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Looking for the best seafood chowder recipe? This creamy, hearty chowder is loaded with shrimp, white fish, and tender vegetables. Perfect for seafood lovers!
A Rich and Creamy Chowder Packed with Flavor
This is the best seafood chowder recipe! It is my absolute favorite. It’s even better than the seafood chowders I’ve had at fancy seaside restaurants. The broth is seasoned with garlic, onions, hot sauce, thyme, and more flavorful ingredients. You can add tender red potatoes, cod, crab meat, lobster, scallops, or any seafood you like.
Our creamy seafood chowder recipe is packed with protein, calcium, and essential nutrients, making it a well-rounded meal for seafood lovers. It shares similarities with our Clam Chowder recipe, but this one is even easier to make and offers more versatility. To complete the perfect seafood feast, serve this chowder with biscuits, hot and cheesy garlic bread, or easy cornbread.
Ingredients in Seafood Chowder
- Butter
- Celery
- Onions
- Leeks
- Minced garlic
- Chicken broth
- Clam juice
- Red potatoes
- Carrots
- Salt and pepper
- Thyme
- Bay leaves
- Tabasco sauce
- Old Bay seasoning
- Shrimp
- Cod, halibut, or haddock
- Half & half
- All-purpose flour
- Milk
What Kind of Fish is Best for Chowder?
- I love a firm, white cod for this seafood chowder, but you can use chunks of halibut or haddock too. Any kind of good, white fish will work. But if you’re unsure of what to use, you can ask for suggestions at your local meat counter.
- Shellfish is also so delicious in this scrumptious soup. Look for shrimp that is raw but peeled and de-veined. Again, you can find it at the meat counter, or you can find bags of frozen shrimp in the grocery store.
- This recipe is technically considered a fish chowder but you can add crab meat, too. That would be delicious!
Suggestions for the Best Seafood Chowder
- Sometimes I sauté the fish and shrimp in some butter to get a little crust around each piece, and then add it to the soup. This adds another step, but the buttery crust is so delicious!
- You can add other favorite chowder ingredients like corn and bacon to this recipe as well.
- I add extra Tabasco sauce when I’m making this chowder just for me and my husband because we like the extra heat. But you can vary the hot sauce as you need to for your family.
- Dice red potatoes into bite-sized pieces for even cooking. Also, try Yukon golds or any other waxy potato that will hold its shape during cooking.
- I’m all about watching calories, but please do not leave out the half and half in this recipe! You’ll need it to make this chowder extra creamy and rich. Moderation in all things, right?
Frequently Asked Questions
Chowder is a cream based soup that usually has seafood and vegetables.
They are very similar, but instead of clams, this recipe’s main ingredients are shrimp and white fish.
There are many types of chowder, but these are the most common:
New England Clam Chowder
Bermuda fish chowder
Clam chowder
Corn chowder
Fish chowder
Smoked salmon chowder
Southern Illinois chowder
Seafood chowder
Spiced haddock chowder
Potato Chowder
Bacon Chowder
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Seafood chowder can also be frozen. Store it in an airtight container and freeze for up to 4 months. Thaw frozen soup in the fridge prior to reheating on the stove-top.
READ NEXT: Easy Crockpot Soup Recipes: Cozy Meals for Cold Days
More Hearty Soup Recipes
Like this seafood chowder? Then you’ll love these other hearty soup and chowder recipes:
Chicken and Rice Soup
Pasta e Fagioli
Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
Clam Chowder
Corn Chowder with Bacon
Ham and Bean Soup
How to Make Seafood Chowder
Seafood Chowder
Video
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 cup celery finely diced
- 1 cup onions finely diced
- 1 cup leeks finely diced
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- ¾ cup clam juice
- 4 red potatoes diced (Yukon potatoes work great too)
- 1 cup carrots finely diced
- ¾ tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1½ tablespoons Kosher salt
- ¾ tablespoon thyme
- 6 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
- Old Bay seasoning to taste
- 1 pound shrimp uncooked, peeled, de-veined
- 2 pounds cod or halibut or haddock, cut into 1/2-inch cubed
- 2 quarts half & half
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 cup milk
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven or stock pot, melt butter and add celery, onions, leeks and garlic over medium heat.
- When vegetables have softened, add chicken broth, clam juice, potatoes, carrots, black pepper, salt, thyme, bay leaves, and Tabasco sauce.
- Bring to a boil and reduce to medium-low heat to simmer. Cook for about 8-10 minutes or until potatoes are almost fork-tender.
- Season shrimp and cod with Old Bay seasoning.
- Add shrimp and cod to the stock pot and simmer another 7-8 minutes or until fish flakes easily and shrimp turns pink.
- Add half and half. Combine flour and milk until flour is dissolved.
