I bet you cannot look me in the eyes and say that you do not like clam chowder. That meal is just astonishing, and I truly cannot imagine life without getting the taste of the delicious soup with finger-licking clams at least once a week. Unfortunately, life can get in the way sometimes, and busy days can prove to be a significant obstacle that stands between you and preparing such time-consuming chowder. But do not worry, as canned food is to the rescue, and nothing can rival a lovely, delicious canned clam chowder.
If you want to enjoy an excellent clam chowder lunch with your family despite your busy lifestyle, keep reading, as you will find everything you need to know before choosing your product and the best recommendations in this category.
Best Canned Clam Chowder Review Center 2021
| Image | Canned Clam Chowder | Rating |
|---|---|---|
 | #1 - Progresso Soup, Rich Hearty, New England Clam Chowder Soup | 99% |
 | #2 - Bar Harbor New England Style Clam Chowder | 94% |
 | #3 - Chincoteague Seafood New England Clam Chowder | 88% |
 | #4 - Campbells Manhattan Clam Chowder | 84% |
 | #5 - Pilgrim Joe's Clam Chowder | 79% |
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Now that you’ve seen our top 5 recommendations, we’ll give you more detail on each of them, including why we liked them. When you’re ready, click the yellow button to get the best price on Amazon!
#1 – Progresso Rich & Hearty Soup, New England Clam Chowder
Although being a ready-to-serve soup, it is one of my favorite canned clam chowders. The can is an 18.5 oz, which is perfectly sufficient for a meal and some leftovers, particularly if accompanied with salad and bread. Yes, you can finally use your Salad Spinner and start living the healthy life!
It is a wholesome food, made with potatoes, delicious, and does not leave any undesirable aftertastes. A noteworthy interesting fact is that the potatoes are left with their most healthy part, the peel. The product also has a condensed version, with additional servings.
What we like about it
Besides the finger-licking, delicious taste, Progresso is a healthy clam chowder as it is gluten-free, with no MSG to keep sodium levels at safe limits. Besides, it’s entirely natural with zero artificial flavors, and can be eaten directly. What more could one ask for?
#2 – Bar Harbor New England Style Clam Chowder
Bar Harbor’s New England Style Clam Chowder is condensed and assembled in small lots, which makes it exceptional and artisan. The product’s label sticks thanks to its simple and hand-drawn appearance. It is set in Downeast Maine, and the company adheres to natural and fresh ingredients and its own recipes.
What we like about it
Do not let the simple design fool you into thinking that this canned clam chowder isn’t tasty, as no one can deny the exceptional foods of Bar Harbor. This soup is delicious, safe, and doesn’t contain any bacon flavor that many people are trying to avoid. You may feel that the taste is a bit bland, but that can easily be solved using your Salt and Pepper Grinder Set for extra flavor.
#3 – Chincoteague Clam Chowder
This delicious clam chowder encompasses fresh, delicious clams and tasty, healthy vegetables.
It is free of MSG, artificial ingredients, and preservatives.
To prepare this soup, use only milk and not water. You can also use either butter or pepper to enhance the flavor.
What we like about it
All in all, Chincoteague Clam Chowder is a simple, yet excellent, base soup, which you can personalize and make it uniquely your own one. What makes it special is its unique taste and healthy ingredients despite its simplicity.
#4 – Campbell’s Manhattan Clam Chowder
Campbell Manhattan Clam Chowder is the perfect choice if you prefer your soup to be a mixture of spicy, warm tomatoes with the salt-water flavor. It is a condensed product, thinned not with milk, but water.
The flavor is richer than the traditional New England one as the soup contains high-quality clams that are enriched by vegetables, celery, and tomatoes.
What we like about it
Campbell’s Manhattan Clam Chowder is an impressively delicious soup and can be a great extra to a recipe from a French Cookbook, as they are known to cook such tasty meals.
#5 – Pilgrim Joe’s Clam Chowder
If you’re not one to spend a good chunk of money on food, this soup is for you as it’s condensed and comes at a reasonable price, making it the perfect clam chowder for students and small families seeking a delicious, easy-to-cook meal. The clams are delicious, and once you add butter, milk, salt, and pepper, you won’t be able to resist devouring it all the time.
