How to Cook Octopus

Octopus is a scary ingredient when first handled, but contrary to its appearance, this delicious seafood dish is easy to prepare. The best cooking method is to cook for a long time until the meat is tender, while quick cooking methods often make the octopus hard and chewy. If you prefer to cook octopus at home, here are some methods that you can follow.

Table of Contents

Ingredient

Boiled octopus dish

For 4 servings

1.4kg frozen octopus, defrosted and cut up
6 liters of water
1 onion, cut into wedges
1 carrot, cut into small cubes
1 stalk leek
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped thyme
2 teaspoons black pepper

Grilled octopus dish

For 4 servings

1.4kg frozen octopus, defrosted and cut up
Salt, just to taste
Ground black pepper, just to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil, set aside for each
Half a lemon, cut areca
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Poached octopus dish

For 4 servings

1.4kg frozen octopus, thawed and left whole
1 cup white vinegar wine
4 liters of water
8 black pepper
4 bay leaves
8 teaspoons salt

Before you start: Prepare the octopus

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Thaw octopus. Frozen octopus can be defrosted by leaving it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Frozen octopus has an advantage over fresh octopus, as the freezing process helps to tenderize the meat. If you choose fresh octopus, you should first tenderize the octopus with a meat tenderizer.
However, before cooking, you must defrost the octopus completely.

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Cut the tentacle part from the body. Use a sharp kitchen knife to cut the tentacles off the body of the octopus.

Note, however, that some recipes call for the whole octopus to be cooked before cutting it into small pieces. You should carefully read the instructions in the recipe that you will be using before chopping the octopus.
Place the octopus on a cutting board, pick up one of the tentacles and cut it close to the body. Cut the other tentacles in the same way.
If you have kitchen scissors it will be easier to cut than if you cut with a sharp knife.

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Cut off the body and head. Cut the head off the body and cut the head in half.

The part between the tentacles and the head is very hard, not good to eat, so you can discard it. However, the head can be processed along with the tentacles.

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Remove the octopus teeth and ink sacs if necessary. You do not need to do this step when handling frozen octopus as most frozen octopus will have already been removed for sale.

Even if you’re using fresh octopus, you can still ask the seller to clean the octopus before packing it for you to take home.
When you cut the head or body of an octopus in half, you will see the ink sac and the internal organs. You can cut them out and take them out although it’s a bit difficult to do. ^{[1] X Research Source}
The octopus teeth may still be stuck in the hardware you removed, in which case you don’t need to do anything further. However, if the octopus tooth is still in the body, you can push it out with a gentle squeeze. When it shows up, just cut it off.

Boiled octopus

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Pour water into the pot along with aromatic spices. Add water about 2/3 of the pot. Then add herbs and vegetables.

If available, you can use a pot of stewed vegetables instead of pouring water and spices into the pot. The vegetables and herbs in this recipe are mainly for adding flavor to the octopus.
This recipe calls for onions, carrots, chives, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and pepper, but you can substitute these vegetables and herbs with your own.

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Put the pot on the stove. Heat over high heat until it boils. This takes about 5 minutes.

By letting the herbs and vegetables boil in water before adding the octopus, you’ll create an aroma in the water, which is the first step in making vegetable broth.

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Add octopus to boil. Put all the tentacles and the body of the octopus into the boiling water. The water will be less boiling after adding the octopus, so let the water boil again before moving on to another step.

This recipe only works when the tentacles and head of the octopus are cut into small pieces. However, do not cut too small. You can still cook the octopus finely chopped, but for aesthetic reasons you are advised not to do so.

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Cover the pot and cook until the meat is tender. This will take about 20 to 45 minutes. ^{[2] X Research Source}

Use a fork to check the octopus after 5 minutes. The octopus won’t be cooked yet, but doing so lets you know what it’s like when the octopus is firm. After 15 minutes, poke the octopus again and feel the difference in softness.
Once done, the octopus meat will slide off the fork when you lift it out of the water.

