Marmitako (Basque tuna stew)

Tom Shingler
Head of food, delicious.

Marmitako is a traditional fish stew from the Basque Country in northern Spain. This filling one-pot is packed with tuna, peppers and potatoes.

Marmitako’s origins: once a workaday dish eaten by Basque fishermen out at sea, this stew is now a bit of a luxury thanks to the fresh tuna nestled within it. A great one-pot creation (‘marmitako’ means ‘from the pot’), it has all the calling cards of Basque cooking: great ingredients – and peppers and garlic aplenty.
Easy ingredient swaps: the joy of this fish stew is that it’s endlessly versatile. You could swap the tuna for another fish like hake or cod, or just have green peppers instead of green and red; throw in some thyme when you add the tomato.

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 medium tomato
2 tbsp choricero pepper paste (see Know-how) or 2 tsp smoked paprika
125ml Spanish dry white wine
750g floury potatoes such as king edward or maris piper, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces (see Be A Better Cook)
500ml fish stock or water
1 bay leaf
4 tuna steaks (ideally albacore), cut into bite-size pieces
10g flatleaf parsley, chopped
Crusty bread to serve

Add the olive oil to a casserole or large saucepan over a low-medium heat. Add the onion, both peppers and a pinch of salt and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring, until the onion has softened.
Stir in the garlic, then coarsely grate in the tomato. Cook for another 3-4 minutes until the mixture is very dry. Add the pepper paste or paprika, cook for 1 minute, then pour in the wine and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Add the potatoes, fish stock (or water) and bay leaf, stir to combine, then turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, then cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender.
Stir in the tuna so it’s submerged in the stew rather than sitting on top, then cover the pan and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to rest for 5 minutes without taking the lid off. Season with a little more salt, then garnish with the parsley and serve with bread.

Recipe from June 2025 Issue

The Spanish have a clever way of chopping potatoes that ensures as much of their starch as possible travels into the broth to thicken it. Cut halfway through the potato with a knife, then twist the blade to ‘snap’ off a jagged piece (known as a cascada). This breaks down the cells in the potato and increases the amount of starch that’ll enter the liquid they’re cooked in.

Choricero is a dried Spanish pepper with a mild heat and slightly smoky, fruity flavour. They’re abundant in Basque cooking and can be found online, either dried or as a paste in jars. You can use smoked paprika instead, but for the real taste of Basque cooking there isn’t any true substitution.

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