BY: Courtney PUBLISHED: 9 Comments UPDATED ON:
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Rich and Creamy flavorful Fish Chowder using flounder. You can also use shrimp, lobster, crabs or even clams in this seafood chowder.
When we first made this recipe we had to avoid clams due to our child having FPIES, now one of our family member’s have a dairy allergy and we still enjoy this soup, but with some tweaks. We have had great success turning this into a dairy free chowder.
This chowder is rich and creamy and extremely versatile. You can use any type of fish that you like, just as long as it’s cooked. Want even more flavor? You can use a bit of fish stock instead of water.
Recipe ingredients and notes:
- Bacon – We use bacon to flavor the soup, we first brown it in the dutch oven and then use some of the fat to cook the veggies.
- Carrots – You can either chop or shred the carrots.
- Celery – We love the flavor celery adds, but you can leave it out if you don’t like celery.
- Yellow Onion – We recommend using yellow onion for the best flavor.
- Potatoes – Since this is a chowder we like to use russet potatoes are they get very soft. You could also use yukon.
- Water – If you want a richer seafood flavor you can use fish stock.
- Milk – To make this a dairy free chowder you can use full fat Oatly.
- Thyme
- Bay Leaf
- Salt
- Pepper
- Butter – We use Country Crock plant butter.
- Flounder – We use flounder, but you could also use crab, shrimp, lobster or even clams for a dairy free clam chowder to be super allergy friendly!
- All Purpose Flour – Using flour helps thicken the chowder.
- Half and Half – We also use full fat oatly for the half and half.
Recipe tips and variations
- You can make this recipe dairy free by using thick and creamy full-fat oat milk. Our preferred oat milk for cooking creamy dairy free soups is Oatly.
- Don’t like bacon? You can use ham or even pork instead.
- Don’t like flounder? You can use almost any cooked seafood like crab, clams, lobster, or even shrimp!
- Not a fish fan? You can also make this soup with some roasted chicken for a creamy chicken soup.
Storage and reheating tips
- Refrigerate: Store any seafood chowder leftovers in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 3-4 days.
- Freeze: To freeze leftover chowder place it in an airtight freezer-safe container and freeze for 3-4 months.
- Reheat: Place the desired amount of chowder into a saucepan and heat slowly on medium-low heat stirring occasionally until the chowder and all ingredients are warm and at a safe temperature.
How to serve
We like serving with biscuits and a side salad.
more seafood recipes
Alaska Salmon Pasta with Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce
Tuna Macaroni Salad
Sardine Salad Recipe
Fish Chowder
Author: Courtney
Rich and Creamy flavorful Fish Chowder using flounder. You can also use shrimp, lobster, crabs or even clams in this seafood chowder.
5 from 9 votes
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Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: dairy free soup, fish chowder, seafood chowder
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes minutes
Servings: 10
Calories: 575kcal
Ingredients
- 3 strips bacon
- 1 large carrot
- 3 stalks celery
- 1 onion yellow
- 2 large potatoes
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups milk use full fat oat milk for dairy free, we prefer oatly.
- pinch thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 4 tablespoons butter we use country crock plant butter
- 5 flounder filets a bit over a pound
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 quart half and half use full fat oat milk for dairy free, we prefer oatly.
- cooked bacon for topping
Instructions
Fry up the bacon in a dutch oven on medium heat.
While the bacon is frying chop up your carrots, celery, onion and potatoes.
Once the bacon is done chop it up and keep in the pan, add in the chopped veggies as well.
Cook the veggies in the bacon and bacon fat for about 5 minutes.
Add in the water, milk, thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper.
Cook until the vegetables are tender on a low-medium fire.
While the soup is cooking in a large skillet cook the flounder in the 2 tablespoons of butter until cooked thoroughly.
Once the vegetables are tender add the flounder to the soup.
In the skillet used for the flounder add in the 2 tablespoons of butter, once melted stir in the flour to make a roux.
Once the roux is yellowish/brown add in the half and half slowly, and keep mixing and pouring in the half and half until it's combined.
Remove the bay leaf and discard.
Add the cream mixture into the soup and cook the soup for 5 minutes.
Top with cooked bacon and enjoy!
*if you like a thicker soup add a little more flour mixed with some of the stock and then returned to the soup, increasing by a teaspoon each time. be careful as the soup will thicken with time.
Video
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Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 575kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 62g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 262mg | Sodium: 792mg | Potassium: 1002mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 2002IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 267mg | Iron: 1mg
The nutritional information is automatically calculated and can vary based ingredients and products used. If the nutrition numbers are important for you we recommend calculating them yourself.
nutrition disclaimer
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About Courtney
Family, Food, and Photography are Courtney's passions and you'll see all of that on this blog. She is happily married to her husband Chris and together they have two amazing kiddos!
Reader Interactions
Comments
Jesse Yum. 🙂
Reply
- Thalia+@+butter+and+brioche
I have never made chowder before! You have definitely inspired me to recreate this recipe. Thanks for sharing it, it looks delicious!
Reply
- shelly+peterson
This looks delicious. My family loves clam chowder, I have never made it before but will have to try this recipe.
Reply
My husband absolutely LOVES clam chowder! I’ve tried several recipes and they were all not so good. I’m definitely going to give your a try as it looks amazing!
Reply
- Nicole+Dz
New England clam chowder reminds me of my grandma, I remember when I was younger she use to make a big pot of it, and it would be on the stove simmering, the smell was so yummy. Brings backs childhood memories.
Reply
- Rebecca Orr
This looks delicious! I would love it with the flounder….but of course, my fiancé and kids wouldn’t. More for me!
Reply
- Courtney
the best part is the flounder makes the fish flavor very subtle 🙂
- Wing Sau Chiang
this looks so delicious! going to give it a try
Reply
- Julia Chiang
These seems like a very simple recipe thank you for sharing this with us
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