One of the very best seafood for grilling has got to be the octopus. Grilled baby octopus has incredible flavor, it is a pleasantly chewy but not tough—when properly prepared—and it crisps up beautifully under the grill’s intense heat. There’s a good reason why it’s a favorite summertime dish all around the Mediterranean basin.
Unlike most other seafood, octopus needs some precooking before it is ready to grill, but otherwise it is as carefree as grilling gets. No worries like finny fish about it falling apart on the grill. Just let it sear on both sides and serve!
Ingredients
Serves 4-6 people
For the pre-cooking:
- 6 baby octopi
- 1 lemon, cut up
- A few sprigs of fresh parsley
- A couple of cloves of garlic
- Salt and pepper
For the marinade:
- Freshly squeezed juice of 2-3 lemons
- A good pour of olive oil
- A pinch of oregano
- Salt and pepper
- A pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
Directions
Step 1: Pre-cooking: Simmer the baby octopi with the other ingredients in enough water to cover for about 15 minutes. (If using mature octopus, double the pre-cooking time.) Let the octopi cool in their liquid.
Step 2: Marinade: Drain and cut the octopi up into 3 or 4 pieces, leaving the tentacles intact. Place the octopus pieces into a bowl with the marinade ingredients. Mix well and let rest for 30 minutes or so.
Step 3: Grilling: Get your grill nice and hot, as hot as you can. Sear the octopus pieces until golden brown, about 3 or 4 minutes on each side. Brush the pieces with the marinade from time to time
Step 4: Finishing and plating: Take the octopus off the grill, and put them back in the bowl with the marinade. Mix once to coat all the pieces, then plate the octopus, pouring the remaining marinade over everything. Serve your grilled baby octopus immediately with lemon wedges.
Notes
Octopus can be found at better fish mongers. I found a package of frozen baby octopus from Thailand in my local supermarket, and they were excellent. Baby octopus is a better choice for grilling, as it is quite tender and only requires a few minutes pre-cooking. But you can use ‘grown up’ octopus as well, just extend the pre-cooking.
Octopus are best grilled using a vegetable grill pan or grate so the small pieces don’t fall into the fire.
Grilled baby octopus goes particularly well with potatoes, in particular patate al forno (Oven Roasted Potatoes), which I now realize I’ve never bothered to blog on. I’ll need to rectify that glaring omission right away!
Polpo alla griglia (Grilled Baby Octopus)
Ingredients
- *For the pre-cooking:*
- 6 baby octopi
- 1 lemon cut up
- A few sprigs of fresh parsley
- A couple of cloves of garlic
- Salt and pepper
- *For the marinade:*
- Freshly squeezed juice of 2-3 lemons
- A good pour of olive oil
- A pinch of oregano
- Salt and pepper
- A pinch of red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
- Pre-cooking: Simmer the baby octopi with the other ingredients in enough water to cover for about 15 minutes. (If using mature octopus, double the pre-cooking time.) Let the octopi cool in their liquid.
- Marinade: Drain and cut the octopi up into 3 or 4 pieces, leaving the tentacles intact. Place the octopus pieces into a bowl with the marinade ingredients. Mix well and let rest for 30 minutes or so.
- Grilling: Get your grill nice and hot, as hot as you can. Sear the octopus pieces until golden brown, about 3 or 4 minutes on each side. Brush the pieces with the marinade from time to time
- Finishing and plating: Take the octopus off the grill, and put them back in the bowl with the marinade. Mix once to coat all the pieces, then plate the octopus, pouring the remaining marinade over everything. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.
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52 Comments on “Polpo alla griglia (Grilled Baby Octopus)”
Amazing recipe! My first time cooking it.
Glad you liked it, Harmony! Thanks for letting me know.
Frank, I’m cooking this tonight for Christmas Eve. I could only get the large polpo. I am precooking ahead of time to avoid the mess in the kitchen when everyone is around, but how long in advance can I precook? I do not want them to get tough. I am going to cook for a good 60 minutes since they are large and will take more time to tenderize. Can I leave marinating for more than an hour or will that cause more issues? Thank you and Merry Christamas!
