This delicious New England Clam Chowder recipe is lightened up a bit with a few simple tweaks, yet still just as creamy, hearty and delicious as ever!
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New England Clam Chowder Recipe | 1-Minute Video
New England Clam Chowder Ingredients
Here are a few brief notes about the ingredients you will need to make this New England clam chowder recipe:
- Bacon: I like using traditional bacon for this recipe, but you’re welcome to sub in turkey bacon instead.
- Veggies: Onion, celery and garlic will season our broth.
- Flour: Which we will use to make a roux and thicken the soup. Or you’re welcome to leave out the flour and just thicken the soup by mashing or pureeing some of the potatoes instead.
- Clam juice: One bottle, to help add extra clam-y flavor to the broth.
- Milk: I traditionally use 2% cow’s milk for this recipe, but any plain milk will do.
- Potatoes: Either Yukon gold or red potatoes.
- Seasonings: Bay leaf, Old Bay seasoning, dried thyme, salt and pepper
- Clams: 2 cans of minced clams
Plus whatever toppings you love. I like adding in some fresh chives or green onions, a dash of hot sauce, or some oyster crackers. That said, a nice slice of crusty bread (or a bread bowl) is also delicious with clam chowder.
How To Make Clam Chowder
To make this healthy clam chowder recipe, simply:
- Cook the bacon. Dice the bacon, then fry it in a large stockpot until cooked. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked bacon to a separate plate, and reserve about 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in the pan (discarding any extra).
- Sauté the veggies. Use the bacon grease to sauté the onion, carrots and garlic until softened.
- Add the remaining ingredients. Then add the clam juice, followed by the milk, potatoes and seasonings.
- Simmer until cooked. Bring the soup to a simmer (not a boil). Then reduce the heat to medium-low to continue the simmer, and let the soup cook until the potatoes have softened. You will need to stir the soup every few minutes so that the bottom does not burn.
- Add in the clams and season. Discard the bay leaf and add in the clams (with their juices) and half of the bacon. Then give the soup a good stir, taste, and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Serve warm. Garnished with the remaining bacon bits and any other toppings you’d like.
Clam Chowder Variations
If you would like to make some changes to this clam chowder soup, feel free to:
- Omit the bacon. If you would like to keep this recipe pescetarian, feel free to skip the bacon. You will need to add in some extra butter or oil to sauté the veggies. And I would also recommend adding in a bit of extra Old Bay seasoning for flavor.
- Make it gluten-free. Just skip adding the flour, and instead, mash (or puree) half of the potatoes in the soup to help thicken it.
- Make it spicy. If you would like to give your soup more of a kick, feel free to add in some hot sauce.
- Use different seasoning. If Old Bay seasoning isn’t available at your grocery store, you can substitute Cajun or Creole seasoning. Or if you prefer, feel free to just use Italian seasoning instead.
More Creamy Soup Recipes To Enjoy
Looking for more creamy soup recipes to try this season? Here are a few of our favorites:
- Three Potato Soup
- Lemony Orzo Chickpea Soup
- Creamy White Chicken Chili
- Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup
- Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden Copycat)
Lighter New England Clam Chowder
This delicious New England Clam Chowder recipe is lightened up a bit with a few simple tweaks, yet still just as creamy, hearty and delicious as ever!
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, ends trimmed and diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 (8 ounce) bottle clam juice
- 4 cups plain milk (I use 2% milk)
- 1 1/2 pounds Yukon gold or red potatoes, diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 (7-ounce) cans minced clams (not drained, keep the juice)
- sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
- optional garnish: chopped fresh chives or green onions, dash of hot sauce
Instructions
- Heat a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add diced bacon and cook until crispy, stirring occasionally. Transfer the bacon to a separate plate using a slotted spoon, reserving about 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in the stockpot. (Discard any extra grease, or you can substitute butter in place of the 2 tablespoons of bacon grease.)
- Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add celery and garlic, and sauté for an additional minute, stirring occasionally. Add flour* and stir until combined. Sauté for an additional minute to cook the flour, stirring occasionally. Add in the clam juice and stir until combined. Add in the milk, potatoes, bay leaf, Old Bay, thyme, half of the bacon bits and stir until combined. Continue cooking until the mixture reaches a simmer, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft, stirring every few minutes so that the bottom does not burn.
- Once the potatoes have softened, stir in the clams and half of the cooked bacon. Remove the bay leaf. Taste the soup, and then season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Serve warm, garnished with the remaining bacon bits and any other desired toppings. Or store in a sealed container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Notes
*Feel free to omit the flour and 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease if you would like to lighten this soup up a bit. And instead, to thicken the soup, simply mash or puree some of the potatoes before adding in the clams.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
Dear Ali, Let me start by saying I’ve been following you for years and have made many of your recipes with great success! I enjoy your sharing of travel and family stories so much!
I am a New Englander – a Yankee born and bred. I was tickled to see this recipe and printed it right off the bat and knew what was for dinner.
I am a very seasoned cook. I made this exactly as written. It really let me down. The flavor was off. I purchased canned clams from Bar Harbor, Maine, along with the clam juice from the same company. (I usually buy chopped clams at the fish counter, but they were out). I’m not sure what went wrong! It didn’t taste like clam chowder I’d share with friends. We ordered pizza. Sorry to give you a negative review. I know you work hard on your blog.
Enjoy you just the same, just wondering what it could have been. I did not throw it out yet- the ingredients are $$$. Maybe after it sits a day it will come through.
Hi Ally,
Living in Italy with an abundance of fresh clams (vongole) could I steam them open and use their liquid instead of using canned?
Thanks.
Hallo, Ali!
Thanks for sharing this recipe – I *love* clam chowder, and this version looks wondrous, and much more friendly to my waistline… I shall be giving it a go this week for sure.
One little, teensy quibble tho-
Discard the bacon grease? DISCARD the bacon grease??! Are you daft?
Being a good Southern Girl, one of the very first things that we learn in the kitchen is to ‘SAVE ALL bacon grease’. The stuff is liquid gold for a lot of recipes (and yes, I know, not the healthiest, but used in moderation…). Besides – you can’t make real cornbread without it.
Cheers!
My honey is not fond of the texture of clams, so I was thinking of chopping up shrimp instead of the 2 cans of clams. Would you still use the bottle of clam juice for ‘seafood-y’ flavor, or do you think you would sub something else?
Sure, you could definitely sub in shrimp. And I would recommend still using the clam juice (or any other preferred kind of seafood stocks) to give the broth some extra flavor. :) Enjoy!
This looks delicious!
Bacon makes everything better.
It would be nice if you could publish the calories and nutritional info for your recipes. This one sounds great, but I wanted to make sure it’s low enough in calories for me to eat, so I did the calculation. It’s 1758 for the whole recipe. If you divide it into 6 servings, it’s 293 per serving. Not bad at all! Thanks so much! I’m looking forward to trying it!
Hi Cheryl! The reason we currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site is the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. That said, we’re glad you were able to get a good estimate from one of the calculators and we hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi Ali-
I love ALL your recipes and posts! I have been using your recipes for a few years now, and I can make several by heart now without even looking at the recipe! But this….THIS is my new favorite. I have never made clam chowder before, and as New Englanders, my boyfriend and I are tough chowder critics. This was AMAZING, even better than some restaurant versions I have had. My boyfriend is not a huge bacon fan, so next time I may try only adding the bacon to my portion at the end, or maybe just using a little less. I have always thought that making chowder would be difficult but it was so easy and so good! Thank you!
Hi Joanna! Thank you for taking the time to leave such a sweet comment — we’re so happy you enjoyed this recipe! :)
Looks very nice and delicious recipe. I made this for my family and all are surprised Thanks for sharing!
We’re glad you and your family enjoyed it, Maria!
Just the title of this makes me feel all warm and cozy! I love clam chowder!
Thank Ali
We hope you enjoy the recipe, Sabrina! :)
This is the best clam chowder i have ever eaten,it will be my forever receipt.
Thanks Donalda, we’re thrilled that you loved it! :)