Don’t be perturbed by cooking calamari or squid dishes as we have ample recipes that walk you through how to cook calamari so it’s tender (and not chewy!). For best results, source the freshest calamari you can. The cephalopod cooks quite easily and quickly, and, provided you’ve brought top-shelf produce, should give up tender, yielding flesh.
From a simple fried calamari recipe to calamari rings made with a light flour mixture to ensure a perfect golden brown coating, these calamari squid recipes have you covered. We also have calamari salads, a paella recipe, squid spaghetti and a few Asian-style squid recipes. Of course, we also have classic salt-and-pepper squid you know and love (with plenty of black pepper for punch) that’s ready in less than 30 minutes – just don’t be shy about squeezing lemon juice upon serving.
Here are our best calamari recipes.
Napier Quarter’s squid-ink spaghetti with cuttlefish, green pea and chilli
Mixed grilled seafood salad with lemon mignonette
Spiced squid with sweet and sour mango sauce
David Thompson’s deep-fried squid with garlic and peppercorns
Jordan Toft’s grilled squid with rouille and chilli
Captain Moonlite’s soffritto, southern calamari, saffron orzo and mint
Raes on Wategos’s calamari skewers with ‘nduja vinaigrette
Jimmy Wah’s grilled squid with watercress, green chilli mayo and fried garlic
Salad of grilled baby calamari, radicchio and potatoes
Alpha’s calamari with fava, barley rusks, capers and rocket
Spaghettini with calamari, rosemary and lemon
Calamari and pounded sambal with cabbage salad
Calamari and corn tacos with salsa verde
Phil Wood’s kipfler potato and calamari Greek salad
Grilled calamari with fennel and lemon salt
Arroz negro (Squid with rice cooked in squid ink)
Sean Moran’s calamari fried in its ink with chilli aïoli