Costa Rican Seafood Soup

The creamy version of Costa Rican seafood soup combines shrimp and sea snails with cassava, carrot, and celery cooked in fish consommé and finished with coconut milk and culantro.

It’s a much-loved soup in Costa Rica’s coastal areas, where coconut milk adds creaminess and a Caribbean touch.

Costa Rican Seafood Soup

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• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings
• Category: Soup
• Cuisine: Costa Rican

Print Recipe

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Ingredients

• 500 g of shrimp
• 500 g of sea snails (or other seafood of your choice)
• 2 onions
• 1 green bell pepper
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 carrots
• 1 celery stalk
• 500 g of cassava (yuca)
• 2 tablespoons of margarine
• 1 cup of fish consommé
• 2 cups of coconut milk
• Culantro (cilantro), to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste

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Preparation

1. Sauté, chop the onion and garlic, melt the margarine in a pot, and sauté them; add the chopped bell pepper and cook for a few minutes.
2. Add the vegetables, cut the cassava into small pieces and add it to the pot with the chopped carrot and celery.
3. Cook in the consommé, pour in the cup of fish consommé and cook until the vegetables are tender.
4. Add the seafood, stir in the shrimp and the snails.
5. Add the coconut milk, add the coconut milk and culantro, season with salt and pepper, and let it boil for about 10 minutes.
6. Serve, taste, adjust the seasoning if needed, and serve hot.

Tips for getting it right

• Cook the vegetables until tender before adding the seafood.
• Don’t overcook the seafood: about 10 minutes of boiling with the coconut milk is enough.
• Add the culantro along with the coconut milk so it perfumes the soup.

Traditional variations

• The sea snails can be swapped for other seafood of your choice.
• Other Costa Rican versions make the broth with a fish head and vegetables such as chayote and potato, or leave out the coconut milk.

How to serve

Serve it hot, in a deep bowl, as a main dish.

Recommended sides

• Homemade bread
• White rice

Did you know?

Coconut milk, a staple of Costa Rica’s Caribbean cooking, is what gives this soup its creamy texture.