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    Home » Soups

    Author: Emily Krill | Published: Jan 28, 2022 | Modified: Jan 28, 2022

    New England Keto Clam Chowder

    Jump to Recipe

    This is a quick New England Style Keto Clam Chowder recipe with just 10g net carbs per serving. It's a creamy festival of fish.

    a pot of Keto Clam Chowder against a blue patterned background
    Jump to:
    • ⚓ Chowder Origins
    • 💬 Keto Dieters Often Ask
    • 🥣 Ingredients
    • 📖 Instructions
    • 📋 Recipe

    "NO SOUP FOR YOU!!" -Seinfeld

    Today I made a big pot of Keto Clam Chowder, so naturally, I'm thinking about the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. He was, of course, the purveyor of the best soup in Manhattan. But he was very picky about his customers. If you upset the Soup Nazi, there was "no soup for you!".

    But seafood chowder, let’s discuss it.

    As you may or may not know, chowder is a soup made from seafood, with a milk or tomato base. It usually includes vegetables like potatoes, onions, celery, and carrots as well as small pieces of bacon. And while any kind of seafood can go into chowder, the most popular fish to use is clams.

    ⚓ Chowder Origins

    The soup originated in New England in the 1700s, where it was made to warm you up and stick to your bones. Clam chowder took off like gangbusters among sea-faring folk. It even makes an appearance in Herman Melville's classic Moby Dick.

    "However, a warm savory steam from the kitchen served to belie the apparently cheerless prospect before us. But when that smoking chowder came in, the mystery was delightfully explained. Oh, sweet friends! hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt."

    It really is a tasty soup, sweet friends.

    a spoonful of Keto Clam Chowder

    💬 Keto Dieters Often Ask

    What is the difference between Manhattan, Rhode Island, and New England Clam Chowder?

    New England Style Chowder is cream-based and uses potatoes, onions, celery, and clams. Manhattan Style Chowder has a tomato broth base and in addition to the potatoes, onion, and celery, it might have green peppers and carrots. And last but not least, you have your Rhode Island Clam Chowder, which has a thin broth base that may or may not involve tomato sauce.  It includes the same kinds of vegetables but uses quahog clams instead of the classic clams you can buy in a can. And all three chowders can have bacon in them because…bacon.

    How many net carbs are in clam chowder?

    If you look at the nutritional info for Campbell's Chunky Soups New England Clam Chowder, the carb count is 23 grams with 3 grams of fiber. So each cup of store-bought clam chowder has 20g net carbs.

    Is clam chowder Keto?

    Traditional clam chowder is close to being Keto, but the high-carb potatoes are a deal killer. But not to worry, the Keto Clam Chowder recipe that I am going to share with you today swaps out the potatoes with daikon radishes, so the carb count is just 10g net carbs per bowl.

    a plate of bacon

    🥣 Ingredients

    • Bacon- Try and find bacon that is cured without sugar.
    • Onion-  Regular onions are fine, but if you use shallots, you can reduce the carb count.  
    • Celery-  If celery isn't your thing, then you can skip it or use red bell pepper instead.
    • Xanthan Gum- This is one of the secret weapons of the Keto diet.  You can use just a little bit in place of cornstarch or white flour to thicken your soup.  
    • Clam Juice-  This comes in a jar by itself. You'll also be using the leftover clam juice from the canned clams.
    • Clams-  You can use fresh or canned clams for this Keto Clam Chowder.  
    • Daikon Radishes- Daikon radishes are great substitutes for potatoes.  If you can’t find daikon radishes at your local grocery store, you can use regular radishes or chopped cauliflower.
    • Bay Leaf-  This adds a classic flavor to the clam chowder.  
    • Dried Thyme-  You can use fresh thyme instead if you don't mind pulling all those tiny leaves off of the stems.  Use 1 teaspoon instead of ¼ teaspoon of dried thyme.  
    • Heavy Whipping Cream-  This adds a nice creaminess to the soup.  If you are dairy-free, you can use canned coconut milk.  I recommend using cream though, for a traditional cream-based soup.  
    • Fresh Parsley-  This acts as a bright green pop of color, as well as a fresh herby taste.  

    If you like this low carb soup, then you might like these recipes for Keto Mushroom Soup, Keto Gumbo, Tomato Soup or Ramen Noodle Soup.

    a pot of low carb Clam Chowder

    📖 Instructions

    1. Fry bacon in a large skillet or Dutch Oven over medium heat until crispy, 5-6 minutes. Remove from the pan and drain oil on paper towels.
    2. Add onion and celery and cook until softened, 5 minutes.
    3. Stir in clam juice, reserved clam juice, water, bay leaf, thyme, daikon radish or cauliflower, salt, and pepper.
    4. Once the broth is heated through, take out ½ cup broth and dissolve xanthan gum in it. Return to the soup pan and mix well.
    5. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes until radish or cauliflower is tender and soup has thickened.
    6. Add bacon, cream, clams, and parsley to the pan and bring back to a simmer.
    7. Serve as soon as the soup is heated through.

    👩‍🍳 And that’s all she wrote.

    It takes about 40 minutes to whip up a pot of gluten-free Keto Clam Chowder that has only 360 calories and 10g net carbs per bowl. And just like in the days of yore, it'll warm you up and stick to your bones. 

    So here you go, some soup for you!😉  

    Big-Chef-Orange-Square

    Ok, chow for now!

