This Creamy Dairy Free Clam Chowder is everything you’d except from this classic recipe, but there’s no dairy at all! It’s also gluten free and Whole30. It’s great for healthy dinners and leftovers for lunch. It has the perfect balance of thyme and bay leaf that combines with the bacon to add so much to this comfort food chowder.
When I got a request for a dairy free clam chowder recipe, my first thought was ‘I don’t know about this, that may well be beyond my abilities!’. But I shouldn’t have worried it wasn’t possible, because here we are with the tastiest clam chowder. It’s perfectly creamy, and just the right amount of thickness you’d expect from a chowder.
Watch how to make this Dairy Free Clam Chowder
My main concern in creating a dairy free chowder was how to make it super creamy. If you add too much of the usual ingredients, (like cashew cream or coconut cream) they just take over with their strong flavor. But I finally settled on a super easy trick that solved everything!
And here’s the secret: I blended a bit of unsweetened coconut cream with some of the cooked potatoes. This created a ultra creamy dairy free chowder that’s also naturally gluten free!
From there this creamy mixture is poured back into the clam chowder, and that’s where the magic happens! The other bonus with blending up part of the potatoes is they also thicken the chowder. This means this recipe is gluten free as well as dairy free – so really it’s a win win all around!
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Bacon – I believe every good chowder starts with a bit of sautéed bacon. And I know you’ll love the flavor it adds to the mix here!
- Onions, garlic, & celery – These 3 make up your chowder soup base and provide a lot of flavor.
- Thyme & bay leaf – A bit of thyme really adds a lot here, and if you have fresh definitely use it. The bay leaf is a classic and adds a touch of flavor you don’t want to miss.
- Clams – I don’t want to get into any super intense arguments about fresh vs. canned, (just joking but opinions run strong on this!) but I went with canned. There’s 2 reasons for this, and the first and main reason is canned is so much easier and faster. The second reason is that we live in a land locked state where fresh clams aren’t just hanging around on the regular. If you want to start from scratch great fresh clams, by all means go ahead and do so! I’m always of the belief that starting from scratch always yields better results. But for the purposes of this recipe, we’re keeping it simple.
- Clam juice & chicken stock or broth – If you don’t have clam juice on hand, you can just add a bit more chicken stock. I also add the reserved clam juice from the canned clams to the chowder. And between the 2 you get pretty great flavor. I like to add the chicken stock because like the bacon, it rounds out these flavors.
- Potatoes – The potatoes do triple duty here in this chowder. Of course there’s lots of chunks of potatoes like any good chowder. But they’re also are part of the thickener and the creaminess as well!
- Coconut cream – You can either refrigerate coconut milk and scoop the cream from the top. Or buy cans of coconut cream if you have them available. The coconut cream provides a lot of creaminess in combination with the potatoes. But don’t worry you don’t notice the coconut flavor here. Coconut cream is just 1 ingredients – coconut and shouldn’t be confused with cream of coconut which is a sweetened product for desserts.
Now let’s make this recipe step by step
Step1: The first thing we’re going to do is prep all the ingredients. The ‘hands on’ part of this recipe is quick, then it’s mostly just simmering after that.
Step 2: Once the ingredients are prepped, sauté the bacon until it’s crispy, then remove it from the pan. From there you’re going to sauté the onion, celery, and garlic mixture until it’s translucent and soft.
Step 3: Then it’s time to add the herbs along with the liquids, potatoes and those bacon bits.
Step 4: Next simmer the chowder until the potatoes are soft. Then finally we’re going to spoon out some of the potatoes to blend with the coconut cream. Pour that mixture back into the chowder and stir to combine.
Tip: Don’t worry about spooning out only potatoes for the blending step. You will definitely end up spooning out some of the onion and bacon bits too. But since we’re blending on low speeds, this is no big deal. The potatoes will blend with the coconut cream and the bacon bits stay in tack – so no need to worry!
Step 5: Once you’ve stirred in the potato/coconut cream mixture, turn off the heat and add the clams.
Step 6: And the final step is to season to taste with sea salt and pepper. This is going to vary depending on what ingredients you use. Some chicken stocks and clam juices have more salt than other, so it’s best to season the chowder to taste at the end.
FAQ’s
I have subbed in baby scallops and baby shrimp for a seafood chowder. If you don’t like seafood, try making this a chicken chowder by using sautéed chopped chicken thighs.
The main ingredient you always find in chowder is potatoes and something to make it creamy. In this recipe we’re using coconut cream and blended potatoes to keep it dairy free. From there you can make seafood chowder, chicken chowder, ham chowder, etc.
Yes they are considered both paleo and Whole30.
More Dairy Free Soup Recipe Inspiration
- Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Homemade Chicken Zucchini Noodle Soup
- Anti-Inflammatory Turmeric Chicken Soup
Dairy free comfort food recipes
For even more recipe inspiration, head over to the dairy free section in our recipe index! I sure hope you get a chance to make this Creamy Dairy Free Clam Chowder soon. And if you do, I hope you’ll leave me a comment/star rating below.
I always love hearing from you here in the comments. And also over on Instagram where you can tag me at #getinspiredeveryday with your photos!
