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instant pot clam chowder new england style in a white bowl topped with oyster crackers and surrounded by parsley, oyster crackers and bacon
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4.72 from 64 votes

Instant Pot Clam Chowder

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.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: healthy instant pot recipes, instant pot clam chowder recipe, instant pot soup, instant pot soup recipes
Servings: 8
Calories: 362kcal
Author: Kristina Tipps

Ingredients

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.

Notes

Storing: in the fridge for up to 1 week or freezer for 1-2 months for optimal quality.
Yield: 4 quarts (16 cups) / 8 two-cup servings
Tip 1: 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.
Tip 2: Always use the liquid inside the canned clams in addition to bottled clam juice. This adds a lot of flavor to the chowder!
Tip 3: 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.
Tip 4: 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.

Nutrition

Serving: 16oz | Calories: 362kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 824mg | Potassium: 469mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1069IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 140mg | Iron: 1mg