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Thick and Creamy New England Clam Chowder
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 people 1x
- Category: Main Course, Soup
- Cuisine: American
Description
This homemade New England clam chowder recipe is so comforting and creamy. It’s loaded with clams and potatoes and makes a really delicious and hearty lunch or dinner!
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 sweet onion
- 2 large garlic cloves, grated
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 medium russet potatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 bottle clam juice
- 3 cans chopped clams, undrained
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Prep: Begin by finely dicing the onion and mincing the garlic. Peel the russet potatoes and dice them into bite sized pieces.
- Sauté: Melt the butter in a 6qt. dutch oven or other large soup pot. Add the onions and garlic and let them cook over medium heat until golden and starting to caramelize, about 10 minutes. Add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer.
- Blend: Using a soup ladle, carefully scoop the mixture into a blender (if you own an immersion blender you can use that instead). Blend the mixture on high speed until completely smooth. Pour the mixture back into the dutch oven.
- Cook: Add the diced potatoes to the cream mixture as well as the bay leaves, sea salt, ground black pepper, and milk. Cook uncovered over medium heat for 25-30 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
- Simmer: Remove the bay leaves and discard them. Add the bottle of clam juice and the cans of chopped clams. Make sure you don’t drain the canned clams! To thicken the soup, make a cornstarch slurry. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and water until fully combined. Pour the mixture into the soup and stir really well so that it dissolves. Bring the soup to a light simmer and allow it to cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Enjoy!
What Can You Use To Thicken Clam Chowder?
For this recipe, I use a cornstarch slurry which is a 1 part cornstarch to 2 parts water combination. This works really well to thicken the soup as well as allow it to be remain gluten free. If you eat wheat, you can thicken the soup using flour by making a roux in the beginning. Sauté the onions and garlic as stated in the recipe instructions and then add in 4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour. It will make a very thick paste. Add the heavy cream in and whisk until the roux has dissolved into the cream then follow the remaining steps of this recipe.
Some people use nothing to thicken the chowder other than the starch from the potatoes. It’s your preference on which method you choose to use!