What we like about it
The simplicity of Pilgrim Joe’s Clam Chowder is attractive, and so is its rich clam flavor. Don’t expect the world from this soup, but we can guarantee that eating it for dinner and using your Ice Cream Maker to prepare a sweet dessert can get you a perfect Saturday evening.
What to Consider When Buying Canned Clam Chowder
Whether or not you are looking for clam chowder, there are necessary criteria that should be taken into consideration when buying canned soup at the store.
How Much Sodium?
The very usage of sodium is meant to hide the aftertaste of some ingredients. It is, however, unhealthy and may damage your well-being, especially if you suffer from heart disease or diabetes. For that reason, you’d rather choose foods that do not contain a high amount of sodium. To get other spices, I like to add a pinch of salt. Besides, my Wine Fridge is always by my side at lunchtimes, which makes all my meals perfect and tasty.
The Ratio of Veggies to Protein
Be it chicken noodle or clam chowder, I like my soups with protein, to get the vegetables and protein equitable. Concerning clam chowder, companies- at times- put much more potatoes than the clams per se. Obviously, it is a different meal and mixing both is not quite a good idea.
Availability and Cooking Plans
Your location, the stores near you as well as the place at which you plan to eat are all factors that decide for you the type of canned clam soup. For example, when you are preparing for camping, you’d rather opt for soups that can be heated without milk or water. However, If you are at home, where your Microwave and Pressure Cooker are within arm’s reach, you are free to choose the best kind for you.
Condensed Versus Ready to Serve
Ready to serve soups seem a good idea, but I think they are a second-class in comparison to condensed soups. The very process by which ready to serve soups are made results in an aftertaste resembling that of the inside of the can. There are, also, several online reclamations about canned clam chowder being viscid and thick, unlike the condensed one.
Manhattan Versus New England
There are mainly two basic and well-known sorts of clam chowder occupying the shelves of your local or online shop: Manhattan and NewEngland clam chowders. However, most people tend to think directly of the New-England type. The basic soup is either milk or cream base and typically white or off-white color. NewEngland types mostly have potatoes and onions for the base, to which bacon or pork is added for salty taste. Manhattan types, on the other hand, have tomatoes added to the base to redden it and render it thinner. In the minds of many NewEngland type fans, this is often conceived of as an offense to the very gist of the concept of chowder. In 1930, a law was imposed in Maine, illegalizing the use of tomatoes in chowder.
James Beard, the cookbook writer, described Manhattan clam chowder as a “horrendous soup.” It is believed that this type of chowder is the outcome of the Italian and Portuguese influence. If you are planning to get your Italian Cookbook from the attic, this is the right time, and soup, to do it.
Why not Make Chowder at Home?
Chili, stock and basic noodle soups are all simple soups that can be easily made at home, especially with the rising popularity of Instant Pot Springform Pans and Slow Cooker Cookbook recipes. Chowders, contrarily, are more complicated to collect as it is harder to manage it without overcooking the milk and curdling the soup. Moreover, there are some geographical areas where it is uncommon to find high-quality seafood equitable to that provided by companies.
Making a pizza is easy as pie using the right Pizza Oven, and even a child can learn to prepare Sushi if given the right Japanese Cookbook, but when it comes to clam chowder, canned is the way to go. Although making it at home is possible, this soup takes too much time and effort, and the process can be easily avoided if you get one of the recommended canned clam chowders mentioned above. Fill your Beer Glass or turn on your Juicer, as a fancy, “clamsy” dinner is waiting for you!
Which Should You Choose?
With numerous brands of canned soup, it is always hard to decide the best one to choose. Condensed soups do not only serve as a mere bowl of soup on a cold day. They can also serve as the excellent basis for casseroles and other meals. Personally, I would choose The Campbell’s Manhattan Clam Chowder; however, Progresso Rich & Hearty Soup, New England Clam Chowder can put your Kitchen Gadgets for Healthy Cooking to good use, so it’s a solid choice as well.
If all the previously mentioned soups are unavailable near you, never buy a ready-to-serve soup, but a condensed one. Beware of the sugar and sodium amount, and make sure to buy the soup with the lower quantity of each.
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