Mimi’s Smoked Salmon Chowder

  4.7 – 144 reviews  • Fish Chowder Recipes

When we were camping in a little cabin on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which connects Vancouver Island and Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, my sister produced this smoked salmon soup. It’s delicious and quite comforting.

Prep Time: 25 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr 5 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  1. 2 tablespoons butter
  2. 1 tablespoon olive oil
  3. 1 cup chopped onion
  4. 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  5. ½ cup chopped celery
  6. ½ cup all-purpose flour
  7. 6 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
  8. 1 pound potatoes, peeled and cubed
  9. 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
  10. 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
  11. 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  12. ½ teaspoon paprika
  13. 8 ounces smoked salmon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  14. ¼ cup white wine
  15. 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  16. ¼ teaspoon hot sauce
  17. 1 teaspoon salt
  18. 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  19. 1 cup half-and-half

Instructions

  1. In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, combine butter, olive oil, onion, garlic, and celery. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until onions are transparent. Sprinkle flour over the mixture and stir well to make a dry roux. Gradually add chicken broth and stir until slightly thickened. Stir in the potatoes, dill, tarragon, thyme, and paprika. Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
  2. Stir in salmon, wine, lemon juice, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Simmer over low heat, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
  3. Mix in half-and-half and continue to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not let the chowder boil after adding half-and-half. Serve hot.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 205 kcal
Carbohydrate 21 g
Cholesterol 25 mg
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Protein 9 g
Saturated Fat 5 g
Sodium 562 mg
Sugars 2 g
Fat 10 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Gary Boyle
Fantastic!! Subbed skim milk and that was fine. It was perfectly thick anyway. Highly recommend
Calvin Schneider
This was yummy but pretty salty even with adding only 1tsp of salt. I did use smoked salmon so that was possibly why it was extra salty. Also I am not a dairy fan so I used coconut cream instead of half and half. Worked totally fine.
Dawn Wilson
Very yummy. Substituted wine for more chicken broth (total of 8 cups). I needed a recipe to use leftover smoked salmon (I’m not a huge fan) but I enjoyed this.
Michael Johnson
I used Heavy cream instead of half & half, since I didn’t have any around the house.
Benjamin Washington
I had some frozen corn kernels in the freezer so I dumped in an abundant cup of corn. I served the chowder with warm crusty French rolls. It was to die for!
Joshua Patterson
I forgot in my initial review that I omitted the salt. Smok salmon can be very salty by itself.
Christopher Warren
Y U M ! ! ! This is delicious! I bought smoked salmon from Costco & had too much so decided to try this chowder. It was amazing! I modified a little to cut the fat by using 1/2c half & half and 1/2c whole milk….probably didn’t save that much fat but I felt better : – ) I also threw a hand full of spinach the last 10 minutes of cooking the soup ( I love spinach in soups) and it added another dimension to the soup plus the green color in the soup looked beautiful! This is definitely a keeper!!!!
Ashley Khan
I made this recipe weighing and measuring all the ingredients and it really fell short of the flavorful chowder I had hoped for. I made several additions that saved the batch of chowder for me and mine. I added twice the amount of smoked salmon and also threw in a small piece of flounder and sockeye. I doubled the black pepper, added a bayleaf , a few splashes of worcestershire and some fresh parsley and green onions at the end. I think I would start with bacon or at least bacon fat instead of the butter and olive oil.
Peter Bell
I tweaked the recipe, adding more smoked salmon, plus some shrimp and a tilapia filet, along with more chx broth. Also doubled celery and added a whole carrot (chopped). With the extra ingredients, I found that it helps to increase the spice quantities a touch.
Reginald Harper
Really easy. Really good. Def use 8 oz of salmon. I tried w 4 and it wasn’t enough.
Ashley Thompson
I added more potatoes, as my family likes a thicker chowder, but the flavors in this were perfect.
Joanna Freeman
My cousin sent us a side of smoked Coho salmon from Alaska, and this was one of the first recipes I tried – we loved it! Thanks to previous commenters I did not peel the potatoes, did not add salt (so true). I did add a cup of corn. Also left the hot sauce on the table to accommodate differing perceptions of “hot”. Additionally, I can’t eat white flour (bizarre, but true), so made the roux with whole wheat flour and it was fine, although I think the cauliflower idea is outstanding for next time. Otherwise made as described. Served with homemade buttermilk cheese bread (whole wheat flour again). Thanks for the memories of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, from the East Coast!
Elizabeth Moore
This is SO tasty, easy and definitely a keeper!! We added extra of the veggies/herbs/spices, then worsheshire, plus fresh parsley at the end because we love more of a kick. I didn’t peal our red potatoes, love the extra color! We used 8C of liquid, half of it our own marrow broth and the other just water. We are printing this for future uses, yumm!
Ronald Graham
This was a yummy soup! I followed the recipe exactly. I think next time I will add cream cheese like one reviewer suggested, to give it a bit of creamy tang. Thanks!
Charles Smith
Easy and great tasting.
Keith Martinez
Very good. Husband loved it. I left out the tarragon and celery but will add celery next time. It would add a lot. I started it with small white potatoes quartered, onion, and garlic in 3 cans of chicken broth in the crock pot. Added the rest of the ingredients after the potatoes were done including a can of corn drained. I added the half and half just before we ate and let it heat through. I did not use any flour, but thickened it to chowder consistency with instant potato flakes.
Kelly Austin
THANKS for this recipe. We have a lot of smoked salmon in our freezer from a fishing trip and have decided we are not a fan of cold smoked salmon. I needed something to make the salmon less “smoked/salty” flavored. I had to make substitutions. I didn’t have half and half, or white wine, or tarragon. I used less broth, whole milk mixed with a little sour cream. I skipped the white wine and tarragon. It was too thick for the amount of salmon I used so I added some cream of mushroom soup to make it more “soupy.” I also added extra garlic. We like it.
Matthew Taylor
Would definitely make it again. Used 3 tbsp butter, more onion and garlic (’cause you can never have too much of either), and a little more wine & lemon juice. Useled little pink potatoes and sliced them up fairly small so I reduced that cooking time to 8 min. and only cooked the whole thing for 15 min. and it was ready to eat. Also used crushed red pepper since I couldn’t locate the hot sauce readily. Like any soup – I consider quantities as mere suggestions….
Mary Mckenzie
This was delicious! I added a pound of bacon, doubled the butter and substituted basil for tarragon. I will definitely make this again.
James Hobbs
I followed this almost exactly. Only adding more veggies including carrots. Satisfying and delicious .
Haley Ramirez
Made no changes except gluten free flour as I have issues with gluten. My husband loves to smoke salmon, and he had just made a fresh batch. He loved this chowder. I enjoyed it too, but not quite as much as he did. I served it to hubby with hot pretzel bun. Thanks so much for great recipe!

 

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