Best Seafood Chowder Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What makes chowder taste like chowder? ›

What Is Clam Chowder Supposed to Taste Like? New England clam chowder is a mix of creamy soup and briny, salty, chewy clams. This is complemented with soft onions, celery, and cubed potatoes. Seasonings like pepper enhance the soup, preventing it from being bland.

For the creamiest chowder, you'll want to use heavy cream. If you don't have or don't want to use heavy cream, you could use a light cream, but you'll want to mix in about 1 Tbsp of cornstarch with the lighter cream before adding to the soup, to help thicken the soup.

Consider either a Kale salad, Caesar salad, or coleslaw. Shy away from action-packed salads with things like nuts, cheese, avocado and other fatty ingredients since they compete with the heaviness of the clam chowder. Stick to light lettuces with simple ingredients for the optimal pairing with this dish.

Chowder is a soup with cream or milk mixed with ingredients such as potatoes, sweet corn, smoked haddock, clams and prawns, etc. Some cream-style chowders do not use cream, and are instead prepared using milk and a roux to thicken them.

Unlike cream, which runs the risk of splitting once added, evaporated milk can be mixed into the chowder's entourage when the clams are added. Thus, a steamy bowl of clam chowder is created, whose flavor whole-heartedly sings with a warming fishy essence. It's rich, it's divine, it's utterly moreish.

Stir in miso

Sometimes it is because the potatoes have soaked up the salt or the base is just too thick, and the chowder is weak in flavor and has a heavy texture. If you find your clam chowder leaning into no-flavor-land, try adding a bit of miso paste to the pot for a rich umami kick.

Half-and-half and butter plus butter

You can also use half-and-half to replace heavy cream without adding butter in certain recipes, such as sauces and soups. To substitute for 1 cup (237 mL) of heavy cream, mix 7/8 cup (232 grams) of half-and-half with 1/8 cup (29 grams) of melted butter.

The most classic and surefire way to thicken a broth-based soup is with a cornstarch slurry. Whisk together equal parts cornstarch (or arrowroot) and water or broth, then whisk it into the pot of soup. A good ratio to get to a pleasant thickness without your soup tasting goopy or heavy is one tablespoon.

Rich Seafood Chowder

This creamy, delectable soup is even better the next day. It also works well with scallops or a flaky whitefish....

Sourdough bread is a popular option but you can use any bread that you prefer. If you're eating clam chowder from an actual bowl, I suggest serving it with these buttery Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

What side dish goes with chowder? ›

Chowder is rich, salty and creamy, so the accompaniments must take this into account. Crunchy oyster crackers, Caesar salad and bread are good companions. I like to eat chowder with barely-cooked fish like fresh tuna and salmon.

Russets or all-purpose baking potatoes are high in starch and low in moisture. In soups, they will soak up the liquid and lose their shape. This makes them the ideal choice for making creamy soups or thickening a runny soup. Try using Russet potatoes to create the perfect Loaded Potato Soup.

You really only have three choices when it comes to dairy for your chowder. You can use whole milk (hom*o milk), you can use heavy cream, or you can use a combination of the two. Any milk with a fat content lower than 3.25% is likely to split when heat, salt, acid, or even the seafood is added.

Many regional variations exist, but the three most prevalent are New England or "white" clam chowder, which includes milk or cream, Manhattan or "red" clam chowder, which includes tomatoes, and Rhode Island or "clear" clam chowder, which omits both.

Sometimes, this can occur when the chowder sits in the fridge, as the texture and taste become watered-down, as mentioned by FoodsGuy. Or, when you're adding salt to the soup while the potatoes are cooking, the potatoes may absorb all that saltiness and leave the broth wanting more, explains DeadSpin.

Defined by its chunkiness, chowder also features large morsels of ingredients like seafood and potatoes, as stated by MasterClass. In comparison to soup, chowders tend to have a creamier mouthfeel thanks to heavy cream or milk that are prominent in a range of seafood and corn chowder recipes.

Bacon, clams, and heavy cream make this soup rich, hearty, and satisfying. In addition to those ingredients, you'll also find onions, celery, and potatoes in this soup. New England chowder is almost always topped with oyster crackers, small pillowy crackers that act as the perfect vehicle for flavor.