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!
Creamy Seafood Chowder
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 teaspoon old bay seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon thyme
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 stalk celery sliced
- 1 carrot sliced
- 1 pound potatoes peeled and cubed
- ½ cup corn
- 5 cups broth seafood or chicken
- ½ cup white wine
- 8 ounces white fish cut into chunks (cod/salmon/tilapia/haddock)
- 8 ounces scallops
- 12 ounces shrimp peeled and deveined
- 6 ½ ounce chopped clams canned, drained
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon 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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Holly’s recipes are ALWAYS superb. Never made one I didn’t like, including this one! Keep up the GREAT work.
I made this chowder. It was good, my family liked it, but I wasn’t crazy for it. It didn’t seem to have much depth of flavor. I thought it was more “fishy” flavored than “seafood-y”. I’ve been thinking about it, but I can’t come up with what would give that extra oomph. Maybe lose the fish and add clams instead. (Or clam juice maybe.)
Clam juice would probably be delicious Mary! We have a clam chowder recipe that might be exactly what you are looking for.
5 OUTTA 5!!! sooooo good. i did double some of the veggies. added extra salt and pepper after if was done. i do feel like you could add double the clams. soooo good. husband hates soup usually and he says i could make this once a week! thank you
a very good recipe for old bay seasoning!! beacuse i couldnt find it eaither
Can you please tell me what is old bay seasoning and can I replace it with something similar as I live in Australia
Old Bay Seasoning is a popular seafood seasoning. You can find it on Amazon, so hopefully, you can try it! In any case, you can see what it looks like, and look for a seafood seasoning in Australia. Enjoy Karen!
I’ve tried looking for it here a while back. You can’t buy old Bay seasoning in Australia because it has a plant that is classified as banned in Australia. Hope this helps
Hi I got mine online from USA Foods Australia based in Melbourne hope this helps
Haven’t made it yet
Seem easy to cook and look tasty.
This chowder was fantastic! However gets only 4 stars as I doubled the amount of seafood and fish and wish I had done the same with the veggies. Plus next time I will add half the amount of broth as there are 2 quarts of the lovely creamy liquid in my refrigerator with a smiggen of veggies & seafood in it. I do not want to toss it out so will come up with something to do with it. This will definitely be my go-to recipe with modifications as noted abive in future.
This recipe is amazing. The broth is spot on. It’s not a thick soup which we like. I used no fat cream which still gave it a creamy texture. I did add a few cloves of garlic to mine as we love garlic. I’ll be making this again. Thank you
You are welcome Donna! So glad that you love this chowder.
Holly,
This is ANOTHER 5-star recipe from your site! Over the past year, I have found so many great cooking tips and meal ideas here on Spend With Pennies, and am finally writing a review/comment. Thank-you, THANK-YOU!!
I made this seafood chowder as written with cod, shrimp, clams, lump crab meat, and scallops! It was a huge hit!
I’m so glad you loved it Stephanie! Thank you so much for coming back and leaving your review, I truly appreciate it!
I have tried several different recipes but, so far, I like this one the best. Mine could have been a little thicker but it’s probably because I used half and half instead of heavy cream. The only other thing I did differently was used lump crab meat instead of scallops.DELICIOUS!
I made this tonight & it turned out great. My husband loves it too. I’ll make it again.
Oh my god, this was delish.
Have this on the stove for dinner. Second time I have made it. I did add more Old Bay being a girl from the Eastern Shore Maryland….we put it on just about everything. I like to try different seafood….this time….grouper, shrimp and lobster. Love this recipe.
This recipe is a great launching place. I follow its guidance, and add a lot more Old Bay and thyme. I never have white wine in the house, so I skip that piece, and add more broth, but I also add a bit more flour to thicken up the rue. I go hearty with more vegetables and more seafood. But the component parts are all spot on, so you can play with them to suit your taste buds. I also make Red Lobster like cheese rolls to pair with it, making it a real crowd pleaser that no one minds having for leftovers.
Seriously tasty and easy to put together. We talked about the beach throughout dinner! I used a bag of Trader Joe’s seafood mix and some fish fillets. Thanks for the recipe!
This was so quick and easy to make and turned out as good as any restaurant chowder. I had all the ingredients in my pantry too! I used the turkey stock I had made from our Christmas turkey, and frozen prawns, scallops and trout.
I did not have “Old Bay Seasoning”, but I found a recipe to copycat the blend from my own spice collection. I couldn’t believe how wonderful it made the soup taste.
Love the soup
Question, can I do this in the crockpot or cook it and put it on warming in the crock pot. I am taking this to my family’s for NYE and wanted to cook it earlier in the day before the craziness. See, I’m not a “seafood” person, however a few years ago while in Ireland I finally caved into trying their seafood chowder. WOW!!! What have I been missing. Glad I discovered this early in our trip because I had a cup at every place we went and it was simply amazing. Fast-forward to today, not much has changed and I haven’t expanded my seafood selection for fear of having something that taste “fishy”. I decided to step out of my comfort zone and cook this. I’m excited and nervous. I will let you know how it goes, but by everyone’s review, I feel like this will be a hit….fingers crossed I don’t mess it up :)
My only concern would be that the seafood would overcook if left on warm. I might suggest you prepare the soup up until adding the seafood and then if you have stove space, prepare the final step when you arrive and let it simmer 10 minutes.
Let us know how it goes for you Connie!
This looks delicious
Would smoked salmon work in this chowder?
Yes, smoked salmon should work in this chowder.
Thanks! I’ll add some to the clams, shrimp, and scallops.