Seafood Chowder is a delicious, rich creamy soup that is table ready in about 30 minutes!
Tender shrimp, fish and scallops are combined in a creamy white wine broth with veggies. This flavor packed chowder recipe is a comfort food that can be easily enjoyed at home any day of the week!
A really great New England Clam Chowder is one of our favorite ways to enjoy a bowl of comfort food. There is just something so belly warming about a creamy bowl of seafood goodness! This chowder recipe can be prepared on a weeknight because it cooks really quickly!
What is Chowder?
So what makes a soup a chowder?
A chowder is a type of soup that most often (not always) has a creamy base and is chunky in texture. There are a few variations of chowder: clam chowder, corn chowder, and of course, this seafood chowder!
I start by simmering the veggies in seafood or chicken broth for great flavor and then add in the seafood and cream to cook at the end! Chowders can sometimes be thickened using a roux and in the case of this seafood chowder recipe, the potatoes also provide quite a bit of starch to help it thicken it!
Seafood chowder is a complete meal on its own loaded with shrimp, scallops and fish. We add in a side of Easy Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits or Cheddar Bay Biscuits to sop up any of the creamy goodness at the bottom of the bowl!
When I make seafood chowder recipe, I always add corn for a color and a hint of sweetness. If you have extra vegetables you need to use up, this dish is perfect for it! Mushrooms, peppers, or peas all make great additions to this chowder!
How to Make Chowder
While some chowders take longer to cook (like my fave Slow Cooker Corn Chowder) this easy recipe is table ready in about 30 minutes!
- Cook onion in butter. Add flour.
- Add veggies, broth and wine and cook until tender.
- Stir in cream and seafood and simmer a few minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
You can add any kind of seafood into this chowder recipe; lobster, crab, salmon… just be mindful of cooking time so your seafood doesn’t overcook!
More Creamy Soup Recipes You’ll Love
- Baked Potato Soup – Comforting!
- Creamy Sausage & Cabbage Soup
- Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings
- Chicken Wild Rice Soup – Creamy and delicious!
- Easy Crock Pot Ham and Potato Soup
- Zuppa Toscana – Family favorite!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 rib celery sliced
- 1 carrot sliced
- 1 pound potatoes peeled and cubed
- ½ cup corn kernels
- 5 cups chicken broth or seafood broth
- ½ cup white wine
- 8 ounces white fish like cod, salmon, tilapia or haddock, cut into chunks
- 8 ounces sea scallops
- 12 ounces medium shrimp peeled and deveined
- 6.5 ounces chopped clams canned, drained
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Cook onion in butter until tender. Add flour, Old Bay seasoning and thyme and cook 2-3 minutes.
- Add carrot, celery, potato, corn, broth and wine & bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
- Stir in seafood and cream. Cook until fish is fully cooked and flaky and potatoes are tender, about 8-10 minutes.
- Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Soup
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This was amazing and will be the only recipe I use for seafood chowder from now on! I followed others’ advice and doubled the carrots and celery, used my own crab stock and thickened it at the end with corn starch. So delicious!
I’m going to make this today. This chowder sounds amazing and I can’t wait to try it. I was wondering what you would think about searing the Sea Scallops before adding to chowder at the end? This will be my first time making this and also my first time eating scallops. I’ve read many recipes about how to sear Sea Scallops and how amazing they taste. Can you tell me the difference in flavor of seared scallops versus raw scallops added to chowder? After I make this chowder I’ll post an update with how well it turns out. I’m excited to make it! I have all the ingredients plus fresh corn on the cob and fresh sugar snap peas (do you think sugar snap peas would go well in this chowder?). Thank you in advance for your responses to my questions!
I haven’t tried making this recipe with seared scallops but it sounds delicious. Be careful not to overcook them though as this can make them rubbery, especially since they are being cooked in the chowder. Snap peas would be lovely in this recipe too Jaki! Let us know how it tastes with your alterations :)
My mom always prefered to use Snows Clams when making Clam Chowder usialy theMincedClams
With lots of free time at home, I have more time to try new recipes.
This was incredible and a huge hit with my family (and I am usually the most critical of my cooking). I added much more bay seasoning because I didnt’ think I had any, but found a fresh container, additional thyme, didnt have scallops so two cans of whole clams instead. I bought 1/2 and 1/2 instead of whole cream and thinned it out with a bit of milk. The difference was the seafood broth in my opinion, I made it with shrimp shells , 1/2 carrot. 1/2 celery, two crushed garlic cloves and peppercorns. This recipe is a keeper and going in my family collection binder of recipes. Thank you so much!!