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Remove the octopus and enjoy. Boiled octopus is cut into small pieces and eaten with rice or salad, but you can also eat the octopus on its own.

If you want, you can filter and keep the water to make seafood broth.

Grilled octopus

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Preheat oven to 130°C. Prepare a large baking tray lined with foil.

The baking tray should be placed under the center of the oven to allow plenty of room for the octopus inside the oven.
The whole baking process is done inside the oven. Grilling on the griddle is a great way to spice up octopus, but this cooking method cooks up very quickly and won’t make the octopus tender enough to eat on its own.

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Place the octopus on a baking tray. Sprinkle with some salt and cover with foil.

Cover the octopus by gently folding the edge of the foil against the edge of the baking tray.

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Bake until octopus is tender. It will take about 2 hours. Let the octopus cool after grilling.

When pierced with a sharp knife or fork, you will find the meat is very tender.
When letting the octopus cool, you should open the foil to let it cool faster.
At this point, you can also wrap the octopus and put it in the refrigerator for about 2 days, but remember to remove the water that comes out when grilling the octopus.

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Heat the grill. Spread 1 tablespoon of olive oil on the griddle and heat for about 10 minutes over high heat.

If grilling on a gas stove, turn on the stove to high heat and heat the griddle for 10 minutes.
If grilling with charcoal, pour a thick layer of charcoal into the tray below the grill and light it until there is a white layer of ash on the surface of the charcoal.

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Oil the octopus. After coating the octopus with olive oil, sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste.

The oil will make the outer layer of the octopus shiny and crispy. It also helps the salt and pepper to penetrate the meat.

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Place the octopus on the grill. Place the octopus pieces on the griddle and bake for 4 to 5 minutes or until browned. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

After placing the octopus on the grill, cover the grill and the whole cooking process will close. You should only flip the octopus once and do this in the middle of the process.

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Enjoy the octopus with olive oil, lemon juice and parsley. When done baking, you can eat the octopus right away or cut it up and add it to other dishes. If you want to eat the octopus separately, olive oil, lemon juice, and parsley will add more flavor to the dish.

Blanched octopus

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Boil water and vinegar. Put both ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil over high heat.

You can add flavored ingredients before the water and vinegar boil, but boiling the water before adding the other ingredients will keep the boiling point high and make the water boil faster.

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Add other seasonings. Cut a lemon in half, squeeze it into a pot of water and drop both halves of the lemon peel into the water. Then you can add pepper, bay leaf and salt.

Reduce to medium heat and simmer ingredients for 10 minutes. Heat these ingredients first to create a fragrant water before adding the octopus to processing.

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Dip the octopus in boiling water. Use tongs to dip the whole octopus into boiling water 3 times, each time placing the octopus under the water for about 5 seconds.

You can also wear rubber gloves and use your hands to hold the octopus’s head while dipping.
This method is suitable for whole octopus. You cannot dip sliced octopus, as the purpose of this method is to make the tentacle curl up when it is briefly dipped in boiling water.

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Blanch the octopus. Add the octopus to the water and increase the heat to medium-high or until the water boils slightly. Blanch for 30 minutes or until meat is tender.

When the meat is soft enough, you can stab it with a fork.

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Let the octopus cool and enjoy. Let the octopus cool after a few minutes, just cool enough to touch and enjoy.

You can wrap the octopus and keep it in the fridge for up to 8 hours.

Things you need

Prepare the octopus

Sharp kitchen knife
Kitchen scissors (optional)
Chopping board

Boiled octopus dish

Large pot with lid
Clip
Fork

Grilled octopus dish

Baking tray
Silver paper
Sharp knife or fork
Furnace bar

Poached octopus dish

Cauldron
Tongs or rubber gloves
Fork

Ingredient

Boiled octopus dish

Grilled octopus dish

Poached octopus dish

Steps

Before you start: Prepare the octopus

Boiled octopus

Grilled octopus

Blanched octopus

Things you need

Prepare the octopus

Boiled octopus dish

Grilled octopus dish

Poached octopus dish

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