, and spices to form a richly flavorful stew. Coconut milk adds a unique richness and creamy feel, and the pressure cooker does a spectacular job of blending all of the flavors together. This stew is delightful not only with fish but also other types of seafood.
INGREDIENTS
Stew Base:
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes (Note 1)
- 1 cup seafood broth or fish broth (Note 2)
- 3/4 cup canned full-fat coconut milk (Note 3)
- 2 tablespoons
coconut oil - 1 tablespoon
ground cumin - 1 tablespoon
smoked paprika - 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon
ground cayenne (Note 4)
For Finishing:
- 1.5 pounds fresh or thawed white fish (Note 5)
- 2 tablespoons
coconut oil - 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pressure Cook: Add all stew base ingredients to
pressure cooker (Note 6), and stir until well-mixed. Secure and seal lid (Note 7), and cook for 10 minutes at high pressure. During cooking, proceed to next step to prepare fish. - Prepare Fish: Remove any skin and bones from fish, and pat dry with paper towels if moist. Cut into roughly 1 inch pieces, and set aside.
- Release Pressure: After pressure cooking has completed, naturally release pressure for 10 minutes. Then manually release remaining pressure by turning knob to venting position.
- Thicken Stew: Uncover, and turn on saute mode on pressure cooker for medium heat to bring to boil. Boil for about 10 minutes to thicken into stew-like consistency, stirring frequently.
NUTRITION
| Makes 5 Servings |
| Amount Per Serving (1.5 cups): |
| Calories 330 (49% from fat) | |
| Total Fat 18g | 27% |
| Saturated Fat 15g | 76% |
| Cholesterol 59mg | 20% |
| Sodium 690mg | 29% |
| Net Carb 7g | |
| Total Carb 10g | 3% |
| Dietary Fiber 3g | 11% |
| Sugars 5.5g | |
| Protein 28g |
PHOTOS
This recipe is ridiculous. Husband was so skeptical of fish stew but I thought it sounded amazing. He wouldn’t stop talking about it after he tried it. I forgot to look for fish stock so I used chicken and added 1.5 tbsp of fish sauce. Amazing, will be making regularly.
I don’t think I would use the word “rediculous” because it would be rediculous to do so. How about good/great/fantastic?? Note: I am not the author!
This tasted great and my toddler loved it with a minor, but important, modification. Removing one star because the Brazilian in me couldn’t resist.
– Moqueca, the Brazilian fish stew, is NOT a soup. This is an dish served with a side of white rice.
– Since this is not a soup, the coconut milk in the recipe is lacking . You should have the whole can in the sauce for that moqueca flavor. Think of a thai coconut curry dish; that’s what we are going for here.
Other than that, great recipe! Moqueca is such a traditional dish, but yet each family uses their own blend of spices. This one hit the spot! Just use the whole can of coconut milk and some rice on the side 🙂
The Brazilian in me is bothered by the lack of palm oil as well. Add coconut and palm oil, take out the cumin and voilá
Either way I’ll make adaptations to bring it back to the original recipe and use the advices for the instant pot. I’m happy to have found this recipe.
The author does not call it a soup, but a stew!! And coconut milk is definitely in the recipe!!
The original recipe does not have sufficient coconut milk according to native Brazilians. And the recipe used to be called soup before it was updated to stew. You are late to the party, but hope you enjoyed the dish! I’m planning on making it again this week.
Amazingly good. Wow, just wow. I added shrimp to the fish but otherwise stuck to the recipe. My night to cook and my wife was floored- thanks for helping me earn some much needed brownie points!
This was the perfect dump-and-go recipe – no sautéing of onions or veggies required! I doubled the recipe and am so glad I did, because our family devoured almost all of it. I didn’t have fish stock but the suggested combo of chicken/fish sauce (4 TBSP) worked great. I also didn’t have red peppers so substituted with frozen broccoli. The amount of smoked paprika initially seemed like too much, so I substituted sweet paprika but next time I’ll use all smoked because it tasted great. I cut the cayenne in half but even that was a bit too much heat for my kids (who don’t like spice at all); however, they still ate their entire bowl with help from the crusty sourdough we served alongside it so I call it a win because my husband and I love spice. The instructions were so helpful – loved all the footnotes. Thanks for taking the time to share such an amazing recipe! We will definitely be putting this into our dinner rotation.
Thank you so much for the detailed feedback!
Listen, “fish stew” never really got my tastebuds going but we made this on a whim
And it’s SO FLIPPING GOOD. It’s now part of our rotation. Absolutely delicious! We add scallops and potatoes!
Simple yet spectacular! I have made a few variations of fish soup (Quebec, Newfoundland, Indian) and this is my favorite by far! I didn’t have fish stock so I used vegetable stock and added 1 tbsp of Bay seasoning. I also used Haddock. I can’t wait to make it again and add a variety of seafood.
Love it!! The sauce would make a piece of wood palpable.
