As we begin a new year most of us are looking to eat more healthfully. Adding more fish and seafood into your diet is certainly one of the best ways to do that. So I want to offer up some awesome ideas for incorporating seafood into your social occasions and not just everyday meals.

Pile of Shrimps on Plates
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Ideas for Incorporating Seafood into your Social Occasions

Incorporating seafood into your diet is a great way to get some healthy protein, as well as great nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids. As well as using it in your everyday meals, seafood can inspire some excellent dishes whenever you’re hosting a social occasion or participating in a potluck. A seafood dish can offer something a little different and provide a dish that’s not meat without being purely vegetarian. Whether you’re hosting a dinner party or planning your menu for Christmas, you could use seafood in a broad variety of ways. Try these ideas to have fun with seafood.

Get Some Seafood on the Grill

Seafood on a Skewer
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Hosting a barbecue or cookout at your home is one of the great ways to spend time with friends and family. Being master of the grill can give you a thrill too, and there are so many different things you can cook on it. If you want options other than meat, seafood can make a great option for grilling. Shrimp is a good choice that will hold up well on the grill, but you might need to be a little more careful with some more delicate seafood. If the grill is too hot, you might not get the results you want. Wrapping fish in foil can be a good way to protect it and stop it from sticking.

Serve Up Seafood Canapés and Appetizers

Seafood can be fantastic as a little taster during your social events. It could be an appetizer given to your guests before the main meal, or perhaps part of some tasty morsels circulated around the room during your party. There are so many different things you can do, from a simple salmon and cream cheese blini to some bacon-wrapped Weathervane scallops. Get creative and use seafood in various different ways. If you’re putting canapes together, try to keep them to one or two bites only so they’re not too big.

Make Seafood the Star of the Show

Yummy Seafood
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Seafood can be the main event during a dinner party or any other social occasion too. There’s no need for it to be in the background or just an introduction to the main meal. You can create some real showstoppers with seafood, whether you want to go all-out with a shellfish boil or you want to incorporate seafood into a main dish in some way, such as serving it with pasta or rice. A large filet of fish can be just as impressive, both visually and in taste, as a joint of beef or lamb.

Try Some Seafood Sides

You could also use seafood as a side. If you sometimes have mac and cheese as a side, why not include some lobster or other seafood in it? You could serve up some pork and shrimp wontons or some fried rice with seafood, or perhaps some shrimp skewers. Of course, if you’re serving seafood as a main dish, there are plenty of delicious side dishes that can go alongside it, whether it’s a creamy lemon risotto or a refreshing salad.

Poached Salmon with Dill Horseradish Sauce
Photo Credit: Serious Eats

You can use seafood in many different ways if you want to expand what you serve up at social events.