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Home Fish recipes

Fish Chowder Soup

By:Nagi
Published:15 Apr '19Updated:28 Sep '21
154 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

Fish Chowder is such a great easy fish recipe that’s can’t-stop-eating-it good! A thick and hearty creamy white fish soup, I adore this combination of tender potatoes, carrots, sweet corn and peas with big flakes of fish.

A wonderful fish recipe for Easter – or anytime! Just imagine that moment when you dunk in a hunk of warm crusty bread…..

Fish Chowder Soup in a bowl, ready to be eaten

Fish Chowder Soup

This is really just a Fish Soup but I like to call it a “chowder” because the immature child within believes it sounds a heck of a lot more interesting to say “we’re having Fish Chowder for dinner tonight” rather than just “fish soup”.

Who’s with me on this? 😂

Well, whatever we think this should be called, it doesn’t matter! What matters is that it’s utterly delicious, and I think it’s a great easy fish recipe that’s a little different to the usual pan frying or baked fish recipes that can be made with many types of fish.

Ladling Fish Chowder Soup out of pot, fresh off the stove

Best fish for fish chowder

“Meaty” firm types of fish are ideal for fish chowder, such as: Snapper, barramundi, tilapia, basa*, cod, ling, monkfish, marlin, latchet (gurnard), leatherjacket, Spanish mackerel, shark (flake), salmon.

Avoid delicate fish such as whiting, garfish, John Dory, flat fish (flounder, sole) and flathead as they tend to fall apart in soup.

Avoid lean fish like Swordfish, tuna, kingfish, normal mackerel. These tend to be a bit dry unless cooked with care if it’s not the super fatty bit like the belly which is hard to get outside of Japan! So best not used in soup.

* Popular economical fish in Australia, this is actually a type of catfish found in South East Asia.

I’m using Barramundi fillets, a popular fish here in Australia. I like how big and meaty the fillets are – 1 fillet usually weighs around 300 – 400g (10 – 14 oz).

Barramundi Fillets - raw

What goes in Fish Chowder

Pretty straight forward list of ingredients (notes below):

Fish Chowder Soup ingredients

Just some notes on a few of the items:

  • Wine – optional, but it does add that little extra something something to the soup broth. It’s pretty traditional to use white wine in a seafood broth base. Can be skipped.

  • Vegetables – feel free to switch with vegetables of choice, just add them according to the cook time. Potato and broccoli is great (it basically ends up looking like Potato Broccoli Soup with fish in it), or try Corn Chowder type soup with fish added. Anything goes here!

  • Best broth for fish chowder – in order of preference:

    • homemade fish stock – reserved for special occasions around these parts!

    • high quality store bought fish stock ie not standard supermarket brands like Campbells. Read: pricey!

    • clam juice – US product, not sold in Australia, hope it comes to our shores!

    • chicken broth /stock – yes really, try it and be amazed how good it is in this recipe. This is what I use for everyday purposes – and it’s how this recipe is made.

Just to be clear, there is no denying that the best seafood soups are made with homemade seafood broths and any respectable seafood restaurant will use house-made broths. But there’s also no denying that it’s not practical for most people to manhandle giant cauldrons of fish heads on any given night, and that’s the basis on which I give my recommendations!


How to make it

Chowder is a great straightforward recipe – sauté onion and garlic, deglaze the pot with white wine, add flour to make a sludge then basically tip everything else in.

The broth for Fish Chowder is thickened with the flour – no need for cream unless you want to add richness (I do not miss it).

I used to sear the fish first before making the broth, believing that this gave an overall better flavour. But actually, for fish soups, I think it’s best to just plonk the uncooked fish straight into the broth so all the fish juices leech into the soup as it poaches.

How to make Fish Chowder Soup

If you’ve been around since Easter of last year, you’d be forgiven for thinking the ingredients in this recipe are somewhat familiar. In fact kudos to you for picking it up! Because this Fish Chowder is in fact pretty much my favourite Easter Fish Pie – in soup form. 🙂

Try this soup with Quick Cheesy Garlic Bread…. wait until you SEE it in the video below. Makes my knees weak every single time!! Otherwise, try one of these:

Soup Dunkers

Close up of crispy crust of world's easiest yeast bread
World’s Easiest Yeast Bread recipe – Artisan, NO KNEAD crusty bread
Cheese stretch picking up piece of Quick Cheesy Garlic Bread
Quick Cheesy Garlic Bread
Close up of sandwich bread without yeast
Sandwich Bread WITHOUT yeast
Better than Pizza Hut! For a truly religious Garlic Bread experience, skip the artisan bread and use a basic French stick. And no skimping on butter! recipetineats.com
Better-Than-Dominos Garlic Bread
Close up of slice of Irish Soda Bread (no yeast bread)
World’s best No Yeast Bread – Irish Soda Bread
Close up photo of a stack of Savoury Cheese Muffins
Savoury Cheese Muffins
Close up of a piece of Cornbread with butter and honey
Cornbread recipe
No Knead Soft Dinner Rolls fresh out of the oven, ready to be eaten
Breads

