Clam Bake

I made this for my husband’s birthday meal. Thank you for the reviews- they were so helpful!!! I am so happy I boiled the potatoes for 10-15 minutes ahead of time as I only cooked the seafood until the mussels/clams opened up. Also, I only used 1 stick of butter – that’s all it needed. The broth was amazing – I drank it out of the bowl! We also used the broth for another meal the next night. I can’t wait to play around and add various seafood to future meals. This is a great base to start from for those that have never done this before.

Great idea…just a little dull. I made this twice in a weekend, once with the recipie, once goosed up a little. The second was far better. I added 1/4 cup Old Bay, whole green onions, and some dark beer. I also staged in the shrimp at the final 15 minutes, for I feel t they got over cooked with my first try.

I’m making it again tonight!

Ridiculously amazing.

This is a great recipe. Made it at the beach on my night to cook, it was so easy! I boiled the potatoes half way & then added them and the corn to the rest of the clam bake for the last 10 min. Everyone loved it!

thanks we altered the recipe a bit for a family clam bake 2 weeks ago. it was a big hit. I used homemade vegetable broth to cook with

Could only find pre-cooked clams and mussels. all sea food except mussels were soft. Taste was wonderful however will try boiling potatoes for 1/2 time alone in broth and then add the seafood in order of mussels, clams, shrimp for second half with added broth to steam sea food.

I’ve made this several times, and while the basic recipe is outstanding, you just can’t help but tweak it to preference and what’s available. My favorite version uses deveined jumbo shrimp, big scallops, small lobster tails, mussels and/or clams and large cubes of cod that have been tossed with olive oil, a little lemon pepper and a dollop of Dijon mustard. I layer the bottom of the pot with corn husks (for protection) then new potatoes, corn chunks, a quartered onion, and a halved, whole bulb of garlic. I add the chicken broth and about a cup of Pinot blanc and bring to a simmer. Once that’s going, I layer on the seafood and a link of sausage cut into 2″ pieces. Sprinkle liberally with Old Bay Seasoning, some salt and chunks of butter. Since I have a bay tree, I tuck in some sprigs of bay leaf with a quartered lemon. I top all that with a banana leaf that’s been cut to fit the pot. Then I seal the pot with aluminum foil and a lid and simmer until the potatoes are tender (about 30 min). I love this. Love it. Perfect tailgate food.

This was a wonderful dinner – we took the advice and partially baked the potatoes before throwing it all together. We used the small ears of corn still on the cob and used old bay in the chicken broth. We didn’t use any alcohol since we didn’t have any and it wasn’t missed. We will do this again! Thank you!

I made a little bigger as well. put two whole cloves garlic, two boxes chicken broth and two cans of beer instead of the vermuth. Sea salt, cracked pepper and a sprinkle of old bay.

Good basic recipe. Only giving it 4 stars since I had doubts about the cooking time and the broth taste. I believed that the potatoes would be more than done, but the seafood would be overcook by the prescribed time of 45 minutes. I parboiled the potatoes in salt water for 10 minutes as another reviewer had written, then immersed them in tap water. To the low-sodium chicken broth with 1 cup white wine, add 3 small-medium onions, 6 large whole peeled garlic cloves, and a handful of rough chop spring onions (did not have leeks). Season to taste with salt and pepper when it starts to boil. You’ll have an idea of what the broth will taste by then. Added the potatoes after seasoning. Then layers of clams, mussels, and shrimp. Left on boil for 10 minutes, then lowered to a simmer for another 10. With 20 minutes cooking time, I still thought the clams and mussels were overdone. The colossal shrimp was just right. Corn was boiled in another pot, on its own. I served the broth as a side too. We’ll remember this for another July 4th celebration.

I haven’t tried this version, but I certainly will! Here in NC we call them Low Country Boils. Basically the same thing. I start with a huge stock pot, add 2 thinly sliced lemons and and onion cut in wedges. I add lots of Old Bay Lemon & Herb and Garilc & Herb. I always add the potatoes first, as they take the longest to cook. Then half ears of frozen corn on the cob. I add the ingredients according to the cooking time. Beef sausage, oysters, clams and shrimp. Strain and dump onto a newspaper covered table (or a table cloth with a few folded towels). Bowls of melted butter and cocktail sauce all around. We usually serve with hush puppies. Eat it all with your fingers! Have plenty of paper towels on hand. LOVE, love, LOVE the clams and the NC oysters!

