Clam Chowder recipe is one of my favorite soups. I started making it from the famous Bratten’s recipe, which is heavenly! I’m not lying, I adore butter! The problem with this recipe is it comes with a whopping 519 calories per bowl and I can’t eat that way!
- 1 cup onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup celery, finely diced
- 2 cups very finely diced potatoes (peeled)
- 2 (6½ ounce) cans minced clams, and juice
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 3⁄4 cup butter (not margarine)
- 3⁄4 cup flour
- 1 quart half-and-half (cream)
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
- pepper
- Put the prepared vegetables in a saucepan. Drain juice from clams and pour over the vegetables.
- Add enough water to BARELY cover the vegetables. .Simmer, covered over medium heat till barely tender. (DO NOT overcook!).
- In the meantime make the white sauce portion of the recipe by melting the butter in another medium saucepan. Add flour. Blend and cook, stirring constantly; add the cream. Cook and stir with wire whip, until smooth and thick. It is important that you stir constantly while cooking.
- Combine vegetables portion with the white sauce portion. Add clams and vinegar. Do not continue to cook because it will make the clams rubbery
I was cooking freezer recipes out of the 30 day Gourmet Cookbook and they taught me about a white sauce that freezes well and it doesn’t have any butter in it so I then converted the recipe to a lower fat recipe that is now only 208 calories. I was excited that it still had an awesome flavor and I was able to eliminate 3/4 cups of butter! I used Chicken Broth Powder to help get the butter flavor back into the soup. I was also excited this soup became a freezer recipe which makes it fall into the “Super Soup” category. In my world a Super Soup is one that:
- It is low calorie
- I take items from my food storage so I buy those ingredients when they go on sale or I buy them in bulk
- If I have left over soup I can freeze it
- IT IS EASY! now that’s what I consider a SUPER SOUP!
- 1 cup onion finely chopped
- 1 cup celery finely chopped
- 2 cups potatoes finely chopped
- 2 cans (6.5 oz) clams drain juice into the vegetables
- 1 can shrimp (optional) drain juice into the vegetables
- 1 cup chicken broth ( I use ½ tsp Augason brand chicken broth powder and 1 cup water)
- 2 cup 1 % milk
- 1 pt. fat free half & half
- ¾ cup flour
- 1½ tsp. salt
- few grams pepper
- 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- touch thyme
- Drain juice from clams and shrimp and then pour over chopped veggies in the pot. Add enough water to barely cover the vegetables. Simmer until tender crisp.
- In the meantime, put chicken broth and flour in a cold sauce pan, stir until smooth. Turn heat on low and slowly add half and half, stirring to make sure there aren’t any lumps, then add milk, stir constantly and remove from heat when thickened. Add clams, shrimp, vinegar, and thyme Don't boil as it makes the clams tough.
- Add milk mixture to veggies and liquid. If you want a more buttery taste, add a little more chicken broth powder. You can also add additional water if the soup is too thick for your taste.
My next goal was to get the recipe into a Jar for my food storage and I’m proud to tell you when you take the oxygen out of the jar it has a 10 year shelf life! NOW WE’RE COOKING, and spending less time in the kitchen because you don’t have to chop all of those vegetables! This recipe also has a cost savings because the dehydrated potatoes and the Morning Moo milk are cheaper then fresh potatoes and butter/cream. Now, that’s what I call a SUPER SOUP!
- Place the following ingredients in the bottom of a wide mouth quart sized jar
- ⅓ cup Freeze dried celery
- 1½ tsp Augason brand Chicken Bouillon Powder
- ⅓ cup Dehydrated onion
- ⅛ tsp Thyme
- 1 cup Dehydrated potato dices
- 1½ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Red Wine Vinegar powder
- 1/16 tsp Pepper
- Place the following ingredients in a baggie and then insert the baggie into the jar
- 1¼ cup Nonfat Morning Moo brand powdered Milk (made by Augason)
- ½ cup Flour
- Use a wide mouth quart sized canning jar. Put the first 8 ingredients into the bottom of the jar. Put the powdered milk and the flour in a baggie and then put a twist tie on the baggie and insert it into the jar. The tag can be inserted into the jar (or you can punch a hole in the tag and tie the tag to the outside of the jar). Remove the oxygen from the jar by using a foodsaver or by putting an oxygen absorber into the jar. (Follow the instructions on this webpage https://homemakingdivas.com/foodsaver_meals/)
- The cooking instructions are on the tag.
- Cooking instructions:
- Stove Top Cooking Directions: Remove the oxygen absorber and discard. Remove baggie and set aside. Pour contents of the jar into a pot that will hold at least 3 quarts
- Add 4 cups of water to the pot. Drain juice from clams and shrimp into the pot and set the cans of meat aside. Cook until vegetables are tender about 15 minutes.
- In a smaller pot combine 2 cups cold water with the baggie of ingredients, stir. Turn heat to low and bring to a slow boil, stirring constantly and working out any lumps until mixture is thickened and smooth. Add 1 more cup of water as the mixture thickens. Add this mixture to the pot of vegetables and then add the opened cans of shrimp and clams. Do not boil after clams are added because they will turn rubbery
Now, here is an idea.. instead of putting Clams in the Chowder try one of these ideas
- Sauté mushrooms in chicken broth and put them in the soup instead of the clam.
- Treat this soup like a baked potato soup and top it with cheese, and bacon.
- Brown sausage and put it in place of the clams.
I don’t put corn in this recipe because I have a better recipe for Corn Chowder that I will be posting. I also have a cheese soup recipe that is really good so I don’t turn this recipe into a cheese soup.
7 Page PDF file with tags
The 7 page PDF file has both recipes: 1) low-fat version with fresh ingredients and 2) the meal in a jar recipe. The PDF file has the printable tags and instructions, and the tag for the thermal cooker instructions. I like to laminate the tags so that I can insert them into the jar and reuse them.
When I make the jars, I like to put a label on the box that I store the jars in. On the label it tells me I need to grab the cans of Clams and Shrimp when I take the soup jar from food storage. I also like to write the use by date on the box. This box label is also on the PDF file.
You can also cook this jar recipe in the Thermal Cooker
Thermal Cooker Cooking Directions: Remove the oxygen absorber and discard. Remove baggie and set aside. Pour contents of the jar into the large inner pot. Add 5 cups of water. Drain juice from clams and shrimp into the pot and set the cans of meat aside. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes and put the lid on it and set the pot into the thermal cooker and close the lid.
In a smaller pot combine 2 cups cold water with the baggie of ingredients, stir. Turn heat to low and bring to a slow boil, stirring constantly until mixture is thickened. Add 1 more cup of water as the mixture thickens.
Remove the large pot and set it back on the burner and turn the heat on it again. Add the milk mixture, stirring, to the large pot of vegetables and add the opened cans of shrimp and clams. Bring to a boil (but don’t cook longer) remove large pot and put it back into the thermal cooker and lock. Meal will be ready to eat in 1 hour but will stay hot for about 5-6 hours. If you need the soup to stay hot longer you can bring water to a boil in the smaller inner pot and put it in the thermal cooker inside of the larger pot and the soup will stay hot 8 hours. Also note: two bottle of soup mix will fit in the large inner pot if you want to make a double batch