Creamy Dairy Free Clam Chowder
INGREDIENTS
- 4 strips bacon - 5 ounces, thinly sliced
- 1 cup diced onion - 1/4″, 1/2 medium onion
- 1 clove garlic - minced
- 1 cup thinly sliced celery - 2 stalks
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme - or 1 teaspoon dried
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 – 10 ounce can clams - juices drained and reserved
- 1 – 8 ounce bottle clam juice
- 1 cup chicken stock - I used my homemade unsalted recipe
- 5 cups cubed potatoes 1″ - 1 1/2 pounds
- 1 cup coconut cream - see notes
- Sea salt and pepper to taste - see notes
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place a large pot over medium heat, and when the pan is hot, add the bacon. Sauté until the bacon renders it’s fat and is crispy.
- Scoop out the bacon bits and set them aside. Pour out some of the bacon fat if there’s too much, you’ll need around 2-3 tablespoons in the pan.
- Add the onion, garlic, and celery to the pan. Sauté over medium low temperature until the onion begins to turn translucent and is soft.
- Add the thyme, stir to combine, then add the bay leaf, reserved juice from the clams, the bottle of clam juice, and the chicken stock.
- Stir to combine again, then add the potatoes and bacon bits. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender, 15-20 minutes. When the potatoes are done, remove the bay leaf.
- Then using a ladle, scoop out 2 cups of the cooked potatoes, draining off excess liquid, and add them to a blender. Don’t worry about spooning out the other ingredients with the potatoes, this won’t matter.
- Add the coconut cream to the blender with the potatoes, then blend on low speed just until the potatoes are mostly smooth.
- Add the potato/coconut cream mixture back to the chowder and stir to combine. Turn the heat off and add the clams. Stir again, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve immediately. Any leftovers reheat well on the stove top. This soup doesn’t freeze super well because the potatoes tend to come out with a mushy texture.
This was so good, the flavor was great and the entire family loved it! It was creamy and rich without any dairy
I’m so glad to hear your whole family enjoyed it!
Delicious! I didn’t listen to your advice and salted it pretty generously (I usually like salty things) but it was too much, lol!! Next time I’ll listen to the recipe on that. I love the taste of clam chowder but I don’t like the thickness of chowders in general, so I just stirred in the coconut cream instead of blending it, and it was perfect for me! Next time I’m going to double the recipe!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it and that you’re going to make it again!
This sounds amazing. I want to add fresh cod to the chowder. Any suggestions on timing/when to add the cubed code?
That sounds delicious, and I would recommend adding the cod right after you ladle out some of the potatoes to blend for a thickener. Try keeping the pieces on the larger side around 2″ in case they flake apart a bit, they should take between 5-10 minutes to simmer, then add the blended potato mixture back in and stir carefully so you don’t break up the fish too much. I hope this helps and let me know how it turns out, or if you have any more questions!
Super easy and delicious! I loved this recipe. I would say it serves 8.
So glad you enjoyed it! And it could definitely serve as many as 8 depending on what else you serve alongside!
Hi! I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. I was wondering, how does it work for meal prep? Can you freeze this successfully?
Thank you!
I wouldn’t try to freeze this particular soup/chowder because of the potatoes in it. Potatoes get mealy and mushy when frozen, so I’d recommend my Anti-Inflammatory Turmeric Chicken Soup for meal prepping rather than this one.
https://getinspiredeveryday.com/food/anti-inflammatory-turmeric-chicken-soup/
This was a great creamy option that was dairy and gluten free. You do not taste the coconut milk – it just adds creaminess. I sauteed ham instead of bacon and it worked great. Lovely flavors.
Glad to know that ham works well in place of bacon, sounds super tasty!
If making this a seafood chowder, do I still use clam juice or is there something else, or more stock!
Yes I would use clam juice, or shrimp stock if you have any, (I’ve never seen it in a store just homemade). You can also use a vegetable or chicken broth as well. I hope you enjoy it, and definitely let me know how it goes and which one you end up using!
Sounds great but one of my kids has a coconut meat allergy. Any substitutions that might work?
You can use almond milk or cashew milk, it’s not quite as creamy but it will still work well. You could also make my cashew cream sauce to stir in at the end. I hope one of these works, and definitely let me know how it goes!
https://getinspiredeveryday.com/food/savory-vegan-cashew-cream-sauce/
HIGHLY recommended!it was easy to make,tastes INCREDIBLE and dairy free oh my!!!Kari thank you for sharing!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this! It definitely took some experimenting to make this one extra creamy and dairy free, so I appreciate the feedback!
This clam chowder was WONDERFUL! I’ve been avoiding dairy for a year now, among other things, so I was excited to find this recipe with all “safe” ingredients for me. I’ve never made clam chowder before, but I made this alongside a regular dairy recipe for my family. They loved their soup and I loved mine too! I omitted the bacon because of Lent, but I’m sure it would taste phenomenal if added. I used leftover baked potatoes to speed up the cooking. I also didn’t want to wash the blender since I used it at breakfast, so I dumped my refrigerated canned coconut fat right in without blending it with potatoes. I’m saving this recipe to use every time I want clam chowder. Thanks for sharing!!
Readers, make sure you save/pin/print this. 🙂
Also used vegetable broth instead…because Lent. 🙂
Thanks so much for taking the time to write your variations, I love the inspiration personally and I know it helps anyone else making it in the future too!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! Also you for sure don’t need to get the blender dirty and can skip that step if you don’t mind a thinner chowder, I’m all about less dishes too!