This New England Clam Chowder recipe has a creamy broth that’s loaded with delicious clams, savory bacon, simple seasonings, and perfectly cooked potatoes. You’ll think this came from a restaurant!
Be sure to pair this with my crusty, airy, No Knead Bread for dipping!
Clam Chowder
I am a New England native, so it is my honor and privilege to present this incredible, restaurant-worthy clam chowder to you. If you’re new to this recipe, don’t worry. The process is simple. (I promise!)
I’ve outlined how to use fresh OR canned clams in this recipe, and I swear- the canned clam version is great. Using canned clams is not only super easy, but it allows you to put a plentiful amount of clams in the chowder without spending a ton of money.
It’s really easy to control the consistency of this chowder too, I know some people like their chowder to be super thick, and others, not so much. The longer this soup simmers, the thicker and more concentrated it will be.
New England Clam Chowder vs. Manhattan Clam Chowder
- New England Clam Chowder is white and creamy, (as shown in this post). Manhattan Clam Chowder has a tomato base with no cream.
How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Cook bacon and set aside, reserve bacon drippings. Chop bacon once cooled.
Add bacon drippings, butter, onions, and celery to the pot and soften for 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings. Cook for 1 minute. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and half and half in small splashes, stirring continuously.
Add the chicken bouillon, clam juice, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Simmer and reduce for 20 minutes. Add the potatoes and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender, 20-25 minutes.
Add the clams and heat through for 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Garnish with parsley, chopped bacon, and freshly cracked pepper. Serve!
Using Fresh Clams
- 1 heaping cup of chopped fresh clams can be used in this recipe along with 1.5 cups of clam juice. (1.5 cups = the 8 oz. jar + reserved juices from the can.)
- Make sure the clams are cleaned and steamed prior to chopping.
Pro Tips
- Clams: I use Bar Harbor Chopped Clams and Clam Juice for this recipe.
- Potatoes: I use Yukon Gold potatoes for this recipe because I love their creamy consistency, but red potatoes are always a great candidate for soups and chowders because they hold up the best. Russet potatoes may also be used, but they’re also the starchiest, which makes them more prone to falling apart.
- Bacon: Salt Pork can be used instead of bacon if preferred!
- The longer this soup simmers, the thicker it gets, so you can control the consistency with that in mind. I always let it simmer, reduce, and concentrate for at least 20 minutes before I add the potatoes. Once you add the potatoes, you don’t have as much flexibility with cooking time, as you don’t want to overcook them.
- The Hot Sauce is a flavor enhancer that you can’t taste outright and it won’t make the soup spicey. I use Frank’s Hot Sauce.
- The Worcestershire Sauce adds umami and also can’t be tasted in this soup. Soy sauce can be used as a substitute if needed.
- Be sure to pair this with my crusty, airy, No Knead Bread for dipping!
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3-5 days. The flour in this soup helps it maintain it’s original consistency a little bit better when reheated.
- While you can freeze this soup, it likely won’t restore back to it’s exact consistency as dairy-based soups don’t reheat as well. (But that doesn’t stop me from freezing it.)
- It’s best to let it thaw completely in the fridge before reheating it in the microwave or on the stovetop.
- Make sure you don’t overcook the potatoes if you plan on freezing it, as you don’t want them to be crumbly when reheated.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- 4.5 Quart Dutch Oven– This is the one I use that’s pictured in this recipe.
- Food Storage Containers– These are what I use to store leftovers!
- Better Than Bouillon– This is what I always use for broth in my recipes. It takes very little space and makes it easy to measure out customized amounts of broth.
- Silicone Spatula– To “clean” the pot throughout cooking, which incorporates flavor into the broth. It’s nice and gentle on the surface of your cookware.
- Measuring Spoons– I have these magnetic ones which stay nice and organized in my utensil drawer.
- Pinch Bowls– For measuring seasonings, etc. ahead of time.
