A delicious octopus salad, simple and light, perfect as an appetizer or main course. In this recipe, I didn’t add the usual potatoes, but seasoned the octopus with simple and tasty ingredients, so it can be paired with all seafood menus, even for festive occasions. Besides being very easy, the salad is quick to prepare, because the octopus is cooked in the electric pressure cooker, making it tender in a shorter time. If you want to cook the octopus traditionally, paired with potatoes, you can find the instructions here (Octopus and Potato Salad). If you want to try the slow cooker method and love spicy flavors, try the delicious Galician-style Octopus.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2-4
- Cooking methods: Pressure cooker
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 139.27 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 3.76 (g) of which sugars 3.06 (g)
- Proteins 22.67 (g)
- Fat 3.87 (g) of which saturated 1.14 (g)of which unsaturated 1.53 (g)
- Fibers 0.32 (g)
- Sodium 153.31 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 140 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 1 octopus (approximately 1.87 lbs in weight)
- 2 shallots (or 1 onion)
- 1 leaf bay
- Half stalk celery
- Half lemon
- cup dry white wine
- 3 tbsp water
- extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons Taggiasca olives
- 2 tablespoons capers
- Half stalk celery
- 1 clove garlic
- extra virgin olive oil
- lemon juice
- parsley
- salt
- pepper (or chili pepper)
Tools
- multicooker or pressure cooker
- Cutting board
- Bowl
Preparation
Wash the octopus well to remove all sand residues left between the suckers.
In my case, I used a thawed octopus, so I just cut out the beak and eyes. If you have a fresh octopus, you will need to empty the contents of the head and wash the inside well.
Once cleaned, you can leave the octopus whole, or divide it into 3-4 parts as I did (to ensure more even cooking).
Take the inner pot of the multicooker and grease it with a little oil. Add the wine, water, bay, the shallots halved, a piece of celery, and half a lemon.
Now place the octopus in the center (1), insert the pot into the base, and close with the pressure cooking lid.
Set a timer for 15-16 minutes, the pot will start counting the time from when the valve closes.
When cooking is finished, vent the pot until the valve drops, then open the lid (2), being careful not to burn yourself with the steam.
Let the octopus cool in its broth, then drain it, cut it into pieces, and put it in a bowl.
Chop a bunch of parsley, the garlic, and the celery together. Add the mixture to the octopus, add salt, pepper, a splash of lemon juice, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Mix well to combine flavors.
Your simple octopus salad is ready, I recommend seasoning it a few hours in advance and storing it in the fridge, as it will taste much better when served.
Tips and Variations
You can season the salad to your liking, adding the herbs and spices you prefer. You can use Taggiasca, green or black olives.
In season, you can add fresh cherry tomatoes.
You can enrich the dish with shrimp (boiled or pan-fried), shelled mussels, steamed calamari or cuttlefish.
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