Easy New England Clam Chowder
Easy New England Clam Chowder is made with basic, easy-to-find ingredients, and cooks up in well under an hour. Perfect for weeknight dinners!
I love making soups on busy weeknights. I can make the soup in the afternoon while my kids are still at school, then keep it warm on the stovetop until it’s time to eat. And some of them even cook up fast enough that I don’t even need to do that – I can simply start cooking after school, and it’s ready to go by supper time.
This Easy New England Clam Chowder is one of those soups. It’s completely ready in just 45 minutes, and it’s thick, creamy, and comforting. Plus, it uses canned clams, so there is no seafood cleaning or prep work required (other than some minimal vegetable chopping).
And did you know that clams are a great source of iron? They have about the same amount as red meat, so if your diet is low in iron, clam chowder is a great option!
How to make New England Clam Chowder
When you’re getting ready to make this soup, the first step will be to prep the vegetables: chop the onion, slice the celery, and peel and dice the potato. Note that you’ll want the potato cut into fairly small pieces (about ½”) for quicker cooking time.
Add the onion and celery to a large saucepan or medium Dutch oven with melted butter and salt, and cook over medium heat until softened. Stir in the garlic and pepper, and cook until fragrant. Stir in the potatoes, and continue cooking until they look slightly translucent.
Stir in the chicken broth, reserved clam juice, and bay leaves, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes until the potatoes start to break down (the corners will look rounded).
Stir in the canned clams and evaporated milk and cook until heated through. Remove the pot from heat and stir in the minced parsley. Remove the bay leaves before serving. Sprinkle with additional parsley at serving, if desired.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, if needed.
New England Clam Chowder Ingredients
- Unsalted butter – or you could substitute salted butter if that’s what you happen to have
- Onion – the type doesn’t matter too much here – I used a yellow onion. You could also use frozen chopped onions to save time. Use about 1 cup.
- Celery – soups are a great way to use up celery that’s past its prime. If your celery is starting to get a little limp, it’s totally fine to use it in soup.
- Kosher salt – or use MSG-salt
- Garlic
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Russet potatoes – Or you could use Yukon gold (yellow) potatoes, but russets break down more readily in soups. This isn’t always desirable, but in this case, it helps to thicken the soup.
- Chicken broth – or feel free to use a reduced-sodium or vegan version.
- Bay leaves
- Baby clams – find canned clams in the canned food aisle, usually near the canned tuna. Make sure to save the juice (broth) from the can, as you’ll also be adding that to the soup. I sometimes find that canned clams can have a bit of lingering sand or grit, and rinsing them with cold water can help. However, it does wash away some of the flavor, so it’s personal preference.
- Evaporated milk – or you can substitute an equal amount of half-and-half cream
- Minced parsley
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New England Clam Chowder Nutrition Notes
Unlike many cream-based soups, this Clam Chowder is gluten-free. Instead of being thickened with flour or cornstarch, this soup is thickened with the russet potatoes in the recipe, some of which break down during cooking to help thicken the soup.
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for one quarter of the recipe. The nutrition calculations use evaporated milk, not the optional half-and-half cream. Using cream will result in soup that’s higher in fat and calories.
Note that this soup is high in sodium (as many soups are). To cut down, reduce the amount of salt you add to the soup, swap the chicken broth with a reduced-sodium or no-salt-added version, and/or rinse the clams before adding them to the soup.
Easy New England Clam Chowder
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Melt 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter in a large saucepan or medium Dutch oven over medium heat. Stir in the minced onion, the sliced celery, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Cook until the vegetables are softened, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in the cubed potatoes, and cook until they become slightly translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Add 1 cup chicken broth, the reserved clam juice, and 2 bay leaves. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are beginning to break down (you will see their corners start to look rounded), about 10-15 minutes.
- Stir in the canned clams and 1 can evaporated milk (354mL) and continue to cook until heated through, about 2-3 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in 1 Tablespoon minced parsley. Remove the bay leaves before serving. Sprinkle with additional minced parsley before serving, if desired.
Nutrition
Notes
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