Healthy Seafood Chowder
This Healthy Seafood Chowder is seriously the best! It’s flavorful, creamy, full of delicious seafood and can be table ready in about 45 minutes! Packed with tender shrimp and fish that are combined in a creamy clam broth with veggies. This tasty chowder recipe is a comfort food that can be easily enjoyed at home any day of the week!
I’m a huge fan of a really great New England Clam Chowder and this recipe is similar, but in my opinion, even better! My mom has actually been making this seafood chowder recipe for over 20 years, after finding the recipe in a Ladies Home Journal magazine. She still has the original recipe clipping and it’s from 1993! She often cooks it up when the whole family is together because this recipe makes a lot and we all LOVE it. This chowder recipe is also great to prepare on busy weeknights because it’s easy and cooks really quickly!
What Is Seafood Chowder?
Umm… just the most delicious soup ever. Ha! No, really, a chowder is a type of soup that typically has a creamy base and a chunky texture. There are several different types of chowder: clam chowder, corn chowder, and of course, this seafood chowder!
Seafood chowder is a complete meal on its own! It’s packed with shrimp, fish and veggies. We love to serve this bowl of deliciousness with some thick crusty bread to sop up all that creamy goodness at the bottom of the bowl!
How To Make Seafood Chowder
It’s a good idea to start this recipe by preparing all of the ingredients first. Get all of the veggies and fish chopped up and measure everything out. I usually buy peeled and deveined shrimp, so that’s one less step, plus I hate the mess.
While you’re finishing up all of the prep work, heat butter in a large pot and once heated sauté onion and fennel in the butter for about 10 minutes. You can totally use celery instead of fennel, but if you’ve never given fennel a try, you should. Here’s a short video from Martha Stewart showing how to cut a fennel bulb.
Now, add potatoes, carrots, clam juice, water, salt, pepper and thyme to the pot. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer until vegetables are just tender, about 10 minutes. Next, add in the cod and shrimp and simmer for another 5 minutes. Once everything is cooked, stir in cream and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve warm.
Variations Of Seafood Chowder
- Try different types of fish. I really like using cod, but any white or even salmon would work well. And if you’re not a fan of shrimp, simply leave it out.
- Add in any extra veggies you want. I think corn would be a really good addition.
- Mix in cooked bacon because bacon makes everything better!
- This seafood chowder recipe calls for heavy cream, but if you want to keep things dairy-free or lower in calories, sub it out for almond or coconut milk.
Other Comforting Soups You’re Sure To Love:
Copycat Panera Bread Chicken Noodle Soup
Creamy Pumpkin Chicken Tortilla Soup
Helpful Tools For Making This Seafood Chowder Recipe:
Le Creuset Signature Dutch Oven – If you’re open to spending a bit of money on a piece that you’ll own forever, Le Creuset is my favorite brand for heavy pots and cookware.
Lodge Dutch Oven – Lodge is a great brand as well. I own several of their cast iron skillets and have been very happy with them. This one is more budget-friendly, but still great quality!
Wüsthof Two Piece Prep Set (Knives) – This is the knife set that I use most often and I can’t say enough great things about these high-quality knives.
If you try this creamy seafood chowder, let me know! Leave a comment and if your family loves it as much as mine does, be sure to give it a five star ⭐️ rating! Also, tag @kimscravings on Instagram with a picture of your creation. It’s so fun to see what you’re cooking! Be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to receive more healthy delicious recipes straight to your inbox.
This Healthy Seafood Chowder is seriously the best! It's flavorful, creamy, full of delicious seafood and can be table ready in about 45 minutes! Packed with tender shrimp and fish that are combined in a creamy clam broth with veggies. This tasty chowder recipe is a comfort food that can be easily enjoyed at home any day of the week!
- 1 tablespoon butter or ghee
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 large bulb fennel, cored and sliced (2 1/4 cups)*
- 1 pound red potatoes, diced
- 2 cups diagonally sliced carrots
- 4 bottles (8 ounce each clam juice)**
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon thyme
- 1 pound cod fillet, cut into chunks***
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream****
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
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Melt butter or ghee in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion and fennel; cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 10 minutes.
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Add potatoes, carrots, clam juice, water, salt, pepper and thyme. Bring to boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer until vegetable are just tender, 10 minutes.
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Add cod and shrimp; simmer, covered, until opaque, 5 minutes.
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Gently stir in cream and heat through (do not boil). Sprinkle with parsley.
*Can sub fennel with diced celery.
**Can sub clam juice with chicken or seafood broth.
***Use any white fish.
****Sub cream for almond or coconut milk for a lighter, dairy free option.
Photos by Sasha at Eat Love Eats.
Did you make this recipe?
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Whoa, this was amazing! I love that I was able to make it lighter by adding different milk and I added corn, which was really great in this.
This turned out so tasty! Can’t wait to make this again all winter!
This ws so good..Your pictures definitely made this enticing! I can’t believe how easy it was too! The whole family loved it!
This was amazing! A new favorite dinner recipe!
I am a huge chowder fan and this would take a prize at any competition! Will be making again and again!
I added corn and mussels and this was so great. Will definitely make again!
Wow, this was SO good! I made this for my family last night and everyone really enjoyed!
This really brought back happy memories of being in San Francisco. It was super delicious. Thanks for the great recipe!
What a tasty Seafood Chowder! Such a great recipe that I will make again for sure!
I love hearty dishes like this one! It’s perfect for chilly nights! I plan to make this again for New Year’s Eve!
Just made this tonight! I used cod, salmon, clams, and shrimp… SO AMAZING! I love that it has all of the wonderful flavors but isn’t too heavy.
Awesome! I love hearing this! Thanks so much for taking time to comment!
Can I use half and half instead of the heavy cream?
Sure!
What’s the serving size. It says 1 gram but that doesn’t make senses. Also, how many servings per recipe. I’m trying this tonight. Can’t wait!!
Looks like my recipe card was messing up. I fixed that to 1 cup. Enjoy!
Delicious! Just made it and the family loved it! Thanks for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed! Thanks for your feedback!
Can I freeze it?
I haven’t tried it, but I don’t think it would work all that great with this particular soup recipe. The seafood may become mushy or just not have a very good texture. If you do end up trying it, let me know.
This reminds me of being in Maine. I am going to have to make it myself.
Does the cod or shrimp need to be cooked in any way before adding it to the soup?
I’m excited to try this!
No, it doesn’t! Hope you enjoy!
Ok, so first this is so delicious, thank you for sharing your recipe. Second I did make a couple change, one for dietary reasons, I used rutabaga instead of potatoes. The second, I used butternut squash in place of the carrots, only because I didn’t realize I was out of carrots. Now I can’t wait to make it again, and put the carrots in. Again, thank you for sharing.
Yay! So glad that you enjoyed! Thanks for taking time to comment!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was so good. I added chopped crispy salmon bacon to serve which worked awesomely. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Yay! So glad you enjoyed!