New England Clam Chowder.

Name: New England Clam Chowder (Creamy Clam and Potato Soup)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: 1.5 kg fresh quahog or littleneck clams, scrubbed; 250 ml water; 120 g salt pork or thick-cut bacon, finely diced; 1 large onion, finely diced; 2 celery stalks, finely diced; 2 tbsp plain flour; 600 g Yukon Gold potatoes, in 2 cm cubes; 2 bay leaves; 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves; 250 ml fish stock or water; 300 ml heavy cream; 20 g butter; 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped; to taste salt and oyster crackers

Creamy Clam and Potato Soup

· say it: CHOW-der

New England clam chowder is a thick white soup of clams, potatoes, onion and cream, built on the salty liquid the clams themselves release. It tastes of the sea more than of dairy — the clam liquor does the seasoning, the potatoes give it body as their starch dissolves, and the cream goes in last as a finish rather than a base. Rendered salt pork or bacon underneath adds a low smoky note that keeps the whole thing from being merely rich. It is a genuinely old dish and a simple one: five main ingredients, forty minutes, and a bowl that should be thick enough to hold a spoon at an angle but still pourable, never gluey. Oyster crackers on top are not optional in New England.

Jump to the recipe

Read the story

Creamy Clam and Potato Soup

Gate: United StatesNew England
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 35 min
Total time: 55 min
Serves: 4
Status: Medium
Nutrition / serving · estimated: Calories 520 kcal; Protein 24 g; Carbs 36 g; Fat 32 g; Fiber 3 g; Sodium 1180 mg

Why this recipe works.

Uses the clam liquor as the cooking liquid rather than throwing it away, which is where the sea flavor actually lives.
Adds the clams at the very end so they stay tender instead of turning into small rubber knots.
Thickens with potato starch and a light roux together, so it holds without tasting of flour.
Works with fresh quahogs or tinned clams and explains exactly what changes between them.

Tips from our kitchen.

Do not boil the chowder after the cream goes in. A hard boil splits dairy and toughens clams in the same thirty seconds.
Use a waxy or all-purpose potato like Yukon Gold. Floury baking potatoes disintegrate completely and leave you with clam-flavored mashed potato.
If you are steaming fresh clams, pour the liquor off carefully and leave the last spoonful behind — sand settles to the bottom of the pot.
Salt at the very end. Clam liquor, salt pork and bacon are all salty, and chowder is easy to over-season before you have tasted the finished bowl.
Chowder tastes better the next day. If you have time, cool it after adding the potatoes and clams, refrigerate overnight, and stir the cream in when you reheat.
Crush a few oyster crackers into the bowl rather than floating them on top — that is closer to the original bread thickener and it thickens the last spoonfuls.

Substitutions.

Salt pork → Thick-cut bacon, or 3 tbsp butter for a pork-free version: Bacon adds smoke that salt pork does not have, which most people like. With butter alone, add an extra pinch of salt and a bay leaf for depth.
Fresh quahog clams → 400 g tinned chopped clams plus their juice, topped up to 500 ml with fish stock: Perfectly standard outside New England. Use the juice from the tins — discarding it removes most of the flavor.
Heavy cream → Whole milk plus an extra tablespoon of butter: A lighter, more old-fashioned chowder. It will be thinner, so let the potatoes break down a little more to compensate.

Variations.

Manhattan clam chowder: The red rival: tomatoes and no dairy, with carrot and celery in the base. Thinner and sharper, and openly resented in parts of New England.
Rhode Island clear chowder: No cream and no tomato — just clam broth, potatoes and pork. The version closest to what the original shipboard chowder probably tasted like.
Corn and clam chowder: Sweet summer corn kernels added with the potatoes. Common up and down the coast in August and a natural fit with the cream base.

Storage & reheating.

Chowder keeps 3 days refrigerated and the flavor deepens overnight. Reheat it gently over medium-low heat, stirring, and stop as soon as it steams — boiling will split the cream and toughen the clams. It does not freeze well: the potatoes go grainy and the dairy separates on thawing. If you want to make it well ahead, cook the base through the potato stage without the cream or clams, freeze that, and finish the chowder fresh.

Serve with

Oyster crackers, a hunk of crusty bread, and a plate of steamed clams or a lobster roll if you are making a coastal lunch of it.

The story behind New England Clam Chowder.

Chowder came off boats. The name most likely traces to the French chaudière, the cauldron a fishing crew cooked in, and the earliest chowders on the North Atlantic coast were layered pots of ship's biscuit, salt pork and whatever the crew had caught, moistened with water — no milk, no cream, and no potatoes, since potatoes were not widely grown in New England until the eighteenth century. The dish moved ashore with the fishermen, and the biscuit thickener gradually gave way to potatoes and, by the nineteenth century, to milk and cream. Clams took over from fish in the popular imagination because they were free for anyone with a rake and a low tide.

The regional argument is with Manhattan. Manhattan clam chowder is tomato-based, red, thinner, and to a certain kind of New Englander an offense against nature. In 1939 a Maine legislator introduced a bill to make putting tomatoes in chowder illegal in the state; it did not pass, and it was not entirely serious, but the fact that it happened at all tells you where feelings sat. Rhode Island quietly makes a third version with clear broth and no dairy at all, which both sides tend to leave out of the argument.

The clams themselves are specific. New England chowder is traditionally made with quahogs — large hard-shell clams too tough to eat whole, which is exactly why they end up chopped in a pot — or with soft-shell steamers. Outside the region, tinned chopped clams with their juice are what most people can actually get, and they make a legitimately good chowder as long as you use the juice, because that liquid is the backbone of the whole dish. This recipe is written for both, and the technique is identical.

Questions, answered.

What kind of clams should I use?

Traditionally quahogs — large hard-shell clams that are too chewy to eat whole and therefore ideal chopped into chowder. Littlenecks and cherrystones work but are more expensive for the same result. Outside the coast, tinned chopped clams with their juice make a very respectable chowder and are what most home cooks use.

Why did my chowder curdle?

It boiled after the cream went in, or the cream was added to a very acidic base. Once dairy is in the pot, keep the heat low enough that you see steam but no bubbles breaking the surface. If it does split, take it off the heat immediately and whisk in a splash of cold cream, which will often bring it back together.

Is chowder supposed to be thick?

Thick enough to coat a spoon heavily, but still a soup rather than a paste. Much of the body should come from the potato starch and only a little from flour. Restaurant chowder that stands up on its own is usually loaded with cornstarch, which is a modern shortcut rather than the traditional texture.

What is the difference between New England and Manhattan clam chowder?

New England chowder is white, made with milk or cream, and contains no tomato. Manhattan chowder is red and tomato-based with no dairy, and includes more vegetables. The two are genuinely different soups, and the regional rivalry between them is one of the longest-running food arguments in the United States.

Can I make clam chowder ahead of time?

Yes, and many cooks prefer it a day old. The cleanest method is to cook the base with the potatoes, cool and refrigerate it, then reheat gently and add the cream and clams just before serving so neither overcooks. A fully finished chowder also keeps three days as long as you reheat it slowly.

All recipes →