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Easy Grilled Octopus Recipe – tender, lightly seasoned and charred octopus that tastes amazing!
Grilled octopus, made at home, can it get any better?
Of course! Just the way I prefer my homemade Oven Baked St Louis Style Ribs and my Lamb Loin Chops made in the oven, I love making octopus for my family. And it goes well with a nice salad like this Cucumber Radish Salad.
This easy grilled octopus recipe is perfect for an appetizer with a glass of chilled white wine.
How to make this Easy Grilled Octopus?
- I always boil it first, then let it cool down to room temperature and quickly grill it, so it gets a nice char.
- Then I season it with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, dried oregano, fresh parsley and garlic (optional).
- After grilling you can use a mix of your favorite spices, if the ones I’m suggesting don’t sound good to you.
What size octopus to use when making it on the grill?
This time I used medium sized octopus (they sold it to me for “baby”, but it was way bigger than baby octopus).
It was fresh, I don’t really enjoy cooking frozen seafood…
I cut the heads and removed the beak, it is in between all the legs, on the inside.
How long to boil octopus?
Boiled it for 40-45 minutes. Then I let it rest for 30 minutes.
You can let it sit in the fridge overnight or even freeze it for up to 1 month.
While the octopus was resting at room temperature, I drizzled some olive oil over it and added some chopped garlic, so it can get some seasoning, before grilling.
I cut its tentacles and grilled it over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes per side.
Then I added some seasoning and served it.
If you are cooking for a crowd, I recommend cooking 1 pound of octopus per person.
Other Seafood Recipes:
EASY GRILLED OCTOPUS RECIPE
Equipment
- 1 Large Pot For Boiling
- 1 Gas Grill
- 1 Grilling Tongs
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh octopus, (baby, medium or large)
- olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, , roughly chopped
- Juice from 1 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Place octopus in a pot and cover with enough water. Bring to a boil. Boil for 40 minutes.
- Remove octopus from hot water, rinse and place in a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and add chopped garlic. Let is cool and rest at room temperature, for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Preheat a gas grill to medium-high heat.
- Slice octopus tentacles. Grill for 3-4 minutes per side, until charred.
- Remove from heat and place in a bowl.
- Drizzle with olive oil and add lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle some oregano (optional) and parsley on top. You can also add some chopped garlic, too (optional).
- Serve.
Notes
How to prepare octopus for cooking?
Preparing octopus for cooking, especially when boiling first and then grilling, requires a few key steps to ensure tenderness and flavor.1. Clean the Octopus:
- First – Rinse the octopus under cold running water.
- I suggest that you use gloves here. Remove the beak: The beak is located at the center of the tentacles where they converge. You can push it out from underneath or cut it out with a small knife.
- You may also need to – Remove the eyes: Make a small incision around the eyes and pop them out with a knife.
- I advise getting cleaned octopus from the store, but if this is not the case, follow this step. If your octopus hasn’t been cleaned, remove any innards from the head sac.
2. Tenderize the Octopus (Optional): When using baby to small octopus, this step is totally unnecessary, according to my experience.
- Freezing method: If your octopus is fresh, freezing it overnight helps tenderize the meat. Defrost before cooking.
- Manual tenderizing: You can also pound the octopus with a meat mallet before cooking, though freezing is a simpler method.
What size of octopus is best for grilling?
Baby, small to medium octopus works best, but you can use large octopus as well.How Long To Boil Octopus Before Grilling?
Bring to a boil, then simmer for 40-60 minutes. The rule is to boil octopus for at least 45 minutes per every 2 pounds. It can take even longer sometimes. Take a fork and insert it where the head meets the tentacles. If it slides in and out pretty effortlessly, your octopus is ready.What is the best seasoning for grilled octopus?
Wondering what flavors pair well with octopus? The best way to enjoy this charred octopus in my opinion is to drizzle is with a mixture of freshly squeezed lemon juice (or vinegar), good quality extra virgin olive oil, garlic, oregano, parsley and other fresh herbs of your choice. Thyme, rosemary and chives are also great options. Octopus goes well with crisp salads, Feta cheese, olives and capers.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I did mine last night added touch of chilli, since Asian running in my blood 😊 And it was excellent. Thank you for the recipe. Easy and briliant
Great! Glad you liked it Dian!
Scrumptious and so easy! Served it with dirty rice, greens and hot sauce.
Hi we buy frozen here about 3 pounds. We boiled unthawed for 40 minutes and it was so tough. If we thaw it completely does it still need to be boiled? And how do we know when it’s tender? Any help would be much appreciated!
Yes, this recipe works for thawed octopus. It is about 20 nminutes of boiling time per 2 lb (1 kilo) octopus, that has been thawed.
I don’t know how long it will take to cook frozen unthawed octopus, but it will be around double the time.
RE: tough octopus. First make sure it is thawed-can do covered in tepid water in sink.
There are many different recipes for cooking octopus, however a lady from Malta tipped me off in using an Instant Pot. Takes 15 minutes and works very well.
• Put in octopus and adjust enough water to cover
• Stir up
• Close & seal lid
• Set to manual for 15 minutes
• When done do a natural release- leave the pressure release switch in the Sealed position when the cook time ends. This lets the pressure release slowly, without you doing anything. When the pressure is fully released, the float valve will drop and the lid will unlock and open.
• Open and you should be able to insert a plastic toothpick or skewer with no resistance
If you would like to add spices, here they are-just did one this way and came out with a very nice taste and tender. Was a 3 lb octopus do did it for 22 minutes.
To the Instant Pot Add:
3 slices gingerroot
1 onion -chopped
2 handfuls chopped carrots
6 cloves garlic
Squeeze in 1 lemon and dump in the lemon
Some rosemary
2 sprigs thyme
2 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp olive oil to coat everything stir it up
1 tbsp peppercorns
1 tsp sea salt
If you would after cooking like to marinate and char it, here’s a recipe:
Marinade I (Mediterranean) For Grilling
¼ cup olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
Finely grated zest of one lemon, yellow peel only
2 tsp salt
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 tsp Spanish smoked paprika, sweet, bittersweet or hot
1 tsp dry oregano (I like Mexican oregano in this marinade)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Instructions
• For one to two pounds of cooked octopus, whisk together all of the ingredients-even for less I use the above amounts
• Let sit in fridge 6 hours or overnight
• Remove octopus from marinade; reserve marinade.
• Heat grill to high; lightly oil grill
• Grill octopus pieces until lightly charred, about 3 minutes per side.
• Cut up grilled octopus and drizzle with reserved marinade.
How thick should the sliced tentacles should be?
It doesn’t matter, I usually cut into bite sized pieces.
Good morning
Would you please add me to your regular recipe mailing out list
Thank you
Don
Ye, I’ll add you. Thanks!
I’m going to make this for Christmas Eve dinner.
Hello,
I am planning on making the octopus dish next weekend, and I was wondwering if I needed to tenderize the octopus before I boil it ?
I will be purchasing a fresh one !
There is no need to tenderize it.
I’m a believer, good stuff.
Had to boil for an hour to get tender
Even my picky daughter gave it a thumbs up. Served with salad, great combo.
tried it. Glad to have found out about boiling it and letting it rest which is the key to having this whole thing work out. I skimmed the instructions so did not read about cleaning the octopus. It still was great but the boil sure wanted to bubble over. I also did not put oil on the octopus when grilling and put on after which I thought helped give it that outer crispiness. Will do again, closer to the instructions.
Ew, I don’t like frozen seafood. Ew.
Octopus is intentionally being freezed to make it more tender after defrosting. If you don’t like frozen – get it fresh.