We Tested 5 Famous Chefs’ Seafood Chowder Recipes, and One Was the Unanimous Winner

Seafood chowder can take many forms, but the best versions share a few essential qualities: a rich, flavorful broth; plenty of seafood; and enough body to feel hearty without becoming stodgy. Beyond that, there’s plenty of room for interpretation. Corn can bring sweetness, potatoes can lend heft and creaminess, and all manner of seafood can boost the savory notes. And while cream is a classic ingredient, it’s hardly mandatory.

That range made seafood chowder an especially intriguing category for a recipe face-off. Would the richest version win us over, or would a lighter chowder prevail? Would we prefer classic flavors or a recipe that pushed the definition of chowder? And would a labor-intensive recipe prove sufficiently delicious to justify the extra work?

We identified five seafood chowder recipes from our archives to taste side by side. Editors and testers in the Food & Wine Test Kitchen tasted them, and the winner was clear.

Winner: Maricel Presilla’s Shrimp and Corn Chowder

Active time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total time: 3 hours

Maricel Presilla is an award-winning author, chef, restaurateur, and culinary historian. She holds a PhD in medieval Spanish history from New York University and is a recognized expert on Latin American cuisines. She won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Mid Atlantic in 2012 for her work at the now-closed restaurant Cucharamama in New Jersey and was inducted into the Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America in 2015. She has written several acclaimed books, including Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America (2012) and Peppers of the Americas (2017).

Presilla’s Shrimp and Corn Chowder was the unanimous winner of our seafood chowder face-off. It was also named one of F&W’s 40 best-ever recipes in 2018 — and with good reason. This chowder’s flavor was simply sublime thanks to a few special touches. It’s imbued from the start with homemade annatto oil, which gives it an orange hue and smoky-sweet flavor.

Shrimp and Corn Chowder

3 hrs

The chowder also simmers with pureed corn and grated green plantains, along with classic aromatics. The liquid is strained, the solids are blended until smooth, and everything is stirred together; marinated shrimp is added to the pot for the last two minutes of cooking so that it stays plump and tender. The finishing touch is a spoonful of corn salsa to garnish each bowl.

Admittedly, this recipe required a good bit of effort: making the annatto oil, marinating shrimp, pureeing corn, simmering, and blending — but the outstanding results were well worth it. There were layers upon layers of flavor, from the faint earthy sweetness of the plantain to the nutty-smoky essence of annatto. The broth was creamy and velvety, and the shrimp was both perfectly seasoned and cooked. It’s a memorable chowder that will impress anyone you make it for. 

Best textures: Carla Hall’s Creamy Shrimp, Corn, and Tomato Chowder

Active time: 20 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes

Carla Hall is a chef, cookbook author, and television personality who became a fan favorite competing on Top Chef and Top Chef: All-Stars before spending seven years as a co-host of ABC’s The Chew. She is known for her warm, exuberant approach to cooking and her affinity for Southern food and is the author of several cookbooks, including Cooking with Love and Carla Hall’s Soul Food.

Creamy Shrimp, Corn and Tomato Chowder

45 mins

The flavor of Hall’s Creamy Shrimp, Corn, and Tomato Chowder far surpassed what we thought might come from such a quick recipe. It was rich, creamy, and luxuriously velvety, with a variety of textures that kept each bite interesting: chewy bacon, tender potatoes, crisp corn, and supple shrimp. The secret ingredient — a can of creamed corn — gave this chowder body, deep corn richness, and a sweet backnote that was balanced by a splash of Pernod, a brilliant addition that lent incredible complexity with its anise-and-herb flavor. Diced fresh tomatoes and a finishing drizzle of lemon juice brought welcome brightness that we loved. This chowder is quick, simple to prepare, and deliciously memorable.

Most savory: Andrew Carmellini’s Smoked-Whitefish Chowder

Active time: 45 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes

Andrew Carmellini is a chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author whose career has included celebrated New York restaurants such as Café Boulud, A Voce, Locanda Verde, and The Dutch. He was named a F&W Best New Chef in 2000 and has won James Beard Awards for Rising Star Chef and Best Chef: New York City. Carmellini is also a cofounder of NoHo Hospitality Group and, with Gwen Hyman, the coauthor of Urban Italian and American Flavor.