Very good! Turned out perfect! Husband even liked.

Due to the season, I couldn’t find fresh mussels, but I did the bake anyway! Turned out so good, and amazing broth left over! I like things spicy, so after I served myself, I added some fresh red pepper flakes and black pepper, which added a nice flare. In the bake, I also put chucks on onion and whole garlic cloves, which everyone loved. I’m looking forward to doing this more when summer comes around again!

Couldn’t get any more delicious or easy! I took a large stockpot, put the red potatoes on bottom, a layer of clams, layer of mussels, and then snow crab legs instead of the shrimp. We also put a banana leaf on top for steaming (can also use seaweed). We added the entire 48 oz of chicken stock and a bottle of beer instead of vermouth. After sealing tightly, we followed the recipe’s instructions for 45 minutes on Med-low (after bringing to a boil). We also included Old Bay Seasoning I was afraid the seafood would be overdone, but it wasn’t. Excellent- especially the snow crab! A nice surprise was how delicious and soft the red potatoes came out. The skin had a lovely taste and the insides were creamy. We’re already planning our next one, with a bigger pot and more seafood :).

Very good recipe, and impressive to serve guests!

Fantastic! Can’t stop making it! We use clams, mussles, shrimp, mushrooms (2 or more kinds) and potatoes.

This was tasty. Super easy to make. I will make this again, but I will reduce the cooking time. The seafood was a bit over done. I prefer my seafood very lightly cooked. I did use Manilla Clams, Mussles and Oysters for this dish. Right before the dish was done, I added some sea scallops. Next time I will also add some herbs and a bit of spice. Overall, this was a great recipe.

My family had the best time preparing and feasting on this meal. We gathered together from all over the country to celebrate out mother’s 60th birthday. We filled up a huge pot with potatoes, corn, sausage, shrimp, clams, mussels and lobster tails. We did layer seaweed in bottom of pot and in between some layers to avoid scorching. We used a mix of chicken broth and white wine as well as chopped garlic, sea salt and old bay seasoning. We steamed it over our firepit for about 45-60 minutes. We put brown paper on a large table outside and poured the contents of the pot on the table. Everyone just gathered around the table and feasted on the food as they liked. It was so delicious and fun we decided it was going to be our 1st annual clam bake to be repeated every summer. We may change the order of placement of seafood because the shrimp and mussels did get a little over done. Also be careful how much liquid you use. You don’t really want the seafood floating in it. We may change a few things next time but I would recommend trying this for a fun and different meal. Thanks for the post.

I would give this four stars as written – it’s as simple as can be for a no-fuss easy one-pot meal. For our personal preference, next time I will probably leave out the potatoes – with the corn and yummy seafood, no one in my family even touched the potatoes. Also, I will double the clams and mussels. I used seafood stock (all I had) and added a quarter of a lemon and a few cloves of garlic to the broth while cooking. I also cooked this a bit differently since I didn’t want the seafood coming out tough or rubbery. I started with par-boiling my potatoes in salted water. Then I dumped out the water and added the corn to the potatoes and the broth and my additions of lemon and garlic. I cooked these for about 5 minutes. I added the clams in a single layer on top of the corn and potatoes and steamed for eight minutes. Pulled them out. Added the mussels in a single layer for 8 mintues. Pulled them out and added the shrimp for a few minutes until cooked through (maybe 5 minutes?). Then I put the clams and mussels back into the pot and served with crusty french bread and melted butter. The broth was fabulous and the seafood was just right (not tough and rubbery or shriveled). I will definitely make it again.

This is a GREAT recipe. I’ve made it twice now. The first time I made it the broth had no flavor, so I changed it a little bit this time(I hate when people do this, but…)by using a bottle of beer with the chicken broth, a bag of mccormick’s shrimp boil seasoning, a head of garlic, a few onions, and adding kielbasy and corn to the mix. The broth was PERFECT for dipping with bread. This is the perfect summer one pot meal!