Small, sweet clams are simply steamed in butter, garlic, white wine, and cream to create the best sauce for crusty bread dipping.
Two byproducts of my time at Market Street Grill are: 1) I met my husband, and 2) We adopted several of their recipes that have now become our own.
Our renditions of their famous clam chowder and their stuffed pasilla peppers will always be faves at our house. But these garlic butter steamed clams…oh, these clams.
Clams are one of my favorite types of shellfish, and these simple steamed clams are some of my favorite ways to enjoy these briny bivalves.
Sometimes I love serving these up over linguine or fettuccine, but however you serve these clams, crusty slices of sourdough bread are a must! The cooking liquid is loaded with so many great flavors thanks to the savory chicken broth, white wine, lemon, and garlic, and of course the salty clams themselves.
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
- Look for the smallest clams available for the most tender, sweet bite. We love littleneck clams.
- Overcooked clams are rubbery and tough. Luckily, it’s easy to tell when steamer clams are done – just wait for them to open up and remove from the heat as soon as they do so.
- Always, always, always soak clams before steaming. They’re bottom dwellers, so they often contain tiny sand particles. Soaking takes about 15 minutes and requires no more effort than refreshing the water a few times.
★★★★★
This is the best steamer clams recipe I have tried. Easy, great with crusty bread and white wine.
-Sherry, FoodieCrush reader
What’s in This Recipe?
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Butter — Salted or unsalted may be used.
- Garlic — You need a whopping ¼ cup of minced garlic; take the time to mince fresh cloves for the best flavor.
- Green onion — Roughly chop both the white and green sections for maximum flavor.
- Small clams or cockles — Cockles are a bivalve cousin to the clam and can be tricky to find, so if you can’t find any opt for the smallest clams on offer.
- White wine — Ideally a dry white wine (nothing fancy, but one you’d drink).
- Chicken bouillon cubes — Or use actual chicken broth.
- Lemon juice — Adds brightness and acidity.
- Heavy cream — Swap with half and half for a less decadent sauce.
- Parsley — You need a final pop of freshness to balance out the buttery, garlicky flavors in the sauce.
How to Steam Clams
- Clean the clams. Drop the bag of clams into a bowl of cold water and let soak for 5 minutes. Then, drain the bowl, refill it with water, and let the clams soak again. Do this 2-3 more times to ensure all of the grit is removed from the clam shells.
- Saute the garlic and green onion. Melt butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat and sauté the garlic and green onion just until softened.
- Steam the clams. Add the small clams and cook for 5 minutes before pouring in the white wine and chicken broth. Continue simmering just until the clams open up — that’s your sign to that they’re done!
- Make the creamy sauce. Remove the clams from the heat, then stir in lemon juice, a little more butter, and the cream. Adding the cream OFF the heat ensures that it will not break or separate.
Heidi’s Tip: After you’ve soaked the clams, remove them from their bag and pick through for any half-open clams (you’ll want to discard those as they are no longer fresh and aren’t safe to eat).
FAQs
Cooking steamed clams in wine doesn’t take long at all. Once simmering, they typically open up in 7-10 minutes, depending on how big they are.
Look for a small variety of clams, such as littleneck. They’re super sweet and tender – perfect for steaming!
Absolutely! Clams are bottom dwellers, living rooted in sand and they get their nourishment from sucking in itty bitties of water and sand along with it. Thus, they have a tendency to be sandy or gritty if not soaked thoroughly before cooking. While soaking, the clams will siphon in the fresh water and spit out the sand.
I don’t recommend boiling clams—they’ll end up tough and overcooked. Nobody wants rubbery clams!
Steaming is the best way to cook them and maintain a tender texture.
Storage Tips
Remove any leftover steamed clams from their shells for ease of storage (save that sauce too!). Either reheat leftovers gently in a skillet and eat with bread, or toss with some al dente pasta to make a simple clam pasta dish.
What to Serve with Steamed Clams
- Homemade Garlic Bread
- Lemon Fettuccine Alfredo
- Buttered Parmesan Noodles
- Caesar Salad with Garlic Croutons
- Arugula Salad with Shaved Parmesan
- Garlic Fries
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Garlic Butter Steamed Clams Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter , divided
- ¼ cup minced garlic
- ¼ cup chopped green onion
- 2 pounds small clams or cockles (we love littleneck clams)
- 1 ½ cups white wine
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes + 1 ½ cups water (or replace with 1 ½ cups chicken broth)
- juice of ½ lemon
- ½ cup cream or half and half
- Chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the garlic and green onion and cook for 3-5 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally.
- Add the cockles and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add the white wine and bouillon cubes with water or the chicken broth. Bring to a boil then reduce to a rolling simmer and cook until the clams open up, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the cream and stir.
- Garnish with parsley and serve immediately. Serve with sourdough bread.
Notes
Nutrition
More Clam Dishes You’ll Love
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lu s
Are these steamer clams or true cockles?
Larissa
She says toward the end of her narrative to use clams if you can’t find true cockles. I’ve never seen cockles at my grocery store!
Karen C
We used quahogs that we gathered this past Sunday, though I’m pretty sure they were cherry stone sized, not little necks. Still yummy!
Christy
Made these Christmas Eve for my clam-loving family. By far the best ever!! Served over linguine. So good, I’m making them again (by request) for New Year’s Eve.
Kris
Absolutely fabulous but just made a little modification because my daughter likes red sauces so I added 2 tablespoon of red pesto and a cup of tomato sauce then reduced the chicken broth by 1/2 cup.
janell
looks fab and was great enough lol – i subbed vidalia onion for green and added some crushed red pepper. i finished 3 dozen by myself! maybe will use parm cheese next time…and shallots.
