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Thick New England Clam Chowder Recipe
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This clam chowder has some secret ingredients!
Directions
This may be the best Thick New England Clam Chowder recipe you have ever tried.
This is my go to recipe for New England Clam Chowder soup.
It is out of this world delicious!
WHERE DID NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER ORIGINATE
It is said to have originate in NYC and was introduced by the French, Nova Scotian, or British settlers.
And this here is truly an authentic clam chowder recipe.
I know because this is my favorite soup in the whole wide World.
I will eat this all day everyday if I could.
An when I say my version it’s quick to make, I mean it.
WHAT IS NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER
It is a milk or cream based clam chowder vs a tomato like another famous chowder called the Manhattan we have all known to love as well.
It is also thicker and made with butter, potatoes, pork in this case bacon, onions and clams.
WHAT DOES NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER TASTE LIKE
Creamy, thick, sweet and salty.
HOW IS NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER MADE
It is really easy rather, you are simply adding everything to one pot to cook.
Dicing and chopping will take the majority of the time then let the pot do the rest.
Want to save some time with this soup?
Simply use frozen yet clams, there will be no shucking here.
You can have a huge pot of this soup ready to serve in 30 minutes time.
This soup takes me right back to my childhood, where I used to eat this soup religiously.
I hope you give it a try!
However my family never made it from scratch so I had to settle for the canned stuff.
You know the soup that has way more potatoes than clams?
Oh the things we remember eh!
My parents used to buy those cans for me by caseload because, they knew I would go through a case in less than 2 weeks.
Well looking back I sure was missing out, now I know how to make real clam chowder.
Long gone are the days of eating thick clumpy chowder from a can and having to add extra cream to it to make it creamy.
Clam chowder soup should be creamy and smooth and filled with clams and there juices.
Not thick and clumpy and filled with mainly potatoes.
And please don’t add carrots to it, why do some people do that anyway? it’s so so wrong.
Yes there are some people who still prefer a thicker chowder and that is fine, feel free to omit the vegetable stock of that is you.
But please don’t add canned clams, using fresh or frozen is best.
The trick to making the best clam chowder is using fresh or frozen clams and cooking them for just a few minutes at the end to prevent them from becoming rubbery.
HOW TO MAKE NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER SOUP
- So what are those secret ingredients?
- Simply Old Bay Seasoning and some Red Wine Vinegar that we will splash in at the end.
- The Red Wine Vinegar will give it that extra oomph and help tie this soup all together.
- And clam juice (See below the kind I used for this recipe)
CAN NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER BE FROZEN
Most defiantly!
I hope you give it a try and if you do I would love to know what you think, just let me know in the comments below.
Keep in mind if you wanting a lower fat clam chowder, you can always use all milk and omit the cream.
I would not recommend that personally but if your on a diet of some kind then by all means, it’s your chowder.
Don’t mistake this clam chowder with any other and definitely not it’s counterpart named the Manhattan clam chowder.
Which is good but made with a tomato stock rather than cream. I now make this soup in big batches so that I can enjoy it over a few days 🙂
What soup is your go to in the colder months?
I am so thrilled you are reading one of my recipes, I appreciate every single one of you! If you made this recipe i’d love to hear how it turned out! Thank you very much for reading and until next time see ya in the kitchen. Don’t want to miss a recipe? Sign up for our NEWSLETTER delivered right to your inbox!
Thick New England Clam Chowder recipe
Yield:
5
Cook Time:
45 minutes
Total Time:
45 minutes
Comforting Clam Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 pack Bacon "Antibiotics & Hormone" free
- 2 large Onion
- 6 sticks Celery Sticks
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1/2 cup All purpose flour
- 235 ml Clam Juice
- 1 cup Vegetable stock
- 4 cups Heavy Cream
- 4 cups White mini potatoes
- 340 grams Bag of frozen clams
SEASONINGS
- 1 tbsp Dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp White Pepper
- 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp Salt
TOP
- 2 tbsp Chopped Bacon
- 3 tbsp Fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- Start by FRYING the bacon to a crisp, remove and set aside to allow it to cool down. Keep the bacon fat, you will fry the vegetables in it. We are omitting the butter, the bacon gives it the kick it needs.
- Once the bacon has cooled, chop it finely and reserve 2 tbsp to top with once the soup is ready to serve.
- Next chop your celery into small pieces and do the same with the onion. Toss all of this back into the pot along with the bacon fat and fry till the onions till translucent. Then add in the minced garlic and saute one more minute.
- Next whisk in the flour and stir all together cooking for one minute, your wanting to lightly brown the flour before whisking in the cream, clam juice & vegetable stock, chopped bacon, bay leaves and dry spices. Cook for about one minute, before adding in the diced mini potatoes.
- Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a low simmer, cooking till the potatoes are fork tender *about 10 minutes. Then remove the bay leaf.
- Pour in the chopped clams and season with pepper and old bay seasoning. Then simmer on medium - low heat for about 3-5 minutes. *Do not boil the clams. Allow the soup to cool down some before adding in 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar to add depth of flavor.
- Stir and season with salt to taste, then ladle into large soup bowls and garnish with a little *chopped bacon and parsley if desired. Enjoy!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 5 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 983Total Fat: 72gSaturated Fat: 45gTrans Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 266mgSodium: 1823mgCarbohydrates: 56gFiber: 6gSugar: 11gProtein: 31g
These calculations are based off Nutritionix
2 Comments Hide Comments
Have you ever made this in the crockpot? Wondering if you could do everything but the clams and vinegar.
I do not see why you could not. Give it a try, I would love to know how it would turn out.