Do you love, love, love clam chowder! We certainly do. But we love this seafood chowder even more! Not only is every spoonful chock full of clams, but it has soft creamy crab meat and tender shrimp too.
Serve it piping hot with a crusty loaf of French bread for an absolutely fabulous winter meal.
Let’s get this chowder going so we can enjoy a hot steaming bowl sooner rather than later.
Begin by cutting bacon into 1 inch pieces.
In a large Dutch oven pan, cook diced bacon over medium heat until crisp.
Remove the bacon from the pan and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain; set aside.
Add butter to the bacon drippings in the pan.
Once butter is melted, sauté the celery, leek, and onion until tender.
Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Sprinkle flour into the pot and stir to combine with the vegetables. Cook until flour begins to brown slightly. This is the base for a roux and will thicken the soup.
Stir in the diced potato, chicken broth, clam juice from the two cans of chopped clams, marjoram, salt, pepper and the bay leaf.
Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20-30 minutes or until the chunks of potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally adding additional chicken broth if the mixture gets too thick.
Once potatoes are soft, whisk in half & half to the soup. Bring to a low simmer. Cook and stir over low heat until soup thickens 5-10 minutes.
Stir in the drained clams, shrimp, and crabmeat. Turn heat to low and heat through but do not boil, about 2-3 minutes.
Add in 2/3 of the cooked bacon, and season chowder to taste with Old Bay seasoning.
Crumble the remaining bacon.
To serve, garnish each bowl of chowder with crumbled bacon and fresh chopped chives or green onions.
Oh my goodness, this chowder is sooooo good! We each had two big helpings for dinner! Got more bread to go with it?
Rich & Creamy Seafood Chowder
Equipment
- Dutch oven pot
Ingredients
- 8-10 strips bacon
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 large leek, white part only, quartered and thinly sliced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into ½ inch chunks
- 2 cups chicken broth, plus more if needed to thin out soup
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried marjoram
- 4 cups half and half
- 2 (6½ oz) cans chopped clams with juice
- 6 oz shrimp
- 8 oz crab meat, shredded
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1-2 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
- 2 stalks green onion, or handful of chives sliced
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp.
- Remove bacon from the pot and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain; set aside.
- Add butter to the bacon drippings and sauté the celery, leek, and onion until tender.
- Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Sprinkle flour into the pot and stir to combine with the vegetables. Cook until flour begins to brown slightly. This is the base for a roux and will help to thicken the soup.
- Stir in the diced potato, chicken broth, clam juice from the two cans of chopped clams, salt, pepper and the bay leaf.
- Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20-30 minutes or until the chunks of potatoes are tender.
- Whisk in half and half to the soup. Bring to a low simmer. Cook and stir over low heat until soup thickens 5-10 minutes.
- Add in 2/3 of the cooked bacon, and season to taste with Old Bay seasoning.
- Crumble the remaining bacon.
- To serve, garnish each bowl of chowder with crumbled bacon and fresh chopped chives.
Did You Make This?
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