This Smoked Octopus recipe starts with the perfect marinade and ends with a smoking process that results in perfect texture and excellent flavor.
A couple of times a year, my husband, Scott, likes to surprise our daughter, Nena, by bringing home octopus to smoke. It was during a family vacation to Hawaii many years ago that Nena fell in love with "Smoked Tako." That's the Hawaiian name for smoked octopus ("tako" is Japanese for "octopus").
Unfortunately, flying to Hawaii a few times a year is not in our family's budget. Can I get an amen? A better option was to come up with our own version of smoked tako to keep Miss Nena happy!
Why This Recipe Works
This is a pretty easy recipe to prepare. The hardest part is cleaning the baby octopus. However, you can easily just use the tentacles, making the process a lot simpler and quicker!
The marinade gives the octopus just the right flavor, while still allowing the smokey flavor to come through. The best part about this recipe is that you can have smoked tako whenever you feel like it; no need to fly to Hawaii to get some! 😉
How to Clean and Preparing the Octopus
Before you can smoke the octopus, it needs to be brined. But before even that happens, we need to clean and prepare the octopus to be brined.
This step is not for the faint of heart. It's a little slimy, but I know you could do it! You will need to remove the head from the tentacles and remove what's inside, leaving only the hood.
Then you will need to remove the beak from the top of the tentacles. Yes, octopuses do have beaks, go figure!
Alternatively, you can just lop the head off and not use it, which will save you a lot of time, but I personally like to use as much of the octopus as possible.
Although you'll notice in the clip below she refers to the beak as "guts." Check out this short but helpful clip that demonstrates how to clean the baby octopus, then come on back!
Cleaning and Preparing Octopus
Smoked Octopus Brine
Although I tried many different brines, they never achieved the flavor I was going for or one that would satisfy Nena.
They were either too sweet, too salty, not enough flavor, or the wrong flavor altogether.
Luckily, I'm not one to give up easily! After a lot of trial and error, I came up with this brine. It was good enough for Nena to approve, and I hope it satisfies your picky eaters too!
Steps to Perfectly Smoked Octopus
Mix the brine ingredients, making sure the salt is completely dissolved. Place octopus in the brine and refrigerate overnight.
Set an electric smoker to 250 degrees F. While the smoker is heating up, soak hickory wood chips in water for 30 minutes.
Remove the octopus from the brine solution and arrange it on the smoker shelves.
If you want to line the shelves with foil, be sure to poke holes in the foil for smoke circulation and for the liquid to drain.
When 30 minutes have elapsed, drain the wood chips and add to the smoker.
When the smoker is ready, turn the temperature down to 140 degrees. Place shelves back inside the smoker, and smoke the octopus for 1 to 1-½ hours, or until you achieve the desired flavor/texture.
Once you're satisfied with the results, remove the octopus from the smoker, and go to town on those bad boys!
Nena likes to eat them like jerky, but I'm sure other ideas can be found online, such as adding them to a salad, or pasta. Have fun creating!
Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Smoked Baby Octopus
Ingredients
- 2 lbs baby octopus
- 1 quart water
- 2 T sea salt
- 1 T red wine vinegar
- 2 T olive oil
- ½ small yellow onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 tsp. cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Mix the brine ingredients, making sure the salt is completely dissolved. Place octopus in the brine and refrigerate overnight.
- Set an electric smoker to 250 degrees F. While the smoker is heating up, soak hickory wood chips in water for 30 minutes. Remove octopus from the brine solution and arrange on the smoker shelves. When 30 minutes have elapsed, drain the wood chips and add to the smoker.
- When the smoker is ready, turn the temperature down to 140 degrees. Place shelves back inside the smoker, and smoke the octopus for 1 to 1-½ hours, or until you achieve the desired flavor/texture.
- Once you're satisfied with the results, remove the octopus from the smoker, and go to town on those bad boys! Nena likes to eat them like jerky, but I'm sure other ideas can be found online, such as adding them to a salad, or pasta. Have fun creating!
Jill Taylor says
When we were in Vitoria, Brazil, we found a restaurant on the beach that serviced Ceviche with smoked octopus. I had never had it before with octopus much less smoked octopus but it gave it a totally different flavor. Needless to say, I LOVED IT! 🙂
HildaSterner says
OK, that sounds amazing! I love ceviche. The next time my husband brings home some octopus to smoke, I'm definitely going to make some ceviche with it.Thanks for the idea!