Instant Pot Seafood Chowder

Name: Instant Pot Seafood Chowder Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1/4 cup butter; 1 medium onion diced; 1 teaspoon old bay seasoning; 1/4 teaspoon thyme; 1/4 cup flour; 1 stalk celery sliced; 1 carrot sliced; 1 pound potatoes peeled and cubed; 1/2 cup corn; 5 cups seafood broth (or chicken broth); 1/2 cup white wine; 8 oz white fish cut into chunks (cod/salmon/tilapia/haddock); 8 oz scallops; 12 oz shrimp peeled and deveined; 6.5 ounce chopped clams canned (drained); 2 cups heavy cream; 1 tablespoon parsley

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updated on: April 27, 2025

Creamy, comforting, and packed with tender seafood, this Instant Pot chowder is like a warm hug on a chilly day. With rich flavors and a hint of coastal charm, it’s the perfect cozy companion to your favorite crisp salad! 🥣🦐✨

This instant pot Seafood Chowder is rich and hearty, super filling and a total comfort food. You’ll wow everyone with this simple Seafood Chowder recipe that only takes 30 minutes to make! #seafoodchowder #instantpotrecipe #seafoodrecipe #comfortfood #chowder #souprecipe

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This instant pot Seafood Chowder is rich and hearty, super filling and a total comfort food. You’ll wow everyone with this simple Seafood Chowder recipe that only takes 30 minutes to make!

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When the weather requires a sweater, I love to warm things up by diving into Instant Pot Seafood Chowder! Chock full of seafood, spices, and potatoes, this soup will fill you up with tasty goodness. What’s even better, it is SO simple to make and only takes a short amount of time to prepare. Hearty and healthy, this is a MUST try!

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💕 Why you’ll love this Instant Pot Seafood Chowder

This recipe for Instant Pot Seafood Chowder reminds me of the chunky, hearty, creamy chowders you get in Maine and the upper northeast. Those can be quite heavy though. Without losing that taste and texture, this chowder is a bit healthier than those much more cream-heavy ones.

Whenever I make this there are no leftovers. In my house no leftovers means the meal was good! Other meals where we have no leftovers is my Easy Cheesy Tuna Casserole, my Homemade Creamy Macaroni and Cheese and my Homemade Shepherd’s Pie. After you’ve made this Seafood Chowder, you may want to come back and try these too 😉

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What do you need to make Seafood Chowder?

To make this simple seafood chowder recipe in an instant pot, you’ll need:

Butter
Onion diced
Old bay seasoning
Thyme
Flour
Celery
Carrot
Potatoes
Corn
Seafood broth (or chicken broth)
White wine
White fish (cod/salmon/tilapia/haddock)
Scallops
Shrimp
Chopped clams (canned)
Heavy cream
Parsley

Be sure to check out the full ingredient list and printable recipe in the recipe card below.

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How to make Seafood Chowder

This recipe is just 5 simple steps!

Saute onion in butter until tender. Add flour, Old Bay seasoning and thyme and saute 2-3 minutes.
Combine all remaining ingredients EXCEPT cream and seafood in the inner pot of the Instant Pot.
Pressure cook on manual for 5 minutes, natural pressure release about 10 minutes. Then, blend about half the soup using an immersion blender (or just scoop it into your upright blender then return to Instant Pot).
Add heavy cream and seafood, then continue cooking on saute mode, uncovered, for about another 10 minutes (stirring frequently), until heated through and meat has reached a safe temperature (145 °F for fish and shellfish). Do not boil.
Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Make this Seafood Chowder then check out my Stove Top Spicy Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup, Creamy Gnocchi Bacon Soup and Slow Cooker Bacon and Bean Soup and more of my healthy soup recipes.

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👉 Tips and Notes on Making this Instant Pot Seafood Chowder

Potatoes provide quite a bit of starch and to help it thicken it
Pre-chopped frozen onions saves on chopping time
Corn adds a touch of sweetness, but any extra vegetables you need to use up, can also be added. Mushrooms, peppers, or peas all make great additions.
You can add any kind of seafood into this chowder recipe; lobster, crab, salmon… just be mindful of cooking time so your seafood doesn’t overcook!

More Easy Instant Pot Recipes to Enjoy:

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Recipe for Seafood Chowder made in the Instant Pot

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Janice

Hello there! I'm Janice and I LOVE salads!! I’m also passionate about cooking EASY, healthy meals. Join me as I share and my family friendly recipes!

