Welcome back, Seafoodies!
The seafood party we kicked off on October 1 is still going strong. So far this month we’ve handed you our greatest-hits recipe list and walked you down the entire seafood counter and aisle—and now we’re making it official with a plan, because every good party needs an awesome playlist. Ours has seven tracks: seven easy steps that turn “I should eat more seafood” into a routine you barely have to think about, along with 12 simple recipes and zero pressure. Use this guide to make eating pescatarian feel like a habit you picked up without noticing. So let’s get grooving and keep the celebration going!
Step 1: Set your number. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans call for at least three servings of seafood per week, and 80–90% of Americans currently fall short. Three is your target—write it on a note, stick it on the fridge so you will see it all week and make an effort to simply plan around it.
Step 2: Shop the shortcuts. Canned tuna, frozen shrimp and a box of fish sticks are the most beginner-friendly items in the store, and canned and frozen seafood matches fresh nutritionally. A stocked pantry and freezer are the entire foundation of this plan.
Step 3: Start with a swap. Every recipe below stands in for something you already make. Grilled cheese becomes a Cheesy Pimento Tuna Melt or Sourdough Crab Melt, chicken nuggets become Crunchy Air Fryer Fish Sticks, chicken Caesar becomes Kale Caesar with Shrimp or Salmon, spaghetti night becomes Instant Pot Pasta with Red Sauce and Clams and popcorn chicken becomes Air Fryer Thai Coconut Shrimp. Same craving, same cook time, more omega-3s and a step closer to going pescatarian.
Step 4: Let your appliances do the work. The air fryer and Instant Pot handle most of this lineup, keep you clear of the splatter zone and make Easy Air Fryer Salmon or Instant Pot Seafood Risotto feel 100% doable—even when your schedule doesn’t.
Step 5: Spread servings across the day. Easy Egg and Crab Muffins at breakfast, Simple Shrimp & Avocado Toast at brunch and a 7 Layer Tuna Pasta Salad at lunch mean dinner never has to carry the whole load. Start adding in seafood throughout your meals, little by little—Rome wasn’t built in a day—and lasting health changes don’t happen overnight, either.
Step 6: Build a flavor toolkit. Lemon and garlic, taco seasoning, coconut and chili, a good jar of red sauce—if it works on chicken, it works on fish. Grilled Cod and Avocado Tacos are the proof.
Step 7: Repeat, then branch out. Swap in a few of these recipes to your regular meal plan until you find a few that earn a permanent spot in the rotation, then keep the momentum going with our 50 Simple Shrimp Recipes, 35 Simple Crab Recipes and 25 Tuna Recipes roundups, which cover three super beginner-friendly species from every possible angle.
Seven steps, a dozen recipes and a whole month of celebrating to enjoy.
Welcome to the pescatarian table!
Made-to-portion frittata cups freeze very well, are portable and can be customized in seconds to use up whatever veggies are leftover from other weekly recipes.
Avocado toast gets a protein boost from a handful of quickly sautéed shrimp. Five minutes at the stove equals brunch or a light lunch and a very good excuse for that second slice.
Crunchy coconut coating, a sauce built for double-dipping and an air fryer to practice our favorite motto: Keep It Simple, Seafoodies! The recipe covers two ways to cook your shrimp, so there’s an option for whatever your kitchen holds.
Easy, cheesy and sure to please even the most discerning palates—our 15-minute tuna melt recipe will absolutely become your new favorite pescatarian obsession!
Layers of tuna, pasta and vegetables create an all-day grazing dish that can feed anyone who wanders through the kitchen. Make it in the morning, chill it in the fridge and let it handle multiple meals in one week.
Tangy sourdough, sweet crab and a blanket of melted cheese straight from the broiler. It’s a pescatarian grilled cheese for grown-ups that still passes every kid inspection.
Chicken nuggets have officially met their match. Mild white fish gets a crisp, golden coating in the air fryer, and with just a light mist of cooking spray, you can achieve a delightful crunch without the excess oil from other cooking methods.
Kale Caesar with Shrimp or Salmon
The hearty texture of Lacinato kale makes it a perfect carrier for creamy dressing as we add in shavings of Parmesan and freshly grilled shrimp or salmon—two protein options, one fantastic dish!
Air frying creates a crispy exterior with lemony, tender fish that flakes at the first touch of a fork. Apart from your fillets, all you need is a few inexpensive pantry ingredients—a drizzle of olive oil, lemons, sweet paprika, salt and pepper.
Heads up! Once you make these lightly spicy tacos for friends and family, you’ll probably find yourself wondering why you didn’t decide to go pescatarian sooner!
Instant Pot Pasta with Red Sauce and Clams
Your pressure cooker handles the whole-grain pasta and the sauce simultaneously (we love a good multitasking moment)—then the clams are added at the end to steam open in all that garlicky tomato goodness.
Risotto without the constant stirring is the Instant Pot’s finest party trick. Scallops and shrimp fold in at the end for a done-in-minutes dinner—whoever said eating a pescatarian diet had to be complicated?!
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