What’s Cooking: Slow Cooker Clam Chowder on a Winter’s Day

What’s Cooking is a feature at LGBTSr highlighting easy, delicious recipes. Have a recipe to share? Email us at: recipes @ lgbtsr.com

First a Little History

Historians say Manhattan clam chowder was originally called Coney Island Clam Chowder and/or Fulton Market Clam Chowder. Both names were used in the 1890s.  Traditionally made from clams, pork, herbs, tomatoes, and other vegetables, it originated in Rhode Island, not Manhattan!

Slow Cooker Manhattan Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

6 slices bacon
1 large white or yellow onion, diced
4 carrots, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup of canned or frozen corn
2 32 oz. cartons of vegetable broth
1 24 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
3 large potatoes, chopped into medium chunks
2 8 oz. bottles of clam juice
1 cup of diced clams with liquid (I used one container, try two for more clams!)
2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
2 bay leaves, salt and pepper
1 cup or more of spicy V8 for added flavor

Fry the bacon until it’s brown (not fully), set aside. Add the carrots, celery, and onion to bacon fat and fry for a few minutes to soften and loosen the flavors.

Steam the potatoes to soften them up. 6 minutes in a microwave is good. Then add all the ingredients except the clams into a slower cooker and set on low for 6+ hours. After six hours, add the clams and clam liquid and cook another 45 minutes to an hour. Ladle and serve!

This recipe provides a lot of chowder! We got about three soup/meals out of it, so be prepared to eat this for a couple days, or freeze what you don’t eat. It’s delicious, low calorie, and the chunky potatoes give it a heft for cold weather. Enjoy with some tasty bread and a salad.