Sorry for the late reply, Joe. I’ve been offline for the holidays. I hope the polpo went well for you. Too late for Xmas Eve, but for what it’s worth: In my experience, you can precook your octopus well in advance (even a day before) so long as you keep it moist–for example in an airtight container or in a sealed plastic bag. As for the marinade, longer than an hour is perfectly fine, too, and if you’re using large octopus preferable.
I’m right in the midst of cooking this. The instruction to let the octopus cool in its own water … for how long please? Thank you.
Sorry, this response is probably coming much too late to be of help, but you should really let the octopus cool down to room temperature. How much time that would take depends on a lot of factors ,so it’s hard to give minutes. But I’d say 15-20 minutes should usually be enough. Otherwise, if you’re pressed for time and fish the octopus out earlier, the dish should still work out.
Hmm, so does the octopus basically get fully cooked at the first stage? So there’s no risk of cross-contamination with reusing the marinade? That step caught me by surprise.
Yep, it’s basically fully cooked before it gets marinated. Long enough to kill off any bacteria, anyway.
Frank, Oh my. I just finished dinner. Your recipe for the octopus was outta this world. No grilling tonight but I seared the marinated octopus is a super hot cast iron pan. Served with your recipe for Patate al forno and salad. Just terrific. Thank you so much for your love of food and dedication to your blog! Now I’m headed back to the table or some mango gelato and limoncello. Thank you Frank … keep blogging! Please!
Thanks so much for the kinds words, Jim! Glad you enjoyed the dish, and searing on a hot griddle/pan sounds like an excellent alternative, especially when the weather isn’t suitable for grilling. Buon appetito! Frank
We just cooked this. It was sensational. We didn’t remove the heads of he baby octopus, just made sure they were clean!
So glad you enjoyed the dish, Cam!
Hum. somehow, I missed this one, but glad I found it. Your polpo alla griglia looks amazing. We notice baby octopus at our fishmonger last visit, but we weren’t sure what to do with it. New visit we’ll have to pick up some and have grilled baby octopus prior to the snows flying. Thanks for a great recipe and post.
And thanks for your comment, Ron. Octopus is one of my favorite things to grill!
Other recipe I was reading said to remove the head after boiling, do I leave the head on?
Yes, you should remove the head if it’s still on—but most baby octopus these days are sold with the heads already removed. Thanks for pointing this out. I’ll add that point to the post!
Cheeze.. While visiting Fort Lauderdale we were advised to go to this quaint little Italian Restaurant owned by two brothers from Italy along with their Goomadas who served the best Octopus I ever ate and I ate Octopus all over the Mediterranean… When I asked the owner what they did to make the Octopus so tasty and tender… It was exactly the way you posted your recipe on Octopus… The difference was they put six copper pennies in to the boil for the breakdown… Never heard of that before and diffinetely will try it using your recipe for the marinade & grilling procedures… Did you ever hear of this technique before ?
Keep up the wonderful old world Italian recipes that along with my grandmothers recipes are making a big hit within our friends & family
Drew Loiacono
Thanks for the fantastic story and kind words, Drew. I haven’t heard about the copper coin technique before, but do try it. I’m curious to know if it really does make a difference. Love all that old kitchen lore!
Hi Frank:
Great recipe – I just got done cooking it in this manner and it was fantastic. Our fish market had fresh oct from Spain (well somewhat fresh considering the flight). Paired with your Parate al forno was simply delicious. Very happy I found your blog on the other side of the world. Keep up the great work – stay inspired.
Adam (from Wisconsin 🙂
Thanks so much, Adam! Really glad you enjoyed the recipe. I’m sure it must have been awesome with fresh Spanish octopus! Frank
Just an FYI since you are a blogger. Octopi is not a word; it is incorrect. Octopuses, actually is the correct term. Awesome recipe, about to give it a try right now!
