Chowder Recipes: 10 Chowder Dishes to Make at Home

Chowder is a thick, creamy soup consisting of dairy (like milk, half-and-half, or cream) and starchy carbohydrates like potatoes or crackers that thicken the soup. Traditional chowders use a roux of butter and all-purpose flour to achieve a creamy base. Many chunky chowders contain protein like pork, white fish, crab, or scallops, while others feature only vegetables, including chowder made with summer corn. Other common ingredients include onion, garlic, and bay leaves.

Chowder is an easy soup to reheat, making it a popular next-day or meal-prep recipe. Store chowder in an airtight container in the refrigerator for three to four days or in the freezer in freezer bags. (Flattening the bags into sheets makes them easy to stack.) Reheat on the stovetop over low or medium heat, adding water if needed to loosen up the consistency.

Chowder is a versatile, hearty soup for the whole family. Here are some common chowder varieties, from seafood and fish chowders to vegan chowder options:

1. 1. Corn chowder: One of the simplest of all chowders, late summer corn chowder pairs the last cobs of the season with rich, velvety cream—the perfect comfort food for increasingly chilly weeknights. This corn chowder recipe is a great base you can customize to your taste. Consider adding in potatoes for a heartier dinner or swap the cream with coconut milk for a dairy-free alternative. You can use canned corn or frozen corn in place of fresh cobs to reduce the total time of this easy recipe.
2. 2. Crab chowder: A staple seafood chowder, crab chowder is a classic creamy chowder with lump crabmeat, fresh corn kernels, crispy bacon, and tender chunks of potato. Serve this crab chowder dish as a starter to a seafood feast or as a satisfying main course with a side of crusty sourdough bread for dipping.
3. 3. Ham chowder: Make the most of your leftover ham with this creamy, cheesy ham chowder that you can put together with a few pantry staples and a handful of hearty vegetables. You can alter this comforting ham chowder recipe to incorporate various proteins and vegetables or even adapt it into a slow cooker meal.
4. 4. Manhattan clam chowder: This unique chowder has a tomato base rather than a cream base. The thin, tomato-based broth highlights the briny flavor of clams, and the soup features both clams and clam juice. Garnish your Manhattan clam chowder with bite–sized oyster crackers and black pepper.
5. 5. New England clam chowder: One of the most famous chowder soup recipes, New England–style clam chowder calls for clams (fresh clams are traditional, but canned clams work well, too), clam juice, potatoes, onions, salt pork, heavy cream, and milk. Traditional New England clam chowder garnishes include oyster crackers—a nod to the dish’s eighteenth-century origins when recipes opted for softened hardtack cracker-style biscuits for creaminess instead of dairy.
6. 6. Potato chowder: This is a creamy, versatile, vegetarian chowder base you can use to make many variations. Keep it simple for a chowder akin to New England–style, experiment with sweet potatoes or red potatoes, or add chives, leeks, cooked bacon, and cheese. For the best results, use waxy potatoes, sometimes called “boiling potatoes,” in your potato chowder since these keep their shape the best when cooked in chowder for a long time, though Yukon Gold potatoes or russets work well too.
7. 7. Salmon chowder: A decadent seafood chowder, salmon chowder is full of tender pieces of salmon. You can use fresh salmon, canned salmon, or smoked salmon (the key to Seattle–style salmon chowder) to make salmon chowder, with varying flavors and textural results.
8. 8. Shrimp chowder: This recipe calls for bites of shrimp and tender potatoes in the creamy chowder mixture of stock, milk, and cream. You can make shrimp chowder with fresh, frozen, raw, or precooked shrimp; for extra shrimp flavor, use shrimp shells to make a simple shrimp stock.
9. 9. Vegan corn chowder: If you follow a plant-based diet, you can substitute dairy-free ingredients to make creamy, vegan corn chowder with the same luxurious flavor and texture. This vegan corn chowder swaps out chicken stock for vegetable stock and cream for coconut or cashew milk to make a decadent potato soup that highlights the taste of sweet corn and diced veggies.
10. 10. Vegan clam chowder: This vegan clam chowder replicates the flavor and texture of a New England–style clam chowder without using animal products like chopped clams, chicken broth, or milk. This gluten-free, vegan clam chowder recipe swaps out clams for buttery sautéed mushrooms and uses vegan cashew cream instead of heavy cream. You then use an immersion blender to get a creamy soup texture.

Become a better chef with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Gain access to exclusive video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Gordon Ramsay, Gabriela Cámara, Chef Thomas Keller, Dominique Ansel, Yotam Ottolenghi, Alice Waters, and more.