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.

Flour: Thicken the chowder up with all-purpose flour. Seasonings: Season the fish chowder with Old Bay seasoning, salt, and pepper. Evaporated milk: Evaporated milk makes the chowder even thicker and richer. Bacon: Top each bowl of fish chowder with crumbled bacon.

Chowder vs. Soup: What's the Difference? While soups can be thin and light, a chowder is characterized by being rich and thick. Like stew, it contains large chunks of meat or seafood and vegetables, notably potatoes.

Use heavy cream instead of milk for a richer consistency. Sauté onions, celery, and potatoes in butter before adding to the soup. Add thyme and bay leaves for added aroma and flavor. Simmer the soup for a longer time to allow the flavors to meld together.

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.

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.

Customarily, chowder included onion, potatoes, and cream. Nowadays, not all chowders adhere to these guidelines. New England Clam Chowder is sometimes made with milk, whereas Manhattan Clam Chowder doesn't have any milk or cream but has a tomato base instead.

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.

The shortcut to making anything taste good is sizzling some onions and garlic in oil, and canned clam chowder is no exception. Sauteed alliums (onions, garlic, and other related vegetables) will add complexity, savoriness, and sweetness to your canned soup, lending it just a touch of homemade flavor.

New England clam chowder is thick, creamy, and milky-white. Manhattan clam chowder is tomatoey, brothy, and clear. Both types share a clean, briny, and slightly-sweet flavor thanks to the clams—but that's about it.