Recipe Roundup

31 Best Clam Chowder Recipes (and More Recipes to Make With Clams)

Clams get the star treatment in these grilled, steamed, boiled, and chowdah'd recipes.
Looking for Feast of the Seven Fishes dishes This clam toast with pancetta is a great Italian seafood recipe to include...
Photo by Laura Murray

It's hard to pick a favorite clam chowder recipe. Maybe you're partial to a creamy bowl with lots of thyme, or a tomato-based option, or a mixed-seafood chowder made with clams and cod. Bacon? Sure. Oyster crackers on top? Up to you. Still, you're missing out if you only use clams in chowder: clams are a great sustainable seafood choice that goes way beyond that classic. Below, you'll find clam chowder recipes galore, plus foolproof clams casino, a grilled clambake, epic clam-topped toast, easy pasta with clams, perfect fried clams, garlicky clam pizza, and many more. So pick up a few pounds at your local seafood market (or get digging!) and read on below.

  • Spaghetti alle vongole with chopped parsley in white wine sauce in a skillet.
    Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Stevie Stewart
    1/51

    Spaghetti Alle Vongole (Pasta With Clams)

    The briny juices from the clams help to flavor this brothy pasta sauce. Do note, the fresher the clams, the better the dish. The salinity of your clams will vary depending on their variety and provenance, so be sure to salt the pasta cooking water lightly.

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  • 2/51

    New England Clam Chowder

    This classic clam chowder recipe starts with cherrystone clams, plus garlic, potatoes, bacon, celery, onion, and heavy cream. Fresh clams are ideal, but if you can't find any, you can make this with two 10-ounce cans of baby clams and 6 cups of bottled clam juice.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau, Prop Styling by Amy Wilson, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou
    3/51

    Clams With Spicy Tomato Broth and Garlic Mayo

    If you don't have a grill, just heat the cast-iron skillet over medium on your stovetop. Inside or out, you’ll still have buttery clams to enjoy.

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  • Photo by Romulo Yanes
    4/51

    Clam and Corn Chowder

    Full of sweet corn, smoky bacon, and delightfully briny clams, this light summer chowder is like having a whole New England clambake in a bowl.

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  • Photo by Laura Murray
    7/51

    Clam Toasts with Pancetta

    Shellfish and pork are a power duo. The backbone of this clam toast is a salty-sweet pancetta soffritto with onions, fennel, and lemon zest, which add a sweet, bright flavor.

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  • Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott
    8/51

    Clam and Cod Chowder

    Satisfyingly meaty pieces of cod add heartiness to this chowder. If you can't find it, any firm white fish can be used in its place.

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  • Photo By Alex Lau, Food Styling By Susie Theodorou, Prop Styling By Emily Eisen
    9/51

    Skillet Cod, Clams, and Corn With Parsley

    You don’t need pasta to enjoy clam sauce. Here it mingles with fresh corn to top delicate pan-seared cod fillets.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Kate Schmidt
    10/51

    Grilled Clambake With Miso-Lime Butter

    In this festive feast, all the best components of a classic clambake—potatoes, shrimp, corn on the cob—get an extra layer of flavor via gingery miso butter.

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  • Photo by Cedric Angeles
    13/51

    Grilled Clams With Herb Butter

    When spooned over smoky, just-off-the-grill clams, the herb-flecked butter melts into the briny juices to create a delicious, effortless sauce.

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  • Photo by Diana Yen
    14/51

    Seafood Chowder with Bacon and Thyme

    It's a classic for a reason: Yukon gold potatoes, bacon, leeks, haddock (or cod), and a few pounds of clams. Dosed with cream, it's comfort food extraordinaire. 

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  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
    15/51

    Kimchi Soup With Tofu and Clams

    Two flavor powerhouses—bright, spicy kimchi and savory, briny clams—create a soup fast enough to make on even the most hectic weeknight. 

