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31 calamari recipes worthy of your time

Treated right, the cephalopod produces beautifully tender results.
Lau Family Kitchen's calamari with shrimp sauce

Lau's Family Kitchen's calamari with shrimp sauce

Mark Roper

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.

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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.

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Photo: Mark Roper

Napier Quarter’s squid-ink spaghetti with cuttlefish, green pea and chilli

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Photo: Ben Dearnley

Salt-and-pepper squid

Photo: Alicia Taylor

Mixed grilled seafood salad with lemon mignonette

Photo: Nic Gossage

Brodetto

Photo: Chris Court

Fragrant seafood and burghul parcels

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Photo: Chris Court

Chilli squid-ink spaghetti

Photo: Ben Dearnley

Spiced squid with sweet and sour mango sauce

Photo: Ben Dearnley

David Thompson’s deep-fried squid with garlic and peppercorns

Photo: Ben Dearnley

Salt-and-pepper squid

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Grilled squid with rouille and chilli
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Jordan Toft’s grilled squid with rouille and chilli

Photo: Parker Blain

Captain Moonlite’s soffritto, southern calamari, saffron orzo and mint

Photo: James Moffatt

Raes on Wategos’s calamari skewers with ‘nduja vinaigrette

Three-cup calamari
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Tony Tan’s three-cup calamari

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Photo: Will Horner

Calamari with spiced eggplant

Hummus bi calamari
Photo: Mark Roper

Bar Saracen’s hummus bi calamari

Photo: Chris Chen

Cleaning squid and calamari

Photo: John Paul Urizar

Jimmy Wah’s grilled squid with watercress, green chilli mayo and fried garlic

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Photo: William Meppem

Salad of grilled baby calamari, radicchio and potatoes

Photo: William Meppem

Alpha’s calamari with fava, barley rusks, capers and rocket

Photo: John Paul Urizar

Spaghettini with calamari, rosemary and lemon

Calamari and pounded sambal with cabbage salad
Photo: Rob Shaw

Calamari and pounded sambal with cabbage salad

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Photo: Ben Dearnley

Calamari and corn tacos with salsa verde

Kipfler potato and calamari Greek salad
Photo: Mark Roper

Phil Wood’s kipfler potato and calamari Greek salad

Braised beans with chorizo and calamari
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Braised beans with chorizo and calamari

Sicilian calamari salad
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Sicilian calamari salad

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Grilled calamari with fennel and lemon salt
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Grilled calamari with fennel and lemon salt

Photo: Teny Aghamalian

Arroz negro (Squid with rice cooked in squid ink)

Calamari fried in its ink with chilli aioli
Photo: Ben Dearnley

Sean Moran’s calamari fried in its ink with chilli aïoli

Photo: William Meppem

Frank Camorra’s party paella

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Grilled calamari with zhoug
Photo: John Laurie

Grilled calamari with zhoug

Lau Family Kitchen's calamari with shrimp sauce
Photo: Mark Roper

Lau’s Family Kitchen’s calamari with shrimp sauce

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