A recipe for classic creamy seafood chowder that adds an interesting south-of-the-border taste with green chilies, paprika, and a splash of lemon juice. Served with bread or tortillas and a salad it makes for a quick family weeknight meal.

Seafood Chowder with Green Chilies in pot above

One of my favorite types of soup is a creamy New England style chowder, typically a clam chowder, but any kind of creamy chowder with seafood works for me.

Served with a salad and flaky whole wheat biscuits, it makes a wonderful comfort-food meal on cool weather nights. Chowders are also simple and quick to make, too, so they’re easy to add to our weeknight menus.

A number of years ago when I read about a recipe for a seafood chowder with the addition of green chilies, I was intrigued – would it make it spicy or give it a Mexican flavor? In order to find out, I created a recipe using one of my favorite chowder recipes and adding the chilies, paprika, and lemon juice I had seen in the other recipe.

Seafood Chowder with Green Chilies in bowl

Guess what?

We loved it! It turned out really tasty, with the chilies adding just a hint of spiciness, but without any harsh flavors. In fact, the chilies and paprika really seemed to enhance the traditional chowder ingredients and was a nice change of pace.

Ingredient Notes

Seafood Chowder with Green Chilies ingredients

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this seafood chowder:

Potatoes: Russet are the best for this, as they break down and help thicken the soup.
Seafood: White fish fillets, canned clams, shrimp or your favorite combo.
Whole milk or cream
onions
Mild green chilies: Anaheim, Hatch, or Poblano, You can also add a jalapeño for more spice.
Butter
Flour: you can use cornstarch or potato starch to thicken to keep this gluten free.
Paprika
Salt & pepper
Lemon
Parsley, optional

How do you make seafood meals work on a tight food budget?

I LOVE seafood and am always trying to find ways to get it into our menus without going over budget. I’ve found the best ways are to:

Buy seafood on sale.
Use recipes that make a little seafood go a long way.

Soup is an obviously good way to make seafood stretch, but also think kabobs (because you can add lots of vegetables on the skewers), frittatas, and seafood pasta dishes like this shrimp and green bean pasta.

In planning the menu, I try to plan a less inexpensive meal (typically meatless like this soup with grilled cheese, or something like these easy lettuce wraps) one of the other days the week to balance out the more expensive seafood day.

Make Seafood Chowder with Green Chilies

Making Seafood Chowder with Green Chilies

Making any chowder is really pretty simple, and this recipe is no exception.

You cook the vegetables in a bit of butter and add spices and flour for thickening, cook that around a bit, and cover with water or broth before bringing to a boil in order to fully cook the potatoes.

After the potatoes are tender, you add the milk or cream and seafood, then heat just a few minutes more until the falling-apart potatoes have helped thicken the soup.

Seafood is always added in the last few minutes in order to not become overcooked.

Seafood Chowder with Green Chilies in bowl and pot

This chowder recipe is finished with the juice of one lemon, which gives it a bright and tangy flavor. Add a little chopped parsley for color and serve with your choice of bread and a salad.

Easy and delicious – and done in about 30 minutes, making this a perfect weeknight meal.

More Easy Soup Recipes to Try:

Rustic Italian Sausage Soup
Easy Homemade Tomato Soup
Amazing Cauliflower Cheese Soup (kid friendly!)

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Seafood Chowder with Green Chilies

A recipe for classic creamy seafood chowder that adds an interesting south-of-the-border taste with green chilies, paprika, and a splash of lemon juice.

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Total Time40

Yield: servings

Author: Jami Boys

Click for Cook Mode

Ingredients

4 large potatoes peeled and diced*
1/4 cup butter
1 onion chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh mild green chilies or frozen peppers, or 1 4-ounce canned**
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 cup flour
2 cups water
2 6- ounce cans minced clams drained reserving juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups whole milk or use half cream or all half-and-half for a richer chowder
1 pound white fish cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 pound medium-size shrimp peeled and cleaned
juice of one small lemon
parsley for serving

Instructions

Melt butter over medium heat and add the potatoes, onions, and chilies. Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes until onion is softened.
Add paprika and flour, stirring well, and cook for 1 more minute. Add the water and the juice from the canned clams to the pot along with the salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
Stir in milk (and cream, if using), white fish, and shrimp. Cook over medium heat until the fish is cooked through, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Finish the chowder by stirring in the juice of the lemon and adjust salt to taste. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Notes

*Russet potatoes work best for chowders.

**Mild green chilies like Anaheim, Poblano or Hatch are best. You can substitute a chopped jalapeño pepper for some of the chilies if you’d like your chowder spicier.