Those substitutions sound delicious Lory, thanks for sharing!
Love your recipes
Thanks Carol. We love being able to share them with you!
I need a recipe using frozen baked seafood
If using frozen seafood I would recommend letting it defrost fully then adding to the recipe as indicated. If precooked, you could reduce the time in step 3 to just until it is heated through.
Every one of your recipes look so yummy can’t wait to try this one
Amazing! I followed some reviewer’s suggestions and added extra old bay seasoning. I am eating leftovers at this very moment. Definitely a favorite in our house now!
Love this recipe!!! Why have I never thought of using Old Bay Seasoning in this way??? No Corn, Clams or Whitefish in this one (none on hand). Added a few strips of cooked bacon (diced up) with evaporated milk and just a splash of 1/2 & 1/2… Delicious!
Wonderful recipe! I did add 1/4 cup quinoa to make it healthier and it also thickened it up a bit. You need to cook a little longer than the 10 minutes for the quinoa to cook. Thank you!
Great recipe
I was a wee bit nervous making the liquid base because I had always used canned mushroom soup before. The liquid in this recipe is soooooo good I couldn’t stop “testing” it.
Thank you very much for a real “keeper”.
That is my biggest problem in the kitchen, Bob! I obviously have to test the recipes but then I am never hungry for supper!
This is definitely a keeper! After reading the reviews i did double the carrots…using baby carrots and the celery. I also only found a 10 oz. Can of clams which i used and used the juice from the clams, from the shrimp and scallops after they thawed toward the broth it call for. I also tripled the Old Bay seasoning, added a little lemon pepper too. After adding the cream i brought it back to a simmer and added the seafood at the last 5 minutes. I also thickened it a little more toward the end and let it sit 5 minutes before serving. This made dinner and 2 lunches for 2 people. I will be making it again as we absolutely loved it! It was a delicious 5 star recipe. Thankyou !!
This was way out of my usual wheelhouse for cooking. So easy and yet so ridiculously tasty! Will definitely be doing this again. I had no never heard of Old Bay seasoning so I just looked up substitutes and made my own. Also used fresh thyme and parsley instead.
This chowder is delicious! I didn’t put in the shrimp (we’re “shrimped out” lately because I use it so much) but it didn’t affect the flavors at all. Instead of cream, I used whole milk and a little half & half, and it was still creamy goodness. This recipe is a keeper.
Great recipe!! Everyone thought it was the best seafood chowder they had ever had.
Bought some prawns,crab claws and scallops from Costco seafood roadshow to put in the chowder. I substituted Cajun spice for the old bay seasoning and I also added two tsp’s of Sambal Oelek chili paste. I tried a few different seafood chowders at restaurants when visiting Halifax but this beat them all.
Awesome recipe! Incredibly easy. Made this for NYE for about 10 guests doubled this recipe) and they loved it! The only thing I would have done differently was either mixed the flour way more or just made a roux at the end to thicken it up.
I came across this recipe when I was looking for a way to cook some of the fish my husband brought back from an Alaskan fishing trip. Every time I make this everyone absolutely loves it and can’t get enough of it. I doubled the carrots, celery, and corn, used salmon and left out the scallops (too expensive in my land-locked state). I am so glad I found this recipe. Thanks!
Yum, that sounds wonderful Kay!
This was the most amazing chowder I have ever made! Everyone, including visitors from the Philippines, couldn’t stop raving about it. I tripled the recipe and used clams, mussels, cod, lobster, shrimp, added more potatoes, corn, and carrots then recommended and heavily seasoned it with black pepper and old bay. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Wow, was this delicious! Made this for my mother, who cannot cook, for Christmas. She’s in heaven. I’m going to teach her how to make this so she can cook something for her friends.
Ah, Melissa, that’s so great! I love that you’re going to show her how to cook it! Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Holly let me first say that you certainly do not look like you have a 26 year old son or daughter. Second of all, your seafood chowder recipe was a huge hit with our little group. I usually change up a thing or two in most recipes I find and use. I believe yours is the first where I did not touch a thing! I bought the freshest Seafood I could find at my favorite Market and it was an amazing dinner. My only exception with your post here is that with all the prep time it may take closer to an hour to fix but maybe I’m just slow with a knife. LOL. I’m glad I found your site. I’m going to be a big fan!
Thank you so much James! You have totally made my day and are too kind! I am so glad that this chowder was a hit with your group!