Clam Chowder with golden potatoes, corn and bacon

Although my husband and I both like clam chowder this is only the second time we’ve ever made it at home. I’m reminded of how easy it is to make and just how delicious real home cooked chowder can be! We ended up inviting our awesome neighbors over for dinner – and I’m so glad we did, we had a great time and this chowder just feels like it should be shared. It’s like a “hug” in a bowl.

We meshed together a few recipes for this variation of clam chowder – picking our favorites from all the recipes. We hope you enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

Bacon, recipes say eight slices, but honestly we added more like 12. Chopped.

4 cans chopped clams (6 oz each), drained
We used Bar Harbor All Natural Chopped Clams, 6.5-Ounce Cans (Amazon link) after reading great reviews and we were impressed! If you buy 12 cans through subscribe and save it’s only $2.62 a can!

16 oz of bottled clam juice

3 pounds of diced Yukon Gold potatoes (or any kind, really) – As you can see from picture our potatoes are larger than probably preferred, but we called it “rustic” style and honestly it tasted great to me anyway.

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups corn (we used frozen)

3 stalks celery

1 large onion

1 teaspoon thyme

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1.) In a large saucepan cook bacon until crisp. Drain excess grease, leaving just a teensy, tiny bit for ingredients to come (hey, didn’t say it was healthy). Add diced onion and celery – lightly season with salt and saute until tender with bacon and remaining grease. Then add diced potatoes and cook for five (5) minutes.

2.) Once tender, stir in the flour and cook for three (3) minutes – stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in clam juice until there are no lumps. Then whisk in milk, heavy cream, clams, bay leaves and thyme.

3.) Bring to a strong simmer (don’t boil) then reduce and allow to simmer until potatoes are cooked all the way through, which is about 10-15 minutes. Add pepper to taste. My husband also added hot sauce to his.

4.) Enjoy.

Recipe inspiration from: New England Clam Chowder, BonAppetit Clam Chowder and over on Amazon: Northwest Inspirations: Flavors of South Puget Sound (LOVE this book!).

Do you have a different twist to Clam Chowder? Would love for you to share your recipes.