This is a recipe forum and not a spelling/grammar forum. Get over yourself B. Thank you Frank for this awesome recipe!
Hi Frank
Great recipe
Making them on xmas eve
I bought a bag of 16/25 baby octopus
Not that big
How much time would you recommend for the pre-cooking time,before marinating them.Thanks Merry Xmas
Hard to say exactly. I’d take a taste after, say, 20 minutes of pre-cooking, to see if they’re tender. If not, another 5 minutes should do it. Enjoy!
Made the Polpo alla Griglia exactly as the recipe directed over sliced roasted potatoes as pictured. This was absolute delicious…, cannot believe that something so simple with such few ingredients can turn out so fabulous (making it again right now). my suster just returned from a trip to Italy and told me about eating this at a restarant there…, so I googled and came up with this recipe…….. Thanks for sharing!!!!!
Delighted it turned out so well for you, Sandra!
We loved this!!! Never coked octups before, but they come out amazing. The best we have ever eat!! Thank you!!
Grilled baby octopus is one of our all time favorites, and yours looks delicious! We’ve been told that the key to tender octopi is, as you indicated, allowing them to cool in their cooking water. We’ve also heard that dropping a wine cork into the water while the octopi cook will ensure tenderness. Our chef friend tells us that this is a widely known practice, but has not ever been scientifically understood. We’ve bought into the wives tale and do add a cork when we cook octopus.
I’ve never heard of the wine cork method, but now I’ll have to try it. Thanks for the tip!
And yes, please write the recipe for those potatoes…
Coming soon!
That looks amazing!! Can’t tell you how glad I am leaving for the seashore today… will be on the lookout for grilled octopus.
On one of your last comments in the Note section: I must say that IMHO octopus and potatoes are a marriage made in heaven…the last time my partner and I went to Barcelona (one of my favorite cities) we found a fantastic tapas place where they served Pulpo a la Gallega to die for.
Not the typical tourist restaurant (you have to look to find it – was recommended by friends and nearly all the people sitting at tables there spoke Spanish or Catalan). Which goes to show that great culinary associations either stem from the same tradition or end up meeting somewhere…have to taste the Italian version some day 🙂
I’ve always found comparing cuisines a fascinating subject, especially when I read about the cooking of other Mediterranean cuisines like Spanish or Greek. Similar ingredients but often put together in different ways. Will definitely try pulpo alla gallega soon!
i have to admit that i am not a fan of octupus, but i send my congratulations to you on a truly excellent and informative post. bravo! please excuse the informal typing style. i recently underwent shoulder surgery, and am typing one handed. capitalization was the first thing to go!
Thanks, Adri—and do feel better soon!
Oh my gosh Frank – I just made baby octopus for dinner tonight! Wish I would have seen your post first, I love how you plate it over potatoes. Will do that next time!
LL
It’s worth a try, Lori. Truly a match that was meant to be! Glad to hear you’re another octopus fan… ;=)
I love how you presented this!
Thanks so much, Alessandra!
I just finished last piece, it was delicious!!!!!!!
Fantastic!
It seems like there are many opinions to cook octopus and yours looks terrific. I really prefer the larger, meatier ones, but they’re so expensive. I’m glad to know that those frozen baby ones from Thailand are good too.
They really are. And they cook quickly, too. And they’re relatively cheap. What’s not to like?
un eccellente piatto, ricco di sapore ! Buona settimana Frank !
Altrettanto, Chiara!
Oh my goodness, that looks amazing. I’d only had octopus once, when I was in Greece but I don’t remember what it was like. Since I love calamari, I think I would love this.
The octopus is Greece is so good. And, yes, if you like calamari I bet you’d love octopus. Similar taste and texture, but it has even more depth of flavor. Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve seen the frozen baby octopus…I’ll have to buy some. I know my husband would really enjoy this dish.
Do let us know what you think if you try it, Karen!
YUM!!!
Thanks, Joel!