Seafood chowder comes in many varieties, but nearly all of them include shrimp and potatoes. This creamy seafood chowder recipe starts with an easy-to-make homemade seafood stock, to which potatoes, shrimp, crab, and lobster meat are added. Not including the 45 minutes needed to make the stock, this delicious soup comes together in just 20 minutes!
I love fresh seafood, especially shellfish like shrimp and crab. For the most part, I make appetizers like shrimp shooters and clams casino dip with shellfish but it also makes a delicious summer salad. Let’s not forget about clam chowder, either. Hands down, it is one of my favorite chowder recipes. Truth be told, I can’t think of a single way that I don’t enjoy eating seafood.
For those reasons alone, I sometimes feel that I live in the worst possible region geographically. Wisconsin is a beautiful state with plenty of freshwater fish, but it isn’t the best place to find a bounty of fresh shellfish. So when I want to make a delicious chowder using shellfish, dinner leftovers from Red Lobster come in handy. With a to-go box full of lobster, crab, and shrimp shells, making homemade stock for this soup is a piece of cake!
Another to-go box with uneaten seafood and I’m ready to create a flavor-filled pot of chowder.
Homemade seafood stock is incredibly easy to make. If you are rushed for time, or making soup stock isn’t your thing, just purchase it already prepared. Look for it in the aisle where the chicken, beef, and vegetable stock is sold. When I have better lighting, I plan to create a video tutorial on how to make the stock. Until then, follow Ina Garten’s recipe. The process is very similar to how I make mine.
Here’s the seafood chowder recipe.
If you make it, I’d love for you to share photos of it with me! Post it to my Facebook page, or tag me on Instagram!
Flavorful and easy to make, this seafood chowder has a base of homemeade seafood stock. It is packed with potatoes, shrimp, crab meat, and chopped lobster meat
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 small carrots, diced small
- 1 large onion (white or yellow), diced small
- 1 large celery stalk, diced medium
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- 32 ounces (1 quart) seafood stock ( homemade recipe here )
- 1 large russet potato, diced medium
- 3/4 teaspoon salt (more or less to your taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1/2 cup half and half (or whole milk)
- 8 ounces (1/2 pound) cooked seafood of your choice** (I used medium shrimp, chopped lobster tail, and crab meat)
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a 3 quart or larger soup pot over medium heat. When oil begins to shimmer, stir in carrot, onion, and celery, and saute until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute for another minute, stirring constantly so that garlic doesn't burn.
- Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and stir to combine. They will appear pasty. Turn heat up to medium high and slowly whisk in seafood stock, about 1/4 cup at a time, until all stock has been incorporated.
- Turn heat to high and bring to a light boil. Add potatoes and all seasonings and reduce heat slightly. Cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are fork tender.
- In the final 3 minutes of cooking time, stir in cooked seafood** and half and half or milk.
- Taste and add additional seasonings as desired.
- Ladle into soup bowls and enjoy!
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size | |
| Amount Per Serving | As Served |
| Calories 427kcal Calories from fat 132 | |
| % Daily Value | |
| Total Fat 15g | 23% |
| Saturated Fat 4g | 20% |
| Transfat 0g | |
| Cholesterol 216mg | 72% |
| Sodium 1405mg | 59% |
| Carbohydrate 36g | 12% |
| Dietary Fiber 3g | 12% |
| Sugars 8g | |
| Protein 37g | |
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:
| Calories | 2000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Fat | Less than | 65g |
| Sat Fat | Less than | 25g |
| Cholesterol | Less than | 300mg |
| Sodium | Less than | 2,400mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 300g | |
| Dietary Fiber | 25g | |
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If you make this recipe, I'd love it if you'd share a photo and/or give your feedback over on my Facebook page, Cooking with Chef Bec!
Enjoy your chowder!
I recommend baking some easy cheesy herb biscuits and a healthy salad to serve with the soup.
I want to use raw seafood…how should I incorporate that?
Tim, if you want to use raw seafood in this chowder, the best way to do so is to prepare the chowder completely and then add the raw seafood during the last 6 to 8 minutes of cooking time. Most shellfish cooks very quickly and if you leave it to cook in the chowder for more than several minutes, it’s likely to over cook and become rubbery.
If I wanted to do this in a crock pot how long do you think I would have to do it for?
Allison, if you make the seafood stock ahead of time and all of your seafood is cooked, I would think the soup would need about 2-3 hours on low in a slow cooker. If you use cooked seafood, don’t add it until the last 15 minutes of cooking time or it may get too rubbery. If you’re using uncooked seafood, I would say it could be added during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.
Great flavors and easy to follow directions. This will definitely make the menu rotation at our house. Thanks!
Thank you, Heather! I hope you love the seafood chowder as much as my family does. 🙂
I’m thinking of making this for A Memorial Day outside gathering. Two things…What is the double asterisk referring to in both places where cooked seafood is mentioned? I don’t see what it ties back to. The link to adjust the number of servings doesn’t seem to be working. I need to make triple the amount. I could just triple the ingredients, but sometimes doing that doesn’t work because of the different spices. Thanks! Looks like a fabulous recipe. 😀
Hi Carol!
I apologize for the confusion with my asterisks. Initially, I was going to add a note to the “notes” section saying that you can use fresh or thawed from frozen cooked seafood. Basically, anything goes as far as what type of seafood you use.
As for the recipe conversion tool, when you click on the link, a new window should ppp up, asking you how many servings you want to make. If you have a popup blocker installed, they may be why you didn’t see it. I just tried the link on mobile and on a desktop computer and it worked fine for me. Please let me know if you’re still having issues.
This is definitely yummy, Becca! Love this recipe and can’t wait to prepare it.
Thank you so much, Agness. I hope you enjoy the seafood chowder!
such a wonderful recipe..Iove it!
Thank you so much, Elsie! I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed the seafood chowder recipe.
I can’t get mine the same color. Otherwise it turned out great! Any pointers???
Hi Kendra!
I’m glad you enjoyed the seafood chowder. The color of my stock may have been different than yours because I used a mixture of cooked seafood shells, including part of a lobster tail, which probably has a lot more color to it than shrimp shells do. I don’t typically use that… I just happened to make my stock with some leftover shells from a dinner out at a restaurant. If you want to add a bit more color to your stock, you might want to try adding a bit of Old Bay seasoning. It has paprika in it, which should give you a nice reddish hue.
Recipe calls for 16 oz (1 qt) of seafood stock. A quart is 32 oz — which should I use???
BJ, thank you so much for bringing my error to my attention. The recipe requires 32 ounces of stock. When I made it for my family, I halved the recipe (since it’s just the two of us), and obviously, I forgot to update my notes! The recipe has been updated to reflect the correct amount.
I love seafood soups. This looks perfect to bolster you for cold weather – it looks cozy and warming. And with homemade seafood stock to boot! You rule.
You rock my world, Jessie! Thanks for the lovely comment. 🙂
Pinned! This looks amazing!
Thank you for sharing, and I hope you’ll try the seafood chowder recipe sometime! 🙂
Such a creamy flavorful recipe!