Seafood Chowder

3.54 from 28 votes

Thick, creamy, rich, and delicious, this Seafood Chowder is as good as anything you'd get in a restaurant on the coast! Loaded with shrimp and fish, it's versatile and amazing!

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Course: Soups & Stews

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chowder, creamy soup, easy soup, seafood chowder, seafood soup

Servings: servings

Calories: 336kcal

Ingredients

5 slices bacon chopped
1/4 cup butter
1 onion diced
2 stalks celery diced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/3 cup all purpose flour
3 cups seafood broth
8 ounces clam juice
3 cups diced potatoes
8 ounces cod or other firm white fish
8 ounces baby shrimp
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

Add the chopped bacon to a heavy-bottomed soup pot and cook it until it's brown and crispy, about 8 minutes. Set the bacon aside and remove all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.
Add the butter to the pot and add the onions, celery, and thyme. Cook until the onions are translucent, 6-8 minutes.
Turn off the heat to the pot. Add the flour to the pot and mix well to break up any lumps. Add the seafood broth to the pot in a slow stream, whisking as you go to remove lumps. When the seafood broth is all in, turn the heat back to medium-high, add the clam juice and simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes.
Add the potatoes to the pot along with the fish and a pinch of salt. Simmer for another 10 minutes or until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Add the shrimp, milk, and cream to the pot and heat it through.
Season with additional salt and pepper if necessary. Serve in bowls with the reserved bacon crumbled on top.

Notes

Chef Jenn's tips

Once the fish is in the soup pot, don't let it simmer too hard or you'll just break up the fish. Keep it in lovely big, spoon-sized chunks.
Use your favorite peeled and deveined shrimp in this soup. If your shrimp are larger, cut them into chunks or split them in half, lengthwise from top to bottom. The shrimp will get all curly and cute in the soup if you cut them like this.
No seafood broth? Use chicken broth.
Check the seasoning of the finished soup before adding more salt. Some store-bought broths are fairly salty and you don't want to over-salt your soup.

Nutrition