    Big-Chef-Orange-Square
    (But let's keep in touch.)

    Print

    📋 Recipe

    New England Style Keto Clam Chowder

    a pot of Keto Clam Chowder
    Print Recipe

    ★★★★★

    5 from 6 reviews

    This is a quick low carb New England Clam Chowder with 10g net carbs per serving.

    • Author: Emily Krill
    • Prep Time: 10
    • Cook Time: 30
    • Total Time: 40 minutes
    • Yield: 4 cups 1x
    • Category: Entree
    • Method: Stovetop
    • Cuisine: American
    • Diet: Gluten Free

    Ingredients

    Units Scale
    • 4 slices bacon, cut into ¼ inch pieces
    • ½ cup onion, diced
    • ½ cup celery, diced
    • ½ teaspoon Xanthan Gum
    • 1 (8oz) jar clam juice
    • 3 (6.5oz) can chopped or whole clams, strained and juice reserved
    • ½ cup water
    • 1 cup daikon radish or cauliflower, diced
    • 1 bay leaf
    • ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
    • ½ cup heavy whipping cream
    • 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

    Instructions

    Step 1.  Fry bacon in a large skillet or Dutch Oven over medium heat until crispy, 5-6 minutes.  Remove from the pan and drain oil on paper towels.

    Step 2.  Add onion and celery and cook until softened, 5 minutes.

    Step 3.  Add clam juice, reserved clam juice, water, bay leaf, thyme, daikon radish or cauliflower, salt, and pepper.

    Step 4.  Once the broth is heated through, take out ½ cup broth and dissolve xanthan gum in it.  Return to the soup pan and mix well.

    Step 5.  Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes until radish or cauliflower is tender and soup has thickened.

    Step 6.  Add bacon, cream, clams, and parsley to the pan and bring back to a simmer.

    Step 7.  Serve as soon as the soup is heated through.

    Nutrition

    • Serving Size: 1 cup
    • Calories: 360
    • Fat: 17
    • Carbohydrates: 12
    • Fiber: 2
    • Protein: 38

    Keywords: Low Carb Clam Chowder, Keto Clam Chowder, New England Clam Chowder

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Samantha says

      January 06, 2023 at 4:53 pm

      Made this today and LOVE it!

      I used shallot instead of onion but then read that there’s actually more carbs in shallot so I won’t do that again.

      Also, I used a cup of small cubes of turnip instead of radish because I thought it would be milder in flavor and lower carb.

      I didn’t have clam juice but I measured the juice from the cans of clams and it totaled 8oz clam juice and I added 8oz of homemade chicken broth.

      It all worked out great! So good!! (I added half a tsp of Old Bay as well) This is a keeper.

      Thanks for your recipe!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Emily Krill says

        January 06, 2023 at 5:03 pm

        Sure thing!

        Reply
    2. EmilyKrill says

      May 02, 2019 at 2:12 pm

      No, that is a very reasonable question! Sorry I left that out. The clams go in at the very end along with the cream, bacon and parsley. Apologies!

      Reply
      • Jacob Smith says

        May 02, 2019 at 4:44 pm

        Thank you so much! I'm cooking this tonight for the fam. Can't wait!

        Reply
    3. Amy says

      January 19, 2019 at 9:47 am

      My husband is in love with this clam chowder *especially since it's keto! I've never used xanthan gum or diakon radish and I'm thrilled with both. Thank you for this wonderful recipe. ( I do add one extra can of clams and having never used canned clams I found there's chopped and whole, I use the whole)

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        January 19, 2019 at 9:53 am

        Thank you so much for letting me know that you and your husband like the clam chowder! I'm going to make a note on the recipe that you can use chopped or whole clams. Thanks for the reminder that there are two options.

        Reply
    4. Deanna says

      December 15, 2018 at 5:18 pm

      This sounds awesome! Do you know where the majority of carbs comes from?

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        December 15, 2018 at 6:11 pm

        The carbs come from the cream, daikon radishes and onions.

        Reply
    5. Jenna says

      December 14, 2018 at 7:26 pm

      My hubs is going to be so excited. He loves New England Clam Chowder. But I usually cheat and buy it from the store!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        December 14, 2018 at 8:06 pm

        Yea, me too. But it's actually really easy to make if you use canned clams and clam juice.

        Reply
    6. Sonal says

      December 14, 2018 at 6:53 pm

      Looks like a really comforting soup. A perfect chowder for anybody who loves it.

      ★★★★★

      Reply
    7. Chris Collins says

      December 14, 2018 at 6:32 pm

      I absolutely LOVE clam chowder and your version looks so delicious! Can't wait to make it 🙂

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        December 14, 2018 at 6:47 pm

        Yay! Let me know how you like it.

        Reply
    8. kim says

      December 14, 2018 at 5:26 pm

      Such a warm comforting recipe! I love this!

      Reply
      • EmilyKrill says

        December 14, 2018 at 6:47 pm

        I love warm comforting soups too.

        Reply
    9. Taylor W. says

      December 14, 2018 at 4:45 pm

      So creamy and comforting! Yum!

      ★★★★★

      Reply

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    I'm Emily, the diabetic behind Resolution Eats. Many years ago, I made a New Year's resolution to switch to a low carb diet. It improved both my health and my outlook on life. Since then, I've come up with hundreds of Keto recipes for everything from soup to nuts. And this blog is a way for me to share the low carb love. Cheers!

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