Lisa
I made this last year when I hosted my very first clambake. My guests were blown away!! I’m about to make them again for my second annual clambake. Thank you for sharing your amazing recipe!
A clambake! What a fun idea to do with friends! So glad you enjoyed it Lisa!
Megan
If u replace the chicken broth with a homemade Parmesan broth it is killer! Smitten Kitchen has a super easy Recipe…
t
1/4 c garlic seems like quite a lot. I don’t think I have enough garlic Clive’s in the house and I have lots!
Larissa
I thought so too and did about 1/8th of minced garlic from a jar. It wasn’t heavy flavor so you could potentially use more.
Karen C
This is why I love having a jar of minced garlic in my fridge! I almost grabbed my cloves, but thought better of it. LOL
Angela
Agreed! Love the jars of minced garlic!!
Maryam
I used this sauce to make mussels.
I followed the same steps, but after adding the wine & broth, I reduced it to 1/4 (it took 1.5 hours on low heat) and then added the mussels. Cover until they open. Then add lemon, half and half, and parsley and remove from heat. My boyfriend & I DEVOURED all of it.
It was delicious!
perry
made this the other night with 5 lbs of clams – just doubled the recipe – it was fantastic – sure beats paying big money at a restaurant.
SuSan
I just made this for dinner and it was delish!!! I didn’t add the cream and it still tasted great! Thank you for the great recipe.
Sabrina B.
this recipe was linked to the more recent clam dip recipe so had to click through, you pictures are now compelling me to find some clams and make this, thank you for posting it!
I hope you enjoy it!
SK
Recipe looks divine! We do not use alcohol at all not even in cooking, is there any alternative or can it me omitted?
ted
Alcohol burns off when cooked
Stephanie
Just add more broth
dipika mishra
best dish
hollidae
What white wine do you use this recipe ? Looks delicious! On the menu for the next night in :)
Karetha Haith
I made this dish! A-mazing! The recipe is so comforting and delicious with the warm sourdough bread and a glass of wine. We ate it sitting by the fire on a chilly night… Loved it!!!
Zac
This recipe is fantastic! Thank you.
Helena
All of these items are very exceptional . Like these here .
whitney mckenna
Which white wine do you prefer I use for this receipt
Joe
I would highly recommend a Beringer Chenin Blanc. It only comes in a large 1500 ml bottle so drinking what you don’t need for this recipe might not be a bad thing. You can’t find this wine everywhere but if you do it will be a really good one as it is not sweet or dry just perfect for seafood dishes. Good luck and enjoy your creations.
Joe
I myself would use a white Grigio in all my Steamed Clams.
Jan Landmann
Greetings from Dunedin, New Zealand. We collect cockles at low tide and cook them exactly this way with a splash of white wine, cream, plenty of fresh parsley and crusty bread to soak up the sauce! When friends visit from overseas, we give them rubber boots, a bucket and take them to the beach to collect their own dinner. Everyone raves about the meal AND the experience! We are very lucky to have this beautiful food source on our doorstep. Thanks for sharing this wonderful meal with your followers.
Hello and welcome all the way from New Zealand! Thank you for sharing the recipe and clams with your friends, so glad you like them too.
Laura | Tutti Dolci
These look killer, and that broth is a must for dipping. Bring on the bread!
Tamar
On the menu for next week! I’m so excited! This looks incredible and reminds me that I haven’t made clams in a long time. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks for giving it a try Tamar!
Candace
OMG!!!!! yesss looks so good!!! :)
Yp
So delish!
I was wondering if there was a decent sub for the dairy in this recipe that would achieve that lovely texture? I know it won’t be the same by miles but I am lactose intol. and usually do the classic white wine/garlic broth thing with olive oil for my steamed shell friends.
You could certainly give unsweetened almond milk a try, Almond Breeze is my favorite.
Emily
You could also try coconut milk and add some lemongrass for an Asian twist :)
michelle
coconut milk. it’s super thick like half and half, and it imparts a veeerrryyyyy subtle sweetness that’s great.
Kari
Those look so good! I’ve actually never made my own clams. Cleaning them properly is intimidating!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
Deb
Try soaking in water with baking sofa, they will eliminate the sand…
Meg
Oh yummy. Have some tiny little necks tonight – maybe I will try your recipes out!
Bill
I get clams of the beach and soak them in water and cornmeal so they piss out the sand. A second bath of John st water really cleans them out
Bill
Just water I need second bath. Sorry
Joann
Picked up Some fresh steamers on the Oregon Coast yesterday and tried this recipe tonight. It was amazing! My husband & son said it was like eating at a fancy restaurant! Thank you!
Bobby
Pro tip for cleaning clams: Place them in a large tub and generously sprinkle corn meal on top. The clams consume the corn meal and when doing so, siphon the fresh water through their systems which removes all the sand. It may take several hours to work but it’s how we do it here in New England.
Drew
Thanks for the tip….so miss NE at times especially the shell fish and clams.
SaraLily
Man, do these look GOOD! My father always throws a steamed clam bonanza for 4th of July but tends to stay pretty “traditional” (we’ll call it that! Ha!). I wonder if I could convince him to try this recipe out! Spice things up a bit! ;)
It’s one of our favorites, I hope you can convince him!
Mariah Pavleas
I have been making this dish for two years now. My husband and I went for clams at 13 coins and they were so good I wanted to find a similar recipe online. I could tell this was the closest. I prefer basil over parsley but both are great. All my friends love it so much they ask for the recipe! Even better it turns out better than the restaurant version. Thanks for sharing we adore this recipe. Five stars just does not do it justice!
Alida @ Simply Delicious
Good grief, these clams looks AMAZING! I can just imagine dunking crusty bread in that creamy sauce and slurping the clams out of their shells. Drool!