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A 30-Minute Seafood Chowder Recipe
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A 30-Minute Seafood Chowder Recipe

A new recipe + My Chowder Blueprint for Making Any Chowder

Kymberley Pekrul's avatar
Kymberley Pekrul
Apr 08, 2025
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Live Fully Nourished @GfreeDeliciously
Live Fully Nourished @GfreeDeliciously
A 30-Minute Seafood Chowder Recipe
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Easy Seafood Chowder in 30 Minutes!

My dear hubby first concocted this seafood chowder when he altered a recipe in one of my favorite Door County Wisconsin cookbooks. I vividly remember the first time he made it because of how wonderful the house smelled when I opened the door to walk in after a long day at work. Seafood scents mingled with simple veggies in a creamy, silky chowder base to fill the air with an intoxicating, savory aroma. The delicious sensory symphony it created was too good to ignore.

Lively Talk and Dreaming

Coincidently, my co-workers and I had been dreaming about warmer weather and sunny, laid-back coastal trips over lunch. Lively talk flourished around the breakroom table about gorging ourselves with seafood while enjoying the sights and sounds of imaginary waters splashing upon docks and the squawks of gulls flying overhead. So, this recipe was a perfect punctuation point after my lunch of dreaming at the end of my day.


Similar Yet Different

Some people will debate about what makes a soup a chowder- or if chowder is a type of soup at all or if it's its own thing. In my earlier years, whenever I came across someone who might talk recipes, I would have argued that a chowder must have seafood- but then there's potato chowder and corn chowder- and probably others if I were to think about it longer.

No matter what kind you're making, friends around this neck of the woods will claim that chowder must have a white base. Still, others from out east will cast their votes for a tomato veggie base for traditional Manhattan clam chowder.

Regardless of your feelings, you may think this recipe for chowder is just another rendition of my previous rustic creamy ham and potato soup, which features chunks of tender potatoes and ham simmered in a flavorful cream broth. While there are similarities, I would tell you there are a lot of subcategories of soup (even those that you can serve cold - though you'd never serve chowder that way). But I also consider that soup rustic because the chunky ingredients are less than the creamy base, making it slightly thinner, lighter, and less filling, depending on how much you put in your bowl. You might deem it a stew if it were the other way around.

All that aside, this creamy and satisfying recipe is undoubtedly classified as a chowder.

So, while soups can be thinner and lighter, chowder stands out for its rich and thick consistency. Similar to stew, you'll make this seafood chowder with sizeable pieces of seafood and vegetables, most notably potatoes.


How to get this recipe:

You can access the Seafood Chowder digital recipe card on GfreeDeliciously.com. Once there, you can easily adjust the servings, add ingredients to your grocery list, read about the equipment and resource recommendations we’ve used to make it, and quickly print, pin, or favorite it!

Keep scrolling 👇 for a quick summary of the recipe below. 👩‍🍳

As an added benefit to paid subscribers, you can download a 3-ring-binder-ready printable recipe PDF and my Quick Reference Chowder Blueprint for free. Find them at the end of this post to print or save for building a cookbook of all your favorites!


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Live Fully Nourished @GfreeDeliciously is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.


What is Chowder?

Chowder is a creamy, rich, thick soup that often contains potatoes. Seafood chowders are a staple in the Northeast, with New England clam chowder (a chowder recipe for another post) being the most renowned variety. Other seafood chowders forgo clams in favor of ingredients like scallops, shrimp, lobster, crab, or even fish such as cod or smoked salmon.

In contrast, there are midwestern and southwestern chowders that incorporate fresh corn whenever possible. While midwestern corn chowders lean toward the less spicy side, southwestern-inspired chowders are known for warm Mexican spices and adding poblano and other peppers to boost the flavor. Due to the limited availability of seafood in these regions, these chowders typically rely on meats such as bacon, ham, chicken, or chorizo. They also use their fats (rendered from them) to cook veggies and add flavor instead of butter or oil.

Certainly, chowder can be meatless. Meat and seafood aren't essential for preparing chowder. You can craft a flavorful vegetarian version by mixing hearty vegetables such as potatoes or sweet potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, parsnips, or winter squash and using olive oil to keep the dish meat-free.

The Chowder Blueprint

Thus, the chowder recipe you'll find below invites you to experiment. It's a blueprint and a technique for making chowder. All the chowder "ingredients" are not strictly defined; you can use whatever you have on hand or choose the ones you like. And maybe the best part is that this method, like most chowder recipes, takes only about 30 minutes (+/-) from start to finish!


💭 Before you get started...

Of all the variations you might run across, there are a few defining rules that make chowder what it is:

The Defining Rules for Making a Chowder

  • Chowder always has a chunky texture. Unlike a bisque, smooth purée, or even a rustic soup, it falls somewhere between soup and stew.

  • A genuine chowder should have a thickening ingredient, such as a roux, slurry, or milky cream. The consistency should be notably rich, thick, and hearty, featuring a creamy texture.

  • Potatoes are a must – whether small and halved, skin-on or skin-off, cubed or diced, and from varieties like Russet, Yukon Gold, Red, or new potatoes, the dish usually includes potatoes.

  • It often includes pork, most commonly bacon, though this is not always true. Adding or serving with bacon or other smoked pork imparts a unique smoky flavor to the chowder. That is, unless you’re making vegetarian chowder.

  • Finally, it's always served hot. Cold chowder would just be weird.

