This New England style Instant Pot Clam Chowder is a flavorful, creamy bowl of comfort! It's easy to make in your pressure cooker and tastes fantastic topped with crispy bacon and oyster crackers.
Table Of Contents
Instant Pot clam chowder is one of my favorite soup recipes. It's easy, creamy, and tastes absolutely delicious on a chilly evening. This pressure cooker red broth Manhattan clam chowder has been one of my favorite soup recipes for some time, and now this New England-style chowder is right up there with it!
It's a milk and heavy cream based clam chowder that yields a perfect creamy texture and flavor. If you like rich and tasty soups and pastas, you may also love Instant Pot pumpkin soup, pressure cooker jalapeño cheddar chicken and Instant Pot broccoli cheddar soup.
This recipe makes use of your Instant Pot air fryer lid too (if you have one) to cook crispy bacon. But if you don't have the lid, you can cook the bacon right in the pressure cooker.
Clam chowder is a popular type of chowder in American cuisine that contains clams and other common ingredients including onions, salt pork, and diced potatoes. It's typically served with saltine crackers or small oyster crackers.
*This chowder recipe uses bacon instead of salt pork.
Manhattan clam chowder is a clam and tomato-based chowder that has a thin red broth and contains a mix of vegetables and starch. It's seasoned similarly to New England clam chowder, with thyme and parsley. New England clam chowder is a thick clam and milk-based chowder that uses many of the same vegetables and starch as it's Manhattan-style counterpart. They are both hearty and delicious soups!
More Instant Pot Air Fryer Recipes
Ingredients
To make Instant Pot clam chowder you need:
- Proteins: canned clams are the star of clam chowder soup and what makes it special and flavorful. I like using chopped clams, but whole baby clams are fine too. Bacon is also used, and can be substituted with salt pork if desired.
- Vegetables: sweet onion, celery, and baby potatoes (or other waxy potatoes). Feel free to use red, gold, yellow, or a colorful combination of potatoes.
- Broth: a combination of clam juice, chicken broth, whole milk, and heavy cream. It's thickened with flour to give it that traditional thick and creamy consistency.
- Seasonings: minced garlic, bay leaves, salt and pepper, thyme and parsley. While fresh herbs give the chowder the best flavor, dried ones are an acceptable substitute.
What makes clam chowder special in flavor? Clam juice, plus using the liquid from the canned clams, give the soup that seafood flavor we're looking for when making chowder. Using the bacon drippings to saute the vegetables rather than oil or butter and using fresh parsley and thyme make all the difference in kicking up the flavor and making it worthy of being a chowder contest winner!
Yield and Serving Size
Yield: 4 quarts (16 cups)
Serving size: 16 ounces (2 cups)
You'll need at least a 6-quart pressure cooker for this recipe as written. If using a 3-quart Instant Pot, you'll need to decrease the recipe by half.
Nutrition Facts
One 16 ounce serving of Instant Pot clam chowder has:
- 362 calories
- 8 grams protein
- 28 grams carbohydrates
- 25 grams fat
- 824 milligrams sodium
- 1 milligram iron
- 1069IU vitamin A
- 16 milligrams vitamin C
Instructions
Instant Pot clam chowder is made in 5 easy steps.
STEP 1: Using the saute setting on the Instant Pot or your air fryer lid, cook the bacon until crispy. Remove the bacon to dry between paper towels, keeping the bacon drippings in the inner pot. When the bacon has cooled, break it into small pieces.
STEP 2: Set the Instant Pot to saute on high for 3 minutes, leaving the bacon drippings in the inner pot. Cook the diced onion, minced garlic, and diced celery in the drippings stirring frequently.
STEP 3: Turn off saute and pour in the chicken broth. Deglaze with a wooden spoon until there are no stuck pieces of food on the bottom of the pot. Add the diced potatoes, clam juice, and liquid from the canned clams (but not the clams), salt, pepper, thyme, parsley and bay leaves. Reserve the clams for step 5. Do not stir. Close and seal the pressure cooker lid. Set to pressure cook (manual) on high for 10 minutes.
STEP 4: When complete, do a controlled quick release of the pressure. Open the lid and discard the bay leaves. Pour in the milk and heavy cream. Set back to saute on high for 1 minute. Whisk in the all purpose flour. Whisk constantly until the soup comes to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute to thicken while continuing to whisk.
STEP 5: Once the soup has boiled for 1 minute, turn off saute. Stir in the reserved clams and bacon bits. Taste and season with additional salt and freshly ground black pepper if desired.
Serve hot topped with oyster crackers and extra bacon bits. Enjoy!
If storing, keep in the fridge for up to 1 week or freeze for 1-2 months for optimal quality.
Helpful Tips
- Make sure to saute the vegetables in the bacon drippings for the most flavor! This really does make a difference in taste. If you're not a fan of cooking in bacon grease (I don't do this any other time), then use butter instead.
- Always use the liquid inside the canned clams in addition to bottled clam juice. This adds a lot of flavor to the chowder!
- Before pressure cooking, season the soup with just part of the salt. Once the milk and heavy cream have been mixed in, taste and season with more salt if you'd like.
- To thicken the chowder once the milk, heavy cream, and flour have been added, whisk it constantly until it begins to bubble. Keep whisking for 1 minute. This will prevent the flour from clumping and produce a nice, thick and smooth texture.
- It's important to use waxy potatoes so they hold up while cooking and during storage. Waxy potatoes are potatoes such as fingerlings, baby potatoes, creamer potatoes, etc. Red, gold, or a combination of colorful potatoes can be used.
Recipe
Instant Pot Clam Chowder
Equipment
- air fryer lid or air fryer optional
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 sweet onion diced
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 lb baby potatoes or other waxy potatoes, diced
- 1 cup clam juice
- 2 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme or 3 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley or 3 teaspoon fresh parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 24 oz canned clams plus the liquid
Instructions
- Using the saute setting on the Instant Pot or your air fryer lid, cook the bacon until crispy. Remove the bacon to dry between paper towels, keeping the bacon drippings in the inner pot. When the bacon has cooled, break it into small pieces.
- Set the Instant Pot to saute on high for 3 minutes, leaving the bacon drippings in the inner pot. Cook the diced onion, minced garlic, and diced celery in the drippings while stirring frequently.
- Turn off saute and pour in the chicken broth. Deglaze with a wooden spoon until there are no stuck pieces of food on the bottom of the pot. Add the diced potatoes, clam juice, and liquid from the canned clams (but not the clams), salt, pepper, thyme, parsley and bay leaves. Do not stir. Close and seal the pressure cooker lid. Set to pressure cook (manual) on high for 10 minutes.
- When complete, do a controlled quick release of the pressure. Open the lid and discard the bay leaves. Pour in the milk and heavy cream. Set back to saute on high for 1 minute. Whisk in the all purpose flour. Whisk constantly until the soup comes to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute to thicken while continuing to whisk.
- Once the soup has boiled for 1 minute, turn off saute. Stir in the reserved clams and bacon bits. Taste and season with additional salt and freshly ground black pepper if desired.
- Serve warm topped with oyster crackers and extra bacon bits.
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