- Slowly stir into the chowder until you reach your desired thickness (you may not need all of it). Stir until thickened and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Remove bay leaves and serve with crusty bread or oyster crackers.
Notes
- Don’t like the veggies or fish in this recipe? Swap them out for your favorites!
- To prep ahead, wash and cut vegetables, cut and prepare fish, and remove shells and tails from shrimp.
- To store, keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to one month.
I used crab claw meat and shrimp and I mixed the milk and flour into a paste and added it slowly into the pot. other than that I followed the recipe exactly. It made more than 8 servings though, I’d have to say 14 large servings. That’s fine because it’s delicious. Btw, I’m from Caldwell, Idaho just down the road from the author of this fine recipe. Thanks!
Hello from just down the road! We are practically neighbors! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe, I absolutely love this with fresh crab meat. I will definitely have to take a look at the serving amounts to make sure they are correct, thanks for the head’s up!
I really like this recipe, I made with suggested tobasco amount the first time and it was good for me but too much of a kick for anyone who doesn’t like spice, or picky people who don’t like spice to their seafood chowder! So I cut it in half now 🙂
Delicious! My family and I loved this chowder! Everyone had seconds and my husband had thirds. I didn`t use tabasco or leeks, I added one more potato and more seafood. I used bacon fat and butter to sautee the onions and celery, but did not have bacon to put into the chowder. It was amazing.
Thank you!
Thank you, Louanne! I’m so happy you like the recipe!
Boise Idaho is not where my mind wanders when I think about chowder, especially seafood chowder. So, admittedly I was surprised to learn of the origin of the recipe and its creator. That said, absolutely restaurant quality. I am not an expert however, I live near San Francisco, and I have eaten in some of the best places seafood is made from San Francisco, to Boston and the eastern seaboard. I believe this is one of the best seafood chowders I have had the pleasure of enjoying
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
~Cheers!
This comment definitely made me chuckle and also made my day! I am so glad my Idaho seafood chowder did not disappoint 😆 I am totally a chowder snob too! I have had chowder in the Bay Area, Seattle, and Alaska and based my chowder off of the elements I loved from each place, so although I’m from Idaho, my inspiration definitely comes from the coastal Northwest! I am so glad you enjoyed this chowder and grateful for your nice comment!
Amazing!! Once my veggies were soft I added the flour and cooked for a few minutes then deglazed with sherry. And found I only needed 1 quart of half & half. 10/10!! Oh ya and corn is a must for me!!
Oooh I love those ideas! So glad you liked this recipe!
Great starter at Thanksgiving family loved it
Thanks, glad everyone loved it!
I made it exactly to the recipe using halibut and shrimp it turned incredible. I will definitely make it again.
Thank you
IMADE IT. fI used whole milk and added a bit of h eavy cream. added one can of corn and had to make my own old bay seasoning. turned out great!
how did you make the old bay? we don’t have any ourselves.
This was the best recipe for chowder. I added clams and fresh corn. Soooo delicious unfortunately I made to much so I hope it freezes well.
I added some white wine and lemon at the end. Gives it a bit more zip. Excellent recipe!
This recipe is great. We were laughing at the serving size though. We did one cup per serving and have 16 cups. Even checked to make sure we hadn’t doubled it. We figured this recipe is for Swedish or Sumo wrestlers!, 😂. Delicious. Froze some. Will make it again.
Great recipe….i used crab , clams and shrimp but no fish. Really tasty. Loved the leeks.
I followed this recipe exactly as started, except I used corn starch to thicken my broth, and I substituted the fish for a seafood mix with mussels, crabs, shrimp and clams. It came out so flavorful and it is definitely my FAVORITE seafood chowder recipe!
I haven’t made this yet but I will be. As usual this recipe is spot on. Thank you for another fabulous recipe. Seafood chowder is our favorite.
Made this. Best seafood chowder we’ve ever tasted…ever. Clam juice and leeks now added to my staple grocery list.
Left out bay leaves. Cut shrimp amount in half then substituted with scallops. Only used half amount half and half. Otherwise, exactly followed recipe.
Makes too much for two people. Froze leftovers. Thawed and reheated, the batch tasted just as good as original servings.
Super fantastic seafood chowder. Thank you so much. Great special occasion recipe to cook ahead and freeze.
First time I’ve left a review for a recipe, but this one deserves it. This chowder is so delicious! I have made it three weeks in a row now. The first time I followed the recipe exactly and it was amazing. The next two times I used tilapia instead of cod. I also browned up a strip of bacon and cooked the veggies in the pan after. At the end I added half a bag of frozen corn in with the fish. Very yummy!
Made it and it was excellent. I did though have to just add cream as we do not have the product called half and half in Australia.
I used cornflour to thicken it to be almost a broth in consistency instead of normal plain flour.
Nice flavors, but two suggestions: use only one quart of half and half (soupy otherwise) and go easy on the old bay.