This creamy homemade gluten free clam chowder is a bowl of pure comfort food! Not only is my recipe for gluten free New England Clam Chowder easy to make, but I also teach you how to make these cute bacon wrapped edible potato bowls!
If you love soup as much as we do, you will want to check out all of my delicious Gluten Free Soup recipes on the blog.
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This is one of my more unique recipes because not only can you enjoy this creamy thick Gluten Free New England Clam Chowder, but you can eat the bowl too! These potato bowls are perfect for entertaining!
My son originally asked me to make clam chowder. His friend had it and my son couldn't try it because it wasn't gluten free. I decided to try it without making a roux, just to simplify things. I am excited to say this easy gluten free Boston clam chowder is a huge hit!
Why this chowder is awesome:
Not only is this thick and creamy soup easy to make, but it is also loaded with chunks of potato, bacon, celery, and clams! It is quick and easy and is ready in just 30 minutes! No roux needed making this soup so easy!
What you need to make this:
- Clams - I use canned clams because you can get a lot of clams for very little money. Save the liquid in the cans, it adds even more flavor!
- Milk - for a creamy chowder, you will want to use full fat milk.
- Bacon - there are so many flavors and types. Any should work including turkey bacon. You are looking for the smokey flavor to infuse into the soup and most bacon has this smokiness.
- Onion - I prefer Hawaiian sweet onions. I do not like purple onion in this chowder recipe.
- Potatoes - I like to use russet potatoes for chowder, and russet potatoes are big so they make great chowder bowls.
Recipe step by step directions:
The first step is to make the potato bowls since they need time to bake. If you are not making the potato bowls, skip this step.
Step 1: Cut the potatoes in half. Cut the rounded bottom off so that the potato will sit flat on the cutting board. Next, use a melon baller to scoop the centers out of the potatoes.
**Tip for scooping potato centers: do not scoop too deep. The inside of the potatoes soften a little as they bake and if you scoop out too much around the bottom, the soup can leak out!
Step 2: Once you have all of the centers scooped out, get out the raw bacon and some toothpicks. Wrap one or two pieces of raw bacon around the outside of the potatoes.
You will want to use a toothpick to pin the bacon to the potato. Once the bacon and potato bake together, you can remove the toothpicks.
This is what your bacon-wrapped potato bowls will look like when they are cooked.
Step 3: Add the chopped raw bacon, onion, celery, and diced potatoes to a pan. Cook on medium heat until the bacon is cooked.
Step 4: Pour in the milk, clams, and seasonings. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Pour into potato bowls, or a regular bowl.
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ:
For this recipe, I highly advise using russet potatoes to make the bowls. These potatoes are larger and will hold more chowder than a smaller potato.
Thickening chowder without flour is easier than you may think! Use cornstarch, potato starch, arrowroot starch, or tapioca starch. Any will work!
This chowder will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
You can easily freeze this chowder. It will keep up to 4 months in the freezer.
More yummy soups:
You can fill these potato bowls with anything. If you don't want to fill them with clam chowder, you can fill them with:
Recipe
Homemade Gluten Free Clam Chowder in Potato Bowls
Equipment
Ingredients
Potato Bowls
- 12 slices bacon
- 4 large russet potatoes
For the Chowder
- 2 cups chopped potatoes
- ½ cup chopped cooked bacon * see note
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 minced garlic clove
- 3 cups whole milk * see note
- 20 ounces canned clams 1 can drained, one can with liquid
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon dried sage
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch * see note
Instructions
Potato Bowls
- Preheat the oven to 375° F.
- Slice each russet potato in half. Slice off the rounded part on the bottom of each. This will allow the potato bowl to sit evenly.
- Use a melon baller to scoop out the center of each raw potato. Leave ½ inch towards the bottom so the soup won't leak out the bottom.
- Wrap the raw potato bowls with a slice of raw bacon. Use a toothpick to pin the bacon down. (You will be able to remove this toothpick when the potatoes and bacon are cooked.)
- Bake the potatoes for 40-45 minutes until soft.
Chowder
- While the potatoes are baking, add oil, garlic, and onion to a soup pot. Sauté for 3 minutes.
- Add diced potatoes and the chopped raw slice of bacon to the pot and cook another 5 minutes.
- Add milk, water, clams, and spices to the pot. Cover and bring to a gentle boil.
- Allow to boil for 5 minutes, reduce heat to a simmer and cook an additional 30 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Add cornstarch and mix quickly to avoid lumps
- Remove the potatoes from the oven, remove the toothpicks.
- Fill each potato bowl with hot chowder and garnish with fresh parsley.
Notes
- I recommend using full-fat milk to keep this soup creamy.
- I like to use canned clams because you can get a lot of clams for very low cost.
- Drain one can but use the clam juice from the second can.
- You can use any type of bacon, including turkey bacon to keep this lower fat.
- You can thicken this chowder with cornstarch, potato starch, or tapioca starch.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Tisha
Delicious way to serve soup! That's what I call a clean plate after!
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you so much Tisha 🙂
Jere Cassidy
This is such a unique recipe, so much better than bread bowls. I am going to have to try this one.
Sandi Gaertner
It is definitely easier than making a bread bowl 🙂