– Nagi x

Bread being dunked into Fish Chowder Soup

Watch how to make it

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Ladling Fish Chowder Soup out of pot, fresh off the stove

Fish Chowder Soup

Author: Nagi
Prep: 10 minutes mins
Cook: 25 minutes mins
Total: 35 minutes mins
Soup
Western
4.91 from 52 votes
Servings5
Tap or hover to scale
Print
  • 262
Recipe video above. Fish Chowder is such a great easy fish recipe that's can't-stop-eating-it good! A thick and hearty creamy white fish soup, I adore this combination of tender potatoes, carrots, sweet corn and peas with big flakes of fish.

Ingredients

  • 40g / 3 tbsp butter , unsalted
  • 2 garlic cloves , minced
  • 1 small onion , finely chopped
  • 2 small carrots , halved, cut into 0.5cm / 1/5" slices
  • 1/2 cup (125ml) dry white wine (can skip)
  • 1/4 cup (35g) flour (plain / all purpose)
  • 3 cups (750 ml) milk , any fat %
  • 2 cups (500 ml) fish stock, clam juice OR chicken stock, preferably low sodium (Note 1)
  • 2 cups potato , 1.5 cm/ 0.5" cubes (~1 large potato)
  • 1 cup corn , frozen or canned (drained)
  • 0.5 tsp salt , plus more to taste
  • Finely ground black pepper
  • 600 g/1.2 lb white fish fillets , skinless, cut into 2cm / 4/5" pieces (Note 2)
  • 1 cup peas , frozen

Garnish/serving (optional):

  • 1/4 cup green onions , halved and finely sliced (garnish)
  • Crusty bread for dunking

Instructions

  • Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.
  • Add garlic and onion, cook for 5 minutes until translucent but not golden.
  • Add carrots and stir through.
  • Turn heat up to high and add wine. Stir then let it simmer rapidly until it's mostly evaporated.
  • Add flour and stir for 30 seconds - it will become sludgy!
  • Slow pour in broth while stirring to dissolve paste, then stir in milk.
  • Add potato, corn, salt and pepper. Bring to simmer then turn heat down so it's simmering gently.
  • Cook, stirring every now and then, for 8 minutes or until potato is almost cooked.
  • Add fish and peas, simmer for 3 minutes or until fish is just cooked (should flake easily).
  • Adjust salt and pepper to taste. If soup is too thick, add a touch of water or milk.
  • Serve, garnished with green onions and crusty bread on the side for dunking!

Recipe Notes:

1. Broth / liquid stock - in order of preference:
a) first choice is homemade or good quality store bought fish stock (I avoid standard supermarket fish stock like Campbell's, good fish stock is sold at fish shops)
b) clam juice (not sold in Australia, it's in the US and Canada. Great for seafood soups, pastas, etc, way better than supermarket fish stock)
c) chicken broth - this is what I use for everyday purposes, you still get GREAT flavour in the soup from the fish that is poached in the broth. 
This is not a soup suitable to make with stock cubes or bouillon powder - you really need to buy or make a liquid stock.
2. Fish - this is ideal made with "meaty" firm fish such as: Snapper, barramundi, tilapia, basa, cod, ling, monkfish, marlin, latchet (gurnard), leatherjacket, Spanish mackerel, shark (flake), salmon.
Avoid delicate fish such as whiting, garfish, John Dory, flat fish (flounder, sole) and flathead as they tend to fall apart in soup.
Avoid lean fish like Swordfish, tuna, kingfish, normal mackerel. These tend to be a bit dry unless cooked with care if it’s not the super fatty bit like the belly which is hard to get outside of Japan! So best not used in soup.
3. Nutrition per serving (meal size bowl!)

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 418cal (21%)Carbohydrates: 39g (13%)Protein: 37g (74%)Fat: 10g (15%)Saturated Fat: 5g (31%)Cholesterol: 68mg (23%)Sodium: 431mg (19%)Potassium: 1419mg (41%)Fiber: 5g (21%)Sugar: 12g (13%)Vitamin A: 5035IU (101%)Vitamin C: 29.2mg (35%)Calcium: 273mg (27%)Iron: 4.3mg (24%)
Keywords: Fish chowder, Fish soup
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

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Dozer! I said FISH chowder, not PELICAN chowder!!!

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154 Comments

  1. Ron says

    September 3, 2023 at 5:53 pm

    5 stars
    Ahhhh…this was good an easy….Threw in some shrimp plus all the rest of it…..Great dish with sour dough….yum 😉

    Reply
  2. Cathy says

    July 9, 2023 at 12:28 pm

    5 stars
    I used this recipe to make an easy Seafood Chowder and my husband only likes Seafood Chowder once a Winter but gave high praise for my efforts. I used half a kilo of Seafood Marinara plus 300 gms of Green Prawns. I can only get Campbell’s Fish stock but boiled up the Prawn heads and shells in the Fish Stock. What we liked about the particular recipe is that you can easily taste each ingredient and it wasn’t dominated by Cream. Another winner.