- Soup Ladle
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Clam Chowder Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 strips thick-cut bacon, can sub salt pork
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce, or ½ tsp tabasco sauce
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3 cups Half and Half
- 8 oz. clam juice
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 ¼ lbs. potatoes, see notes
- 3 (6.5 oz. cans) chopped clams, juices reserved
- Fresh parsley & Freshly cracked pepper, for serving
Seasonings
- ½ teaspoon EACH: dried oregano, dried parsley
- ¼ teaspoon EACH: dried thyme, salt
- 1/8 teaspoon EACH: smoked paprika, pepper
Instructions
Prep Work
- Cook the bacon in a 4.5-quart soup pot slowly over low heat. (I cut my bacon in half, it’s easier to fit it in the pan and have it cook evenly.) While the bacon cooks, measure out remaining ingredients. Once the bacon is cooked, set aside on a paper towel lined plate. Chop once cooled and reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings.
- Wipe any dark spots from the pot but leave as much bacon remnants as you can, as that will add flavor to the soup.
Make the Soup
- Add reserved bacon drippings and butter to the pot over medium heat and use a silicone spatula to “clean” the bottom and sides of the pot. Add the diced onions and celery. Toss to coat and soften for 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes stirring continuously, until the raw flour smell is gone.
- Add the chicken broth in small splashes, stirring continuously, and wiping the pan “clean” again as you do so. Add the half and half in the same manner.
- Stir in the chicken bouillon and add the bay leaf. Add the juice from the canned clams to the soup, but don’t add the clams yet. Stir in the additional clam juice.
- Bring the soup to a gentle boil, then reduce to a simmer, so that its just gently bubbling. Simmer for 20 minutes, partially covered. Stir occasionally as it cooks.
- Peel and dice the potatoes and add them to the soup. Bring back to a very gentle bubble and let the potatoes cook through for 20-25 minutes, until fork tender. Reduce heat to low.
- Stir in the clams and let them heat through, about 5 minutes. Remove bay leaf.
- Ladle soup into serving bowls and garnish with roughly chopped parsley, freshly cracked pepper, and chopped bacon.
Notes
- Clams: I use Bar Harbor Chopped Clams and Clam Juice for this recipe.
- Using Fresh Clams: 1 heaping cup of chopped fresh clams can be used in this recipe along with 1.5 cups of clam juice. (1.5 cups = the 8 oz. jar + reserved juices from the can.) Make sure the clams are cleaned and steamed prior to chopping.
- Potatoes: I use Yukon Gold potatoes for this recipe because I love their creamy consistency, but red potatoes are always a great candidate for soups and chowders because they hold up the best. Russet potatoes may also be used, but they're also the starchiest, which makes them more prone to falling apart.
- Bacon: Salt Pork can be used instead of bacon if preferred!
- The longer this soup simmers, the thicker it gets, so you can control the consistency with that in mind. I always let it simmer, reduce, and concentrate for at least 20 minutes before I add the potatoes. Once you add the potatoes, you don't have as much flexibility with cooking time, as you don't want to overcook them
- The Hot Sauce is a flavor enhancer that you can't taste outright and it won't make the soup spicey. I use Frank's Hot Sauce.
- The Worcestershire Sauce adds umami and also can't be tasted in this soup. Soy sauce can be used as a substitute if needed.
- Be sure to pair this with my crusty, airy, No Knead Bread for dipping!
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3-5 days.
The nutritional information provided is an estimate and is per cup. There are approximately 9 cups in this recipe.
My first time making clam chowder and this is the recipe I used. I was a little nervous since I had never made it before and the idea of making it seemed like a big, scary deal for some reason. But it was absolutely delicious and it’ll now be my go-to recipe! The only adjustments I made were that I omitted the dried thyme (I only had ground thyme and thought the flavor might be too strong) and the extra clam juice. The hubby is a picky eater and, while he loves clam chowder, if he so much as smells a clam when he walks in the door, he won’t eat it. Weird, I know. For us, the clam juice in the cans of chopped clams was enough. I served it in bread bowls and we both really enjoyed it. I even sent some home with my 30-something daughter along with a bread bowl and she said “it was the sh*t.” You know that means it was really good! Lol Anyhoo, lovely, lovely recipe. Thank you!
