How to Clean Squid

If you got your hands on some fresh, delicious whole squid, I am happy to show you how to clean it. Learn how to clean squid with step-by step photos and a video. Don’t miss the tips on best ways to cook squid as well.

What is squid?

If you ever wondered “what is calamari?” when you see it on a menu of a restaurant, It’s simple. Calamari is squid! In Italian, the word “calamari” means squid.

Squid is a mollusk related to cuttlefish and octopus. Much like octopus, it also has a protective mechanism of releasing ink from the ink sack. Most common size you will see in the market will be about a foot long. Some will have ink sack removed and some might still have it. Depending on your preference, you can remove and discard the sack or keep it to make some squid ink pasta!

Squid is popular in Mediterranean cuisine as well as in many Asian countries. In US, we are mostly familiar with one preparation of calamari and that is battered and deep fried as a Fried Calamari appetizer. The name calamari is actually synonymous with this preparation of the squid. But that is not the only way to prepare it. There are various dishes that feature squid either cleaned and sliced into pieces, or as a whole. Methods of preparation also vary from seared, to braised, to grilled, and fried.

Where can I buy squid?

You have a few options as far as buying squid goes. The one I highly recommend is getting fresh squid from a seafood market. There are also several online markets where you can order fresh seafood like this. If you order online, it will most likely come in frozen. Make sure to that it first.

Some grocery stores with a seafood section may also be able to order it for you. Don’t be afraid to ask!

How to cook squid (calamari)?

Because of its naturally chewy texture, squid should be cooked either fast at high heat or slow on lower temperature. That’s why it’s best to sear calamari, grill, or make fried calamari quickly and at medium-high to high heat. Calamari is also good in soups, Paella, risotto, Cioppino and other dishes that are slowly cooked for at least 30 minutes.

How to clean squid

If you’re up to it, cleaning a whole squid at home is actually very easy and much cheaper than buying already cleaned squid. It will take you about 5-10 minutes to clean the squid. Then, it will be ready to slice and be made into fried calamari and many other dishes. You can even freeze cleaned out squid for later use.

Note: if you got frozen whole squid, make sure to slow-thaw it overnight in the refrigerator first.

Taking It Apart

1- Separate the head. Place you whole squid into a large cutting board and take a look. You will see the head with the tentacles and the large body (called the mantle) with fins attached.

Pick up the squid and hold it firm but not too tight by the mantle. Slowly but firmly pull by the head to pull all the innards out of the mantle. You can use a little twisted motion to help separate the innards.

If you had some innards still left inside the mantle, place it on the cutting board and gently squeeze and push them out of the opening. (Kind of like getting the toothpaste from the bottom of the tube.)

2 – Cut off tentacles and take out the beak. Cut the space right above where tentacles attach to the head and below the eye. Look underneath the tentacles to see the beak. You will want to squeeze to retract the beak and gently pull it out. It should come out pretty easy.

3 – Remove cartilage. The cartilage is also known as cuttlebone and is a thin piece of flat and clear bone. It’s very easy to pull out so just grab it at the mantle opening and pull in one gentle motion. If the cartilage was broken, you can push it through the top as well.

Take Off The Skin and Clean

4 – Skin. You can be done right here or you can take it a step further and clean off the skin. Many chefs prefer to keep the skin on because it’s edible and very pretty. And yet, many do believe that clean white looking calamari makes a better presentation.

To clean off the skin, simply pinch it at the opening of the body and gently pull it off. It peels off fairly easy and if it rips, just pinch and pull again.

Fins – if you are making calamari and want perfect little rings, you should remove the fins. They are edible so you can use them in the calamari as well. Just slice the into strips.

5 – Rinse. Important step is to rinse out the mantle and the tentacles in the cold water. Make sure to rinse out inside the body well!

At this point you have a nice clean squid body and tentacles. You can slice the body into rings to be fried for calamari, or add it to Paella, soup, or risotto!

Get Squid Ink

Ink sack. The ink sack could have come out with the innards and it actually quite good to flavor pastas and rice dishes. If you got it, feel pretty lucky because many seafood markets harvest it first to sell for quite a price.

Ink sack looks like a small black vein in among the innards. Gently pull it out and try not to pop it. To get the ink out, puncture it with a tip of the knife and squeeze into a tablespoon of water, broth, or white wine. That liquid can be added to pasta. (A little will go a long way!)