Janice Smith, B. Sc. Spec Honours (Kin), ATTH

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15 Comments

Noah Body says:

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My whole family lives in Nova Scotia, Canada. We have a fish truck on every corner, but the problem is, everybody seems to think that the more you dump into the chowder the better it will taste, but it’s too many calories.
After I moved, I made my chowder for my new neighbors, but they said it was so heavy that it felt like eating a heart attack. The top of the chowder was yellow from so much butter, so heavy from whipping cream and cans of mushroom soup, fat from the fried bacon, and the salmon overpowered the white fish, just too much.
I tried this exact recipe a few years ago and have never gone back to the “heavy” chowder again. I get the thickness without adding all the calories, just by simply using a blender.
My neighbors told me after eating this version that before, they would take the pot that I dropped off and water the chowder down and almost get double portions because it was so thick and heavy when dropped off. Now they eat it right away because as one friend said … ” You made your chowder taste healthy” …and that is all to do with the blender .. What a great idea.

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1. Janice - Salads for Lunch says:
  
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  Wow! Thanks Noah, I’m so happy to hear that you enjoy this chowder!
  
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2. Noah Body says:
  
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  @Janice – Salads for Lunch, I’d like to add a bit to “the story” Janice. Lol
  When I shop, I like to “pick the brain” of women around me for ideas. I always ask how to make my chowder better, one lady told me to stop buying those small round scallops, because they are like the “hot dog” of scallops, they are just pieces extruded through a machine and then cut off in short lengths, like a hot dog.
  She said I want the texture of a real scallop, so spend the money, buy the big ones and half or quarter them.
  Another lady stop buying frozen cooked shrimp, they just get hard and curl too tight, instead purchase fresh shrimp, clean them myself, the taste and texture is much better.
  I was also told to add only Russet potatoes to my chowder because of the starch content, and a russet doesn’t break down as much if the chowder is frozen. She said Yukon Golds are too waxy for chowders.
  My young son was not aware of the spice “Old Bay Seasoning” until he noticed the yellow can while I was preparing my chowder, now he shakes that on almost all foods he prepares, it’s like he found Heinz ketchup again for the first time. Lol.
  I like to wait until those large cans of frozen tails and claws go on sale at the supermarket, I will put one of those in the chowder mix for 2 reasons, one of course is the taste and the second one is the look of having half a tail or a whole bright red claw sticking up out of the chowder when it’s served, gives it an expensive look to it.
  I have perfected how to make my own dinner rolls to go with this meal. I purchased an automatic bread maker, but the bread was always too dense compared to my Grandmother’s, but it planted the seed, so I learned how to bake, I bought a book on baking … easy-peasy lemon squeezy.
  
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  1. Janice - Salads for Lunch says:
    
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    @Noah Body, It sounds like you’ve perfected this – thank you for taking the time to share your stories! I found them very entertaining. For the white wine, do you drink the rest of the bottle while cooking like I do? If so, you’re totally my kind of person!
    
    Reply
Liz S says:

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Great chowder, however, I only blended a small portion as I still wanted to have chunks of potatoes, vegs, and seafood visible in the dish. Added mushrooms, peas for some extra goodness. I’m a big Instant Pot user, over 4 years now, so always looking for new recipes.

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Suzanne says:

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Is it a must that I blend 1/2 the soup in my blender or can I forgo that step? Need to know, as I’m making this in an hour or so… 🙂

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1. Janice - Salads for Lunch says:
  
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  Hi Suzanne, Sorry about the delay in my response. I have always blended it, as it adds thickness. What did you end up doing? How did it turn out?
  
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Tara Elias says:

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I make this every few weeks

Glad to know I can freeze as I always make way too much
When I was in Ireland I searched for a good seafood chowder – none
Then in USA – none

Im sure there are lovely ones there but I just didn’t know where to go

Came back to Australia looked up Instant Pot seafood chowder and boom
I found yours and went online for the Old Bay seasoning.
It is exactly what I was craving for all those years.
So delicious thank you so much ❤️

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Kevin Bent says:

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How much old bay seasoning?

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1. Janice - Salads for Lunch says:
  
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  1 teaspoon.
  
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Uonim says:

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I’ve made it twice. Once for just two of us. The next time for 9 family members. Everyone has loved it. I’m making it again tomorrow for another couple.

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1. Janice - Salads for Lunch says:
  
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  Amazing! Thank you for letting me know, I greatly appreciate the feedback!
  
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Austin says:

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Verrrry yummy. We used just scallops (what we had), but it was on POINT. Served with cheddar biscuits.

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CHARLIE says:

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Very first time using an instant pot, never used, got it for 30 dollars. What made the chowder so flavorful I think is the pressure looked vegetables kept their flavor and the seafood broth had just enough salt so it wasn’t hard on my blood pressure…lol. I am going to make the exact same thing tomorrow and freeze it in bags to take to work where I have a small crock pot.

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1. Janice - Salads for Lunch says:
  
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  Great to hear Charlie! I’m glad you enjoyed the Seafood Chowder – we did the same thing, we froze bowls for future lunches/dinners 🙂
  
  Reply