Hi Teri!! I’m soooooo happy to hear that this chowder was a hit!!! I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a review. I enjoyed reading through your experience and your family’s reactions!! You’re the best! -Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Lady, that was fantastic! I love clam chowder and can never get enough. Thanks to you, now I can make it home! Thank you for sharing your recipe with us!
Wahooo! That makes me so happy Rhonda. I’m pretty serious about my clam chowder lol. Thanks for the great review!💗
Thanks for this delicious recipe
You’re so welcome Shaheen! 🙂
Will definitely make again. My mom’s not the biggest fan of thyme(even the small amount in this recipe) so next time I’ll have to make a smaller pot with none for her. But she did still like it. My dad and I had seconds. And when I went to have some the next day, he’d eaten the leftovers for lunch!
I’m so happy it was such a success Trista! Sounds like you may need to make a bigger batch next time 😀 Thanks so much for the great comments!
Delicious! Our 4 kids, ages 6-12, LOVED it and so did my husband and I. We are all buying your cookbook now. Thank you!
Hey Steph!! I’m SOOO happy that you all loved the clam chowder, you made my day!! (And YES! I can’t wait for you to get the cookbook, thank you so much for your support!!) -Stephanie 🙂
Can I use heavy cream instead of half and half?
You can! It will be on the thicker side but not in a bad way! You can also add a splash of water/broth to it to thin it out a little if needed!
I haven’t had access to hard shell clams for years but recently got more than I needed and made this chowder. While I didn’t have bacon or bay leaves, I went ahead using bacon fat and whole milk instead of half and half. It came out so thick in consistency that I added a second cup of clam juice and the result was excellent and more than enough for 4 adults.
Hi Denis!! I’m so happy that you loved it! By using 2 cups of clam juice you came pretty close to what the recipe uses actually! (The reserved juices from the cans add up to another 1/2 cup of juice in addition to the 8 oz. bottle)- so your instincts were right on point! So glad it was a success, such a great way to make use of fresh clams!!
Would love to make this recipe. I can eat soup everyday. My Mom cooked soup all the time but unfortunately, my was not brought up on Soup. I make a pot of soup and always freeze most of it. I do not like anything that is spicy. So is SMOKEY PAPRIKA SPICY? I have regular PAPRIKA always. Same with the Hot Sauce. I do not mind a little kick. So do I have to use HOT SAUCE OR JUST LEAVE IT OUT
Thanks
You can use regular paprika and skip the hot sauce, although the hot sauce isn’t detectable in the end result, but no problem skipping it. Enjoy!
I’m going to make this on Saturday for my family. I have a large portion of frozen steamed clams in their juice that I plan on thawing and using. Why do you add so much more clam juice when using fresh clams? I don’t want my soup to turn out over “fishy”
Thanks!
Hi Chris! I’m glad that you asked, you’re not using more clam juice if you use fresh clams! 🙂 You’re using the same amount, you’re just not purchasing an 8 oz. bottle of clam juice or using the reserved juice from a can. Those two ingredients equal 1.5 cups of clam juice!
Thank you so much for the clarification! Can’t wait to post my review!!! 🙂
You’re so welcome, I can’t wait to hear how it goes!! 🙂
Kudos, Stephanie! The broth was so rich and delicious! I doubled the recipe because of the surplus of clams I had (steamed over 300 for the holiday weekend last week) and my SIL and MIL requested some leftovers. Pretty much stuck to the recipe with the exception of I only used 1 1/2 onions because my daughters are not big on them and substituted extra celery instead. I also cut the bacon into lardons and removed with a slotted spoon, just because it seemed easier. Everyone confirmed this recipe is a “keeper” and we will definitely be making it again. Thank you for posting this!
Great job Chris! I’m so happy it’s been such a hit for you. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!💖
I made MORE bacon.
I used fennel instead of celery.
I used little potatoes.
I used frozen clams.
I added more clam juice.
I added more of the spices.
Yum city!
Nice work Julia, I’m so happy you liked it! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!💖