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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Kate
Amazing recipe. I was drinking the broth. My boyfriend absolutely loved it and said it was one of the best things I have ever made.
I’m glad you enjoyed Kate!
Lynda
My hubs and I love this recipe! Tomorrow I will make it again and this fime I’m getting enough to fill our bellies! It truly is the best clam recipe ever! Thanx for sharing
I’m glad you enjoyed Lynda!
Randi B.
Wow! That’s the best word to describe this dish. I have a tumultuous relationship with bivalves. However, my husband loves them. I use my kitchen gloves whenever I make them, but I tell him that it is the true form of love! He absolutely loved the dish. I used to make it with beer and/or wine, but this version is the new standard in our house! And I took your advice and served with crusty bread…
Randi B.
I forgot to mention that I added about an eighth of a teaspoon of crushed red pepper. So, I married an Italian, I don’t know what else to do! :-)
I’m glad you enjoyed Randi!
Jefe Cloyd.
Definitely the best steamed clams I’ve ever had. After these all others have been bland and boring.
Deb
I felt there was way too much liquid added, and the flavor was bland. I should have trusted myself and halved the wine and broth. It definitely needs salt, more lemon juice, etc. Even though I took it off the heat and let it sit a minute, the half and half still broke.
Jules
Totally agree! Maybe add the liquids before adding the clams and cook it down by half or more, only then add the clams. The flavor was weak, not enough acidity or salt, rather one dimensional (garlic) and by the time the clams were done i couldn’t fix it since the clams would have gotten rubbery. I added Aleppo pepper and sumac to brighten it up a bit. I was so sad for my beautiful clams.
Margot D
Was lucky to find some clams at the farmers market today, planned to make pizza. Fortunately I rethought that and found you via Google. YUM!!! I had to stop before I ate the entire baguette, will save the rest of the broth for some other day. I had to make a couple adjustments because I didn’t have wine or cream, can’t wait to have it with all the ingredients!
Leigh
This was my first time making clams and they came out so good! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe! I did not have white wine so I used extra chicken stock and splashed in some cooking wine. I am excited to be able to make this again!
Teresa S. Ludwig
We live in Ohio, clams are a bit difficult to find here however, there has been occasions when I can find them at a specialty food store. I would love to try your recipe but it doesnt say how many it will serve.
This is for your best steamed clams with sourdough bread recipe.
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
It will serve 6-8 for an appetizer or 3-4 for a meal
Mobasir hassan
This seafood is very popular in our local community. I hardly make it possible to go to the restaurant for it. But now I am sure that with this lovely recipe, I can enjoy this at home regularly. My wife really excited to make it. Looking forward for more such recipes in future.
Christina
OMFG! I crazy loved this, THANK YOU! It made my first time cooking clams a huge success, and was so delicious! I added a bit extra green onions and garlic (1/3 cups each) since I had 3lbs of clams.
Esther
I made this a few days ago and it was AMAZING!! My husband and I devoured it and had about 2 cups of the delicious broth left over so I made some risotto with the leftover broth today and again it was so delicious! This is the dish that keeps giving.
Heidi
I’m so happy you and your husband enjoyed Esther!
Luke Blume
We used your steamed clam recipe tonight. It was incredible! My kids loved the broth with sourdough bread. We will definitely be making this a regular item on our home menu.
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
Thanks Luke!
Terri
Hot Damn…Slap ya Mama! I made this tonight and it was over the top! I was a little skeptical about the cream and the amount of garlic (despite being a garlic lover). I usually do clams in wine, lemon, garlic, lemon and onion…But these were the best I’ve ever made. I may have to cook again tomorrow night!!
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
So glad you loved it!! Thanks for the comment!
Monica D.
Made this tonight for my 4 kids and myself and we all agreed this was FANTASTIC! Thank you for sharing this recipe! It’s going in my binder for keeps!
So glad you loved it too Monica! Hope you make it again.
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
I am so glad you loved it!
Ema
I got hungry reading this article. Great pictures. I will try to cook them for my family.
Liz
Just made this recipe tonight. So happy with the results! I have been craving this dish and while it was not exactly the same flavor I was seriously impressed with how simple this dish was for a first time clam cook. I asked my family if they would be interested in some steamed clams and apparrently they had not enjoyed their experience as much as I had the first time when it came to clams. Fortunately, they all appreciated how well I cooked and gave it a go. AMAZING! That is thanks to you… And your story. I hope that it warms your heart to hear that you have givin 4 people in Ogden a new favorite. thank you for sharing!
FoodieFee
So easy and delish!! I ate every last one all by myself!!!
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
Thank you!!
june
11.15.18 I have been wanting to make a clam/mussel soup. I have been formulating the recipe in my head and your recipe is exactly what I was looking for. I made it tonight, it was amazing!!! I used cooked mussels and clams though, so the texture was a little tough, but the broth was just amazing. I ate it with pasta and it was perfect!!! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Nolan
My wife wanted clams for her birthday meal. Since I am not a seafood kind of guy I found this recipe. I made 2.5 lbs of clams and my wife and my adult son who came over for her birthday ate the entire dish along with a loaf of French bread baguette. So even though I didn’t eat any of it I would have to say they were very good.
Ashley Sorenson
I love this!! How great of you to cook clams for your wife on her birthday. I hope she had an amazing birthday and I am so glad she loved the clams.
Karen C
OMG. This recipe is AMAZING. Just got home from vacation – visiting my parents who live on Martha’s Vineyard. We went clamming while there. Twice. And Sunday’s haul came home with us, nestled inside a cooler and a damp towel on top of them. Followed your recipe to the T this evening and we were in heaven. We’re saving the sauce to (gently) heat on Friday evening when we have friends coming over to enjoy the rest of the clams we brought home. :)
Side note, after the success of this dish, I can’t wait to make your Roasted Chicken with Lemon Rosemary Butter on Sunday!!! Thank goodness for Pinterest, bringing me to the most fabulous food blogs a foodie could ever hope to find!
Nora
This recipe is delicious. I added some sliced red chilis when sauteing the garlic and scallions because we love some heat in my house. SO good.
Lauren
Hi! This recipe looked so incredible I had to try! I made it tonight but feel I must have done something wrong nine was very liquidy .. is it supposed to be a bit thicker?
Kate
Those clams look delicious! It’s easier for me to get mussels; do you think they would be as good in this recipe?
Karen C
Having just indulged in this tonight (with clams), I think mussels would be equally delish!!
Larissa
This recipe was absolutely divine with Venus clams. I did put a little liquid into the garlic and onion before I added the clams because it looked dry. A bear raided my shopping bags and stole my loaf of French bread. (I’m not kidding—I Left the trunk of my car open when I had to make a few trips to bring in all my shopping bags and the bear robbed me between my trips and had the audacity to eat the loaf on my neighbor’s deck.) So I made some pasta and threw some halved grape tomatoes into the broth and voila! A most awesome clam recipe and the broth is to die for!
Blake
This recipe is trash, absolutely junk unless you like lemon soup with some clam pieces. I’ve tried it twice and followed it exactly as written both times…. no thank you.
Larissa
It doesn’t say whether to use half a big or little lemon. They vary so much in size at the store. I’m sure it matters to the taste.