Episode 3.35 - Snow Day Clam Chowder

The kind of soup that makes a snowy day feel like a celebration doesn’t need a dozen steps or a culinary degree. We walk you through our easiest-ever New England clam chowder, adapted from a beloved community cookbook and tuned for modern kitchens, weeknight schedules, and hungry holiday crowds. With a chop-and-simmer method, you skip the sauté, keep cleanup minimal, and still pull off a creamy, briny bowl that tastes like it simmered all afternoon.

We start with the classics—clams, clam juice, potatoes, onion, celery, carrots, butter, and flour—then make a few thoughtful tweaks that lift the flavor without weighing it down. Instead of half and half, we balance 2% milk with a splash of chicken broth for a lighter body that stays velvety. For heat, sriracha brings a gentle garlic backbone rather than blunt spice, and we ditch the sugar so the natural sweetness of vegetables and dairy can shine. The result is comfort with character: rich enough to satisfy, bright enough to serve alongside a bigger spread.

Hosting a crowd? Set the pot to low and let everyone help themselves. We share our trick of using a portable induction burner to hold the perfect gentle simmer without running a gas flame all day, whether you’re serving mugs of chowder for lunch or keeping it warm between courses. You’ll hear tips for thick vs. brothy textures, make-ahead options, and easy garnishes—oyster crackers, chopped parsley, a final drizzle of sriracha—that turn a humble pot into a festive centerpiece. Cozy, reliable, and endlessly adaptable, this chowder fits a holiday table just as well as a quiet Tuesday.

Ready to ladle up comfort? Hit play, grab the recipe from our show notes at giasitaliankitchen.biz, and if you enjoy the cook-along style, subscribe, share the episode with a soup-loving friend, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

https://giasitaliankitchen.biz/recipes-mangia/f/the-best-clam-chowder 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Cozy Chowder Pitch
• 2:12 The Cookbook Origin Story
• 2:40 Ingredients And Smart Swaps
• 5:19 One-Pot Method And Simmer Tips
• 5:53 Induction Heat And Hosting Ease
• 6:40 Serving Ideas And Holiday Send-Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:12

Good morning. This is Kelly with Gia's Italian Kitchen. Whether you are home on a snowy day or maybe preparing for your Christmas menu or maybe something to bring to someone else's house for Christmas, I have the best and the easiest, and seriously the most delicious, clam chowder, New England clam chowder you've ever had. So this recipe is based off of a local cookbook that I got in 1997 when we lived out in Boise, Idaho, and it was like one of those, you know, little ones that the well, I was in the junior league, and you know, you put together like the little community cookbook with the little binder thing. That's where this is from. Um long time ago. So anyway, this clam cheddar recipe literally could not be easier. You pretty much chop things up, chuck it in a pot, and let it do its magic. You don't even have to saute anything. It's crazy. Um, so I put it on my website, the full recipe that I've of course messed with so that it's um now a a little bit of a unique version of mine. Uh Gia's Italian Kitchen.biz, uh Gia's G-I-A-S, Gia's Italian Kitchen.biz B-I-Z, and then go to the recipes and you will can't miss it. Uh actually, if and if you're on my website, you can scroll down. If you're on this podcast, I'll put a link into uh into the show notes. So potatoes, of course, but they are uh Idaho potatoes. Um I think those are those Yukons, yeah. Umion, celery, carrots, clams, clam juice, uh some butter, flour. It called for half and half, but I do not do that. I do a little bit of 2% milk, and the original recipe calls for Tabasco, which you can choose to not do if you don't like that spiciness. I actually put sriracha in it instead, um, because sriracha is like, well, it's obviously hot, but it has like a garlic base to it, so it's just delicious. It's not just hot, it's actually adding a little bit of flavor. Um the original recipe calls for sugar, which I do not put in because I don't think they're it might be balancing something, but I don't think it's needed. Uh salt and pepper. And I actually add a little bit of chicken broth in there as well, um, just to make it a little thinner. So if you want it super, super thick, you can omit that. But um I actually I think I did one time I did just the milk, and then I think I moved to kind of doing half and half of the the 2% milk and the chicken broth to make it a little bit thinner and reduce the amount of dairy. Um really you could um probably try to omit the milk if you don't want that dairy aspect at all. Um because you do have the flour butter that you're adding in there that's kind of adding a creaminess to it, it's thickening it up a little bit. Um, so you can certainly play with that. Um, it is so good. So, like I said, you literally chop everything up, put it in a uh stock pot, and let it simmer for you know maybe an hour. Um, because the potato I didn't even cook the potatoes ahead of time. It's delicious, and then it's something that you can just leave on the stove on mini low or super low, or if you have an induction. Um I have one of those, I guess it's portable, um, but it's just you know, you plug it into your electrical outlet so I can travel with it. But it's great if you want something like this to just sit on super low, and people can come in the kitchen and help themselves throughout the lunchtime, and you don't have to serve anybody, but then you don't have you know, if you have a gas stove, you don't have the gas on all the time. Um, so the induction is really nice for that when you're doing something low and slow for a longer period of time, like a marinara that you want that you want uh to simmer for a really long time, but then you don't have the gas on forever. Um so yeah, give that a try. It's on my website, and um I hope that you can try it this Christmas season um either at your house or maybe bring it. That'd be a lovely little side or appetizer or part of dinner if you're going somewhere for the holidays. So um, or just you know, on a random Tuesday for lunch over these these next few weeks when you have people at the house. So um happy holidays, and I hope that you love my New England clam chowder. Let's get cooking.