LIGHTENED UP NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER
This healthy New England clam chowder recipe is creamy, comforting, and full of flavor without heavy cream. It’s cozy, lighter, and absolutely delicious!
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon light butter
- 3 ribs of celery
- 1/2 cup diced white onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed white pepper or black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 8 ounce bottle of clam juice
- 2 cups milk of choice, we used fat-free milk
- 6.5 ounce can of clams
- 1.5 pounds baby Yukon Gold potatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped
Instructions
- Chop the celery and dice the white onion. Then, cut the potatoes in half and then into quarters.
- Add the light butter to your Dutch oven or large pot and sauté the celery, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, Old Bay seasoning, and fresh chopped thyme. Cook these ingredients for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent and the celery is soft.
- Dust the flour on the ingredients in the Dutch oven and mix.
- Add the clam juice and milk to the Dutch oven. Also, drain the juice from the canned clams into the Dutch oven, but do not add the clams yet, reserve them for later.
- Add the chopped potatoes and bay leaf to the Dutch oven. Bring everything to a low simmer. It takes about 10 minutes for everything to start summering. Once it starts simmering, allow another 10 minutes for the ingredients to simmer, or until the potatoes are cooked. You can check if the potatoes are done by inserting a fork. Also, make sure to stir occasionally so the ingredients don’t stick.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, remove the bay leaf from the Dutch oven. Then, use a potato masher or a stick blender to mash the potatoes in the Dutch oven to the desired consistency.
- Add the clams to the Dutch oven and simmer for 5 more minutes.
- When the soup is done, sprinkle some chopped flat-leaf parsley on top and optional soup crackers. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Healthy: This New England clam chowder is lightened up. It is super creamy and there is no heavy cream and only a small amount of butter in this recipe. We used fat-free milk instead of cream.
- Milk to Use: I used fat-free milk in this clam chowder recipe. You can use any milk of your choice. Some other great options are nonfat milk, whole milk, oat milk, and unsweetened almond milk.
- Consistency: If you want to make the soup thinner in consistency you can always add more milk at the end once the soup is done.
- Clams: We used one can of canned clams in this recipe. If you want more clams in your clam chowder, you can absolutely use 2 cans of clams.
- Storage: Leftovers of this New England clam chowder will last 2- 3 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 263kcal | Carbohydrates: 48.2g | Protein: 11.8g | Fat: 3.4g | Saturated Fat: 1.9g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 757mg | Fiber: 4.3g | Sugar: 10.5g