    Reply
  3. Leonie says

    June 30, 2023 at 8:41 pm

    5 stars
    Forgot to leave stars

    Reply
  4. Leonie says

    June 30, 2023 at 8:40 pm

    Delicious!!!! Used snapper that I caught and added a few drops of fish sauce because I didn’t have quite enough fish. Used home made fish stock from the snapper. Also added a touch of chick stick powder. Beautiful with Tabasco and crusty bread. Another fabulous recipe thanks Nagi.

    Reply
  5. Ruth Craven says

    May 24, 2023 at 7:20 pm

    5 stars
    This was a winner for us tonight. But with only 2 of us I always have leftovers. This time it will be lunch tomorrow, but does it freeze ok?

    Reply
  6. Mark Beausoleil says

    April 24, 2023 at 1:09 am

    sorry missed it in the instructions, Not sure how I did That

    Reply
  7. Mark Beausoleil says

    April 24, 2023 at 12:54 am

    you never say when to add milk! Do I add At same time as broth?

    Reply
  8. Wendy says

    April 16, 2023 at 6:43 pm

    5 stars
    My daughter and I made your delicious Fish Chowder tonight for dinner. So easy and tasty – we WILL be making this recipe again!! Thanks Nagi.

    Reply
  9. Julie Borg says

    April 5, 2023 at 11:44 am

    4 stars
    Loved this chowder, but was a little disappointed that there was too much liquid (mind didn’t seem to thicken up). I even added extra fish but soup remained watery instead of creamy. Any ideas on what I did wrong ?

    Reply
  10. Rick Rezac says

    March 20, 2023 at 4:23 am

    5 stars
    Can use other proteins instead of fish?

    Reply
  11. Jase the Ace says

    September 23, 2022 at 7:39 pm

    This was the ultimate lunch today on such a dreary drizzly ‘spring’ day here in Adelaide. Absolutely fabulous comfort food yet again, thank you so much Nagi, love your work!! Can also recommend the I&J South Atlantic Flathead from Coles for anyone else on a budget, worked perfectly in this and Nagi’s Brazilian Fish Stew.

    Reply
  12. Sayeda says

    August 1, 2022 at 9:38 pm

    This was so good! Love the sweetness from the corn. I cooked mussels separately in a white wine sauce, then added them plus the stock they produced to the chowder at the end. I also adapted it to be dairy free with almond milk and oat cream, my dairy eating fiancé couldn’t tell the difference. Will make again with more types of seafood!

    Reply
  13. annie says

    June 18, 2022 at 7:27 pm

    5 stars
    Had leftovers the next day so added some fresh mussels – even better!!

    Reply
  14. annie says

    June 17, 2022 at 10:10 pm

    5 stars
    Just delicious.
    Instead of potato I added some roasted cauliflower and broccoli florets – best chowder ever!!

    Reply
  15. Jenny says

    May 25, 2022 at 7:41 pm

    5 stars
    Soooo delicious. Perfect winter warmer. Very minimal clean up. And doesn’t leave you feeling heavy!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 26, 2022 at 7:25 am

      Woo hoo Jenny! I’m glad you liked it! N x

      Reply
  16. Tristan says

    May 5, 2022 at 2:04 am

    Hi. Will this recipe work with addition of a marinara mix (to turn it into seafood chowder)? If so, will I need to pre cook the marinara mix too?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 5, 2022 at 1:40 pm

      You could do that Tristan – ask your fishmonger how long the marinara mix needs to cook and just add it at the end for that amount of time. It should be fairly similar to the fish timing depending on what’s in the mix! N x

      Reply
  17. IRENE says

    April 10, 2022 at 6:51 pm

    5 stars
    I’m not great at cooking fish. I had 2 pieces of Ling Fish and searched on our favourite website Recipe Tin Eats for ideas. The fish chowder appealed to me. I didn’t have broth. I used chicken stock and it still turned out very well. It was creamy without the cream. That was a surprise. We have now saved this as our favourite family recipe and we will cook it again. Thank you Nagi!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      April 11, 2022 at 6:49 pm

      I am glad you liked it Irene!! N x

      Reply
  18. Nancy says

    March 27, 2022 at 5:05 am

    Could you provide the fish stock recipe? I can’t find it on the website. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      March 27, 2022 at 8:04 am

      I will add that to the list Nancy! N x

      Reply
  19. Kathryn Appelbaum says

    January 27, 2022 at 12:53 am

    This was delish with one of your corn muffins, I keep a batch in the freezer. They get nicely crusty when reheated in the oven. Yum! Thank you!!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      January 27, 2022 at 10:45 am

      Great tip Kathryn – thanks! N x

      Reply
  20. Kathryn Appelbaum says

    January 27, 2022 at 12:50 am

    5 stars
    Loved!

    Reply
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Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

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