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This delicious salmon chowder hits the spot on a cold winter’s day. Plus, it freezes well, which makes it a great make-ahead meal. (I’ve been warming up a serving every Sunday night as of late.) And it might just be easier to make than you think to make from scratch…
How to Make Homemade Salmon Chowder
Ingredients:
- 1 small onion
- 2 medium potatoes (gold potatoes taste the best, but any will do!)
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 3-4 TB butter
- ~4 cups milk (powdered milk is absolutely fine)
- 2 cups broth (use something light like chicken, pork, or rabbit broth)
- ⅔ cup white wheat flour
- ¼ tsp granulated garlic
- 1 large can of salmon (about 15oz or so)
- 2 stalks celery or 1 stalk lovage (optional)
Process for Making Homemade Salmon Chowder
Start by preparing your veggies. Wash celery/lovage and potatoes (don’t peel). Peel onions. Chop the onions into fine pieces, and leave the potatoes in small chunks.
Melt the butter in a pan. Add the onions, salt, and pepper. Saute until they’re almost soft. Add the potatoes and stir until the mixture is golden brown. (The potatoes don’t have to be tender yet.)
Once brown, pour in the broth to deglaze the pan. Add the garlic and celery or lovage. Allow the soup to cook until the potatoes are tender.
What is Lovage?
Lovage is a strong herb in the same family as parsley and carrot. It tastes a lot like a mixture between parsley and celery, and it’s a lot stronger in flavor to celery, but it works well in recipes that call for it. It is amazing in this recipe! It really adds a lot of depth to the flavors and pulls it all together.
I grow lovage in pots and freeze it throughout the season, so I can use it in recipes regularly.
Let’s Keep Cooking…
In a separate container, whisk together the flour with 2 cups of milk. Add the milk to the hot soup mixture, whisking immediately to combine. Add the remaining 2 cups of milk and stir. Cook until heated through and bubbly. (You may need to add a bit more milk/broth depending on how much moisture your other ingredients have absorbed.)
Open the canned salmon. Drain the juice into the soup mixture. If needed, remove the bones from the fish, but don’t remove the skin if it’s there–that adds nutrition and flavor to the soup. Break into pieces and stir into the hot soup. Allow salmon to heat through before serving.
Freezing Salmon Chowder
I simply package the soup into individual serving portions using sandwich bags, which I store in a large gallon freezer bag. We can pull out as many servings as we desire this way.
If you’re freezing it, make the broth especially rich, since you may need to thin it out with water to reheat later.
Salmon Chowder FAQs
What Type of Salmon Should I Use?
I just use regular “wild caught” canned salmon from Walmart or Amazon. I prefer salmon with the bones and skins, since that includes the most flavor, but you can also use boneless and skinless canned salmon if that’s all you have available. The skin in particular adds amazing flavor and nutrition to the soup! And don’t forget to include the juices from the can, too!
Can I Make Salmon Chowder Without Dairy?
This is one recipe I’ve never attempted without dairy. I suppose you could give it a try with, say, almond milk, but I don’t know if that would work well or not. I think you could substitute another animal fat like lard or bacon grease for the butter, however. Obviously, butter gives a more complex flavor, but I have made it without butter previously.
I often make this with powdered goat milk because I don’t tolerate cow’s milk well. I’ve made it with fresh too. The process shared in the recipe will prevent the milk from curdling; that’s why you add it the way the instructions say.
What Kind of Broth Should I Use in Salmon Chowder?
Use a lighter broth like pork, chicken, or rabbit. I’ve never made it with beef broth before, and I think that might be too strong. Rabbit broth is particularly yummy, but I know not everyone has access to meat rabbits.
Can I Substitute Another Fish for Salmon in Chowder?
Yes! Chowder is really just a fish soup. I think I’ve used tuna before. Salmon, however, is a favorite choice because it’s one of the safer fishes when it comes to heavy metals, and it’s also extremely nutritious by way of Omega-3s. That said, I’m sure you could substitute many different types of fish in this recipe.
I Wish This Recipe Was XYZ…
This recipe is so versatile! Feel free to adjust anything you’d like in it. You can adjust the amount of spice, veggies, or even how thick and rich you make the broth.
Recipe Card (Print It Out!)
Homemade Salmon Chowder
Equipment
- Stock Pot
- Sharp knife
- Cutting board
- Ladle
- Whisk
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 2 potatoes golden tastes best
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 3-4 TB butter sub bacon grease or lard
- 4 cups milk
- 2 cups broth chicken, pork, or rabbit
- 2/3 cup white wheat flour
- 1/4 tsp granulated garlic
- 1 can salmon 15oz can is good
Instructions
- Wash and chop veggies. (Leave peels on potatoes.)
- Saute onions in melted butter with salt and pepper until almost done.
- Add potatoes and brown.
- Add broth and garlic to deglaze the pan. Cook until potatoes are tender.
- Stir the flour together with two cups of milk and add to the hot pan, stirring immediately. Pour in the rest of the milk and stir. Cook until heated through, thick, and bubbly.
- Add salmon and heat through before serving.
