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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REPIN This Creamy Chowder Recipe
The best seafood chowder! Nice broth base & flavor divine. Never makes it past one day in my house.
Yum
Can I use vegetable broth? I am taking some out before I add the seafood for a Vegetarian student that my grandson is bringing home for Thanksgiving
You can, it has a slightly sweeter flavor but I’m sure it will still be delicious.
I had to triple this recipe and use breadbowls for an outdoor October birthday party…. when I say UM WOW that is an understatement … people were dipping bread into the bowl long after the soup was served… I was told this was Seafood Chowder taken to another level.
I used some imitation Crab and Lobster because it was cheaper – but used baby shrimp as well and only added extra old bay seasoning and some red pepper flakes—- Will use this recipe over and over — soooooooooooooo yum!!!
I am so happy to hear this recipe was a hit Jeannie!
Everything you crave in seafood chowder!
This Seafood Chowder is amazing! I left out the corn & potatoes & added more celery, carrots & onions. I also added scallops & salmon. Delicious
I really love all of your recipes..
This was amazing! Turned out better than some restaurant chowders I have had! It’s a keeper for sure.
Very good!
Can you opt out the white wine?
I can not have alcohol.. I take medications. What’s an alternative? Or can you just make the seafood chowder without the white wine?
Yes, you can omit it or replace it with additional chicken or seafood broth. Whichever you prefer!
Very subtle flavours. Used a pre made fish stock – would probably be better with home made.
Good for a cold night
My mom and I made this chowder together. We doubled the recipe and substituted the scallops (our grocery store didn’t have any) for crab meat. Oh my goodness, this recipe was so delicious. The prep work is a bit time consuming (we used fresh veggies and herbs) but it is definitely worth it in the end. This recipe will forever be a staple dish for my family.
awesome, made it without wine. thanks :-) . Time spent was in chopping the veggies and salmon :-)
Absolutely delicious quick and easy meal that tastes like it took a lot of work.
Delicious! Thank you for another fantastic recipe.
This is one of the best chowders I have ever made! Simple, not a lot of time needed and the flavors were awesome!!! I used Cod for my whitefish, and shucked clams from the seafood counter instead of canned clams. I used the seafood stock as well…. It was so DELICIOUS!!!
This is a great recipe – thank you. I’m using it to make a the fish as a starter for Christmas lunch. With regards to prepping a bit in advance, would I not be able to do up to and including step 2 and then just reheat to a simmer and start with step 3 on the day?
Hi Ryan, we have only made this recipe as listed but I think it should work well if you prepped up to step 2 and then finished the chowder on the day of.
It’s Christmas eve here and about to start it – thanks so much! Have a merry Christmas and happy new year.
Fantastic seafood chowder!!!
My wife and I both enjoyed it.
Couldn’t get the clams or scallops, and used a mix of fish (salmon, smoked coley, and white fish) with shrimp.
I will add 1/3 C. of flour next time as the broth was slightly thinner than I would like for a chowder, but the flavor was spot on.
This is a keeper for sure.
Thanks, Paul! Your substitutions sound great, thanks for sharing!
Can make it in advance and does that make sense ?
Hi Bill, I have not made this ahead of time so I can’t say for sure. But I would be concerned that the seafood doesn’t overcook if made ahead of time and reheating.
I’ve made this a few times. The only thing I change is I use 2 ribs of celery instead of a stalk since that is a lot of celery. Thanks for making a tasty chowder!
Generally, when a recipe calls for a stalk of celery, it’s asking for one rib, not the whole head of celery. What’s going on is language drift. At some point, the recipe definition of “stalk” diverged from the botanical definition. Sure, pedants will say “but the stalk is the entire bunch!”, and they’ll be technically correct1, but if a recipe calls for a stalk of celery, don’t cut up the entire head and add it to the pot.
We didn’t have old bay seasoning but had all the spices to make it. We used half n half instead of heavy cream and added bacon otherwise did everything as written. PHENOMENAL holy crapoly. THANK YOU. This will be on the recipe book for the ages!
So happy you loved it, Bonnie!
I love how this works up so fast.