Smoked-Whitefish Chowder

45 mins

Carmellini’s Smoked-Whitefish Chowder begins by simmering chunks of Yukon Gold potatoes in a mixture of heavy cream and whole milk — a clever starting point, as half of the potatoes remain in chunks for the finished dish, and the rest plus all of the liquid get blended to thicken and enrich the broth. Onion, celery, and leeks are sweated until tender, then a cup of white wine is stirred in and mostly evaporated, leaving its bright, crisp flavor behind. Chicken stock, frozen corn, and flakes of smoked whitefish complete this chowder, which tasted the most umami-rich of all. The smoked fish carries a ton of flavor and instantly permeates the entire pot with its savory richness. 

Most indulgent: Andrew Zimmern’s Corn, Crab, and Shrimp Chowder

Active time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total time: 2 hours

Andrew Zimmern is a chef, author, television host, producer, and food advocate best known for the long-running Bizarre Foods franchise. His culinary television work has taken him around the world, exploring food as an entry point into different cultures, and has earned him four James Beard Awards. He is also the author of several books and has become a prominent advocate for sustainability and a more resilient food system.

Corn, Crab, and Shrimp Chowder

2 hrs

When a chowder recipe calls for a quart of heavy cream, a stick of butter, a pound of shrimp, and a pound of lump crabmeat, you know you’re in for a treat. Zimmern’s Corn, Crab, and Shrimp Chowder feels luxurious and special occasion–worthy.

He ekes out the most flavor from the ingredients by simmering shrimp shells and corn cobs (after removing the kernels) in chicken stock to make an enriched stock that serves as the foundation of the chowder. Toasted fennel and celery seeds create complexity, while classic aromatics and potatoes add savory backbone and heft. The shrimp and crabmeat cook only long enough for the shrimp to just cook through and the crab to heat up, and the chowder is finished with cream and fresh corn kernels.

The result is intensely buttery and indulgent. For some of our tasters, this was a little too rich; if you prefer your chowder on the lighter side, you’ll want to enjoy a small portion of this recipe.

Most distinctive rendition: Roy Choi’s Curry-Coconut Clam Chowder, Papi-Style

Active time: 45 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes

Roy Choi is the Los Angeles chef who helped redefine American street food with the groundbreaking Kogi BBQ truck, pairing Korean flavors with the city’s taco-truck culture. A 2010 F&W Best New Chef, Choi has gone on to open restaurants including Best Friend in Las Vegas, create the James Beard Award–winning television series Broken Bread, co-host The Chef Show with Jon Favreau, and write cookbooks including L.A. Son and The Choi of Cooking.

Curry-Coconut Clam Chowder, Papi-Style

45 mins

Choi’s take on clam chowder, Curry-Coconut Clam Chowder, Papi-Style, offers some familiar touchpoints — potatoes, pancetta or bacon, fennel, and clams — but departs from tradition by using Thai green curry paste, coconut milk, lime juice, Thai basil, and rau ram (Vietnamese coriander). We loved this dairy-free adaptation and felt that the chowder remained rich and hearty. It’s fragrant, punchy, and distinctive. Chowder purists might think it leans too far toward a coconut curry soup, but we loved how it successfully incorporated vibrant, fresh flavors.

Final takeaways

All of these chowder recipes are worth your time. The one you choose to make depends largely on what you want from your chowder. For maximum richness, try Zimmern’s buttery, creamy version. If you want something speedy without sacrificing complexity, Hall’s and Carmellini’s 45-minute recipes are excellent choices. For those who like to buck tradition, Choi’s version will more than satisfy.

But for a fun cooking project that rewards you with the most complex, outstanding flavor, know that Presilla’s chowder is in another league. It does ask more of the cook than most of the other recipes, but every extra step contributes something meaningful.