This was soooo good! I didn’t have the fish broth or fish sauce, so made with chicken bone broth, along with all the other recommended ingredients and doubled the recipe. My son and I finished the whole pot in 2 days (so glad that I doubled the recipe!). And my son said he always enjoyed my usual cream based seafood chowders, but this was so good that he wants me to make this more often. Delicious!
Thank you so much, this stew made me come back to life, after being so tired of cooking the same things and not wanting to eat anymore, I found this recipe. It’s the first thing I made with my instant pot and I feel like my life is changed forever. It’s the best soup I’ve ever made for sure!
Ps I’ve been trying to be vegan and give up fish, but I dont know that I want to anymore~
This is the best fist stew I have ever had in my life. I tried this for the first time and loved it absolutely. Thanks for sharing the recipe with us.
One more comment – I don’t have a instant pot so I made it on the stove top. I don’t think that it took much longer than with pressure and still turned out amazing. I also sautéed the onions, peppers, and spices in coconut oil before adding the other wet ingredients. I used about 10 individually sealed & frozen Swai, which I cut into pieces while still slightly frozen – I think it is easier to cut that way instead of thoroughly thawed.
Awesome stew that I will definitely make again and again!
This is OMG delicious. LOVE!! Didn’t have fish stock, so I used 1 cup bone broth with 1 Tblspn Red Boat fish sauce. Used a mix of frozen pollack and flounder, (always in my freezer) and doubled the garlic and cayenne. I can’t believe how good this was. Served with a chunk of crusty French bread, for my spouse-she went nuts! Just the stew, for me, (low carb). And I will say-we are VERY picky about food. I would pay to order this in a high end restaurant.
Yum!!! I followed the recipe exactly, except I used only 1/8 tsp. cayenne because I was afraid if there was even a little bit of heat, my kids wouldn’t eat it. I used all cod for the fish. This was absolutely delicious! Everyone loved it. I will be home alone tomorrow evening and I can’t wait to have the leftovers all to myself! I might try adding a full 1/4 tsp. cayenne next time, but other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing. This is definitely a keeper recipe. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
I made this with shrimp and sea bass. Absolutely delicious, my family thoroughly enjoyed this. Next time I will double ingredients and add scallops and calamari. Could not find fish broth. Instead I used half vegetable broth and half water.
Had a lot of thawed raw fish leftover following a parish Fish Fry. This recipe looked delicious and something different than a typical chowder. I was not disappointed! The coconut milk adds a unique richness, and the spices work together beautifully. This recipe is definitely a keeper! Thanks for posting!
Amazing! My husband had seconds!
As an elderly American, I had never heard of fish soup or Stew. Oh, My Goodness! This is to die for! I shared with a neighbor who says he doesn’t like fish, But raved about this recipe. It is the top of my 2019 finds! Thank you so much.
This was great! I did roast cashews and put on top, as that’s what my Brazilian family does.
I made this stew today altering a few things, and using what I had on hand. I used a can of clams, juice, and water for the fish base. I used a can of rotel tomatoes and peppers because I didn’t have a can of crushed tomatoes. I also used a small amount of marinara sauce that was in a jar in the fridge. I added two chopped celery sticks, 1/2 yellow bell pepper chopped, one sweet potatoe cut in cubes, and only used cumin and paprika-no additional salt or pepper. I used the entire can of coconut milk. I used flounder and served the stew over rice. Delicious. This type of recipe is great for a ‘use-what-you-have-on-hand’ meal. Fantastic!
I love dump & cook instant pot recipes. However this needs lots of adjustments. Way too much smoked paprika, it over powered everything, so I’ll cut back next time. Vegetables cooked in an Instantpot only take 3 to 4 minutes so cooking for 10 and another 10 on natural lease, the veggies were mush. I added some chopped carrots celery and potatoes for additional vegetables. I originally added only 6 ounces of coconut milk but my dish didn’t look creamy like these pics nor taste creamy so I added the entire can. I use medium-size shrimp and they were perfect size by the time they shrunk. Only three minutes sitting in the hot broth cook them. Will make again w/ my adjustments.
So, my husband loves to fish for crappie. We have a freezer full. I had planned to make air fryer fish for dinner tonight when a VERY cold front moved in and I thought soup was a better choice for dinner. In my search for a good recipe, I very fortunately found your perfect offering.
I especially want to thank you for mentioning delicate fish as a substitute as crappie is similar to talipia.
Truly a family favorite.
My family loved it except for my 6 year old, but she ate it anyways. I added shrimp and used the chicken broth/fish sauce combo. I avoided the cayenne for my Littles but felt it needed a kick at the end so I put a couple shakes of chili powder at the end. I also added sugar to taste to counteract the tart from the crushed tomatoes. I also used frozen brocoli instead of red bell pepper because it’s what I had. I’ll make this again when my extended family comes for a visit 🙂
This is going to be a staple in our house! My husband says it is like something you’d get at a high end restaurant. I agree! Will try it with shrimp and scallops also!
Absolutely fabulous. Simple, and true to flavor. Added some Thai chili’s and fresh basil for me. Either way it’s s a keeper
Can this recipe be made on the stove or in the slow cooker?