So, there you have it. Everything- well, almost everything you’ll need to make most any chowder. You could also use my handy Quick Reference Chowder Blueprint, which is a great help. Paid subscribers to this eNewsletter will find it below for free, in addition to the binder-formatted recipe download.

For anyone who can’t swing the paid membership right now, never fear; you can pay what you can to get the chowder blueprint, too.

GET THE BLUEPRINT

Now, for a funny chowder joke:

The owner of a seafood restaurant sends one of his sons undercover to his rival's restaurant.

The owner tells him to get a job as a cook, and figure out the recipe for the rival chef's famous clam chowder.

The first day, the son comes home with a basic list of ingredients that the rival chef uses. They try making it, but it doesn't turn out the same. The owner sends him back.

The second day, the son comes home having watched the rival chef prepare the chowder. They try again to make it, and it's close, but the consistency is off. it's too watery. They try to figure out what they're doing wrong, and the son realizes that he was distracted for a minute while the chef did something.

"He must have added a secret ingredient, one not on the list, while you looked away!" concludes the owner. He sends his son back for a third day, this time telling him not to take his eyes off the chef for a second.

The son comes back the next day excited.

"You'll never believe what I saw!" he says. "He did have a secret ingredient, it's pages from a book!"

"Pages from a book?" Replies the owner.

"Yeah, that’s right says the son. When he makes the chowder, the chef tears small bits off of the pages and mixes it in. It's the strangest thing, but that's the secret ingredient."

"Ah," says the owner, "I see, the plot thickens."

Thanks for stopping by. Have a happy time chowdering it up!

Picture the recipe step-by-step:

Would you prefer to recreate this seafood chowder visually, step-by-step? View the easy-to-follow photos over on the main website.

From assembling the ingredients to adding the seafood and thickening it up, each step will ensure your seafood chowder is lip-smackingly delicious!

Seafood Chowder

Gluten-Free + Corn-Free, Egg-Free, Healthy Choices, Low-Carb, Nut-Free, Soy-Free, Quick & Easy

Flavorful and comforting, this deliciously decadent and easy-to-make seafood chowder will be ready in about 30 minutes. It is also highly adaptable to include almost any type of seafood you have readily available. We make this recipe exceptionally budget-friendly by using shrimp and imitation crab or lobster bites that are easy to find at your local grocery store. Delicious! So, what are you waiting for? It's time to stop dreaming about that someday coastal getaway and make some seafood chowder!

Equipment

  • 1 Large Dutch Oven or Heavy Pot

  • 1 Medium Saucepan

  • 1 Large Glass Measuring Cup

  • 1 Cutting Board

  • Utensils (Cooks Knife, Measuring Cups and Spoons, Large Spoon, Soup Ladle)

Ingredients

  • Starch

    ▢ 4 cups Yukon Gold potatoes or substitute Red, Russets, or new potatoes, remove any bad spots or eyes, chunked into ½ pieces

  • Base Veggies

    ▢ 1 cup Carrot, grated

    ▢ 1 cup frozen Peas

    ▢ ½ cup Onion, chopped

  • Aromatics

    ▢ 1 tablespoon dried Parsley flakes

    ▢ 4 teaspoons Chicken Boullion Base [1]

    ▢ 1 teaspoon table Salt

    ▢ ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper

  • Broth / Liquid

    ▢ 4 cups water [1]

    ▢ 6 cups Milk, scalded

  • Protein

    ▢ 1 pound Seafood, we typically use ½ pound of thawed precooked shrimp and a thawed 8-ounce package of imitation crab or lobster.

  • Thickener

    ▢ ½ cup gluten-free All-Purpose Flour

  • Fat

    ▢ 4 tablespoons unsalted Butter

Instructions

  1. In a large Dutch Oven or heavy pot, combine the starch (potatoes), base veggies, and aromatics; add enough broth/liquid (this recipe uses about 4 cups water [1]) to cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil, immediately reduce the heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes become fork-tender. Do not drain.

  2. Meanwhile, using a medium saucepan, scald the milk by heating it slowly to 180°F or until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Scalding will take about 15 minutes (+/-) on medium-high heat. Watch closely so as not to boil.

  3. Ladle 1 ½ cups of the scalded milk into a large glass measuring cup. Add the butter to the cup with the milk.

  4. Slowly whisk the flour into the butter and milk a little at a time until it's fully incorporated.

  5. Pour the butter, flour, and milk mixture into the undrained vegetable mixture, flooding it into the liquid, then whisking it briskly to avoid clumps. Once combined, heat to boiling, continually whisking until it thickens. Immediately reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the seafood. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

  6. If desired, serve hot with crusty bread or gluten-free table crackers [2]. Additionally, you can top it with fresh parsley, bacon bits, grated cheddar cheese, or scallions.

Kitchen Notes:

Footnotes:

[1] We've used chicken boullion base and water instead of straight chicken broth to create the brothy base for convenience in this recipe. Feel free to substitute prepared chicken broth and eliminate the chicken boullion base.

[2] While oyster crackers with chowder are the traditional crackers served, I've never found gluten-free oyster crackers, so gluten-free table crackers or crusty bread is a good second choice.

Enjoy the Recipe! Scroll to the end for the downloadable PDF, which you can print and save to your recipe binder.

L♥VE this recipe? Have you tweaked it to be over-the-top delicious? Have a question? Please let everyone know in the comments below! 😉 It’s super helpful for other readers and me.

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Are you looking for more recipes?

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