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  • Photo by Elizabeth Cecil
    16/51

    Crispy Gnocchi With Littleneck Clams

    Don’t be tempted to disturb the gnocchi when browning—the hands-off approach is key to letting them develop a deep brown color on one side.

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  • Photo by Christopher Testani
    17/51

    Instant Pot Thai Coconut Clams

    These Thai-inspired clams from Melissa Clark are salty, tangy, and rich from the coconut milk. If you have an Instant Pot, put this clam recipe on your must-make list.

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  • Photo by Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott, Prop Styling by Kalen Kaminski, Food Styling by Andy Baraghani
    18/51

    Paccheri With Shellfish, Squid, and Tomatoes

    Yes, seafood cooks quickly, but sometimes it's worth it to spend some time building layers of flavor into a sauce as you would with a big pot of ragù.

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  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
    19/51

    Pasta With Clams, Corn, and Basil Pesto

    This recipe for pasta with clams just screams summer, thanks to fresh basil, sweet corn, and a little white wine.

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  • Photo by David Malosh, Prop Styling by Cindy DiPrima, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich
    20/51

    Clams Arrabbiata

    If you like your clams hot, spicy, and flavorful, this pancetta-laced Chris Morocco recipe is for you.

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  • Marcus Nilsson
    23/51

    Fregola with Clams

    Similar in size to pearl couscous, fregola is a toasted, bead-shaped pasta. If you can't find it, any small pasta will work.

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  • Jeremy Liebman
    24/51

    One-Pot Clam Bake

    Add a personal touch to this otherwise traditional clambake by using a homemade chile-thyme spice mix in place of the old yellow box.

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  • Photo by Jonny Valiant
    25/51

    Clam, Chard, and Bacon Pizza

    Briny, sweet clams meet smoky bacon and bitter Swiss chard in this skillet-cooked pizza. If it's grilling season where you are, the pizza also fares exceptionally well when cooked over an open flame.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau
    26/51

    Clams in White Bean Sauce

    Top lemony steamed clams with a crisp fennel and parsley salad for an easy, elegant dinner.

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  • Photo by Francesco Tonelli
    33/51

    Manhattan Clam Chowder

    Packed with sweet, confit cherry tomatoes, this fancy spin on the classic other chowder comes from Daniel Humm and Will Guidara of New York City's NoMad and Eleven Madison Park restaurants.

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  • Photo by Bobby Fisher
    34/51

    Clams with Chorizo, Leeks, Tomato, and White Wine

    You need the fresh, soft, fiery red version of chorizo for this dish, the kind that bleeds out bright red-orange grease into the pot when you heat it.

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  • Photo by Romulo Yanes
    35/51

    Seafood Empanaditas

    These plump, fried hors d'oeuvres, a seafood variation on Chile's signature baked onion-and-meat-filled empanadas, are hot and juicy. Have plenty of napkins ready.

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  • Photo by Tara Donne
    36/51

    Shellfish and Potatoes à la Marinière

    White wine and briny shellfish juices are puréed with parsley to create a light sauce so flavorful, it needs only a touch of butter in this dish from world-renowned chef Alain Ducasse.

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  • Dominique Lafond
    49/51

    Fat Rice

    The generous pot of aromatic rice, curry-scented chicken, and (much) more can be traced back to Macau, the former Portuguese colony in China, where it's almost always served at home. It's the namesake dish at Chicago's acclaimed restaurant, Fat Rice.

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  • Diane Fields
    50/51

    Miso Clam Chowder

    Just a few tablespoons of miso add deep, rich flavor to this clam chowder recipe from John Anderes of Telegraph in Chicago.

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Following stints at StarChefs and Saveur, Joe joined Epicurious in 2016 where he’s written about how to make the very best biscuits, the singularity of third-culture cooking, and the ultimate cream cheese frosting. Currently, he works across both BA and Epi as the senior SEO editor for cooking stories, which ... Read More
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