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When it comes to clams there are only two camps. You either really really love them or you really really hate them. As for me I love clams – always have, always will. Growing up in the Puget Sound we would go clam digging as kids spending hours looking for those suckers. At the end of the day my mom would prepare our loot by steaming clams and us kids would slurp the savory broth till the lost drop. We would collect all the empty shells, wash them (or not wash them), and store them in a secret box as our treasure. Those were the good old days. Last time I went clam digging was with my husband before having kids. Lets just say it wasn’t as nearly as fun as I remember as a kid, but eating them these days is just as comforting and delectable.
My favorite method of preparing and eating them is rather simple and very quick. I like to steam clams in butter, garlic, white wine, and finish it off with some chopped parsley and lemon wedges. Chopped parsley adds a little earthiness and the lemon slices adds a bit of zest. But in all honestly, neither is as important compared to the butter, garlic, and wine.
Steamed clams make a great starter dish. Or, if you’re like me, the only dish…the main dish (do not come between me and a bowl of steamed clams, or you might… you might get hurt – just sayin’). I told you I really really loved clams. 
Anyway, I think you get the idea. Enjoy!
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Steamed Clams in White Wine, Garlic, and Butter Recipe
Serves 2-4 people as an appetizer
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine or dry Vermouth
2 pounds of clams (Littlenecks or Manilla), rinsed and cleaned
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
*optional 1 small lemon cut into wedges
Directions:
Melt butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes until garlic is fragrant but not burned. Add wine and increase heat to medium-high until wine is brought to a simmering boil. Add clams and cooked covered for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until clams have opened. Discard any clams still closed. Add parsley and give the pot a quick stir. Transfer clams and broth to a large serving bowl, serving with lemon wedges on the side. Enjoy!
PS: Don’t forget to have some crusty rustic bread to dip into the clam broth – don’t ask questions, you’ll thank me later.
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{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh man, this is the perfect post.
I’ve never been a huge seafood person. EXCEPT for wild, Pacific Salmon (I was spoiled, I grew up in Kodiak, Alaska and the north Oregon coast, two of the best places to catch Salmon!) and clams. I could eat both for days.
I think the past three times the boyfriend and I have gone out for a nice dinner I’ve gotten linguine with a pound or more of Willapa Bay clams prepared this same way. Delicious!
This makes me want to go to the beach! I love clams!
I am in the “I love clams” camp too! Fresh and delicious. Great recipe, beautiful photos. Now I know what I’m doing this weekend
I love clams, but I’ve always been nervous about making them at home.. mainly because I’ve never tried it… but this looks totally doable. Thanks for posting the recipe!
Mmmm this is one of my favorite meals! Paired with a cool glass of white wine – even better
Clams are my second favorite next to mussles. But can I use mussles instead?
Yum! Husband and I ALWAYS order steamed clams at a restaurant. Will definitely try this soon!
Thanks Alice! You read my mind. I was just talking to someone the other day about loving clams, but have not had them in 20+ years. Looks like it will be part of dinner soon!
I love steamed clams, and yours look lovely! Great photos!
Actually there is nothing simplier and tastier than steamed clams with white wine. Yummy and great clicks.
Hello Alice!
I participated in the Saveur contest and saw your “win” there: congrats: awesome photo.
Finally “met” your blog
I love clams cooked this way. In Italy we eat them tossed with spaghetti “al dente” and drink with a cooold white wine – preferabbly overlooking the sea!
Nice to meet you!
Amelia from http://www.ztastylife.com
Wow, don’t those look delicious. My husband and I are both lovers of clams and your post reminds me that we haven’t had them recently. That will have to change. I usually make them and toss with pasta. I think I will make your recipe this week. Thank you.
Ann
What beautiful photos! I am a 5th generation Seattleite, so of course I love our region’s seafood! My sister worked on a mussle farm over the holidays and so the family got to indulge all winter. Thanks for sharing.
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I wish I liked clams. I wish I liked clams almost as much as I wish I liked mushrooms. They’re 2 things that always look so good and have so much versatility yet … I dunna like them. I even bought a copper cataplana in Portugal hoping one day I’d get over my aversion to clams. It happened with asparagus when I was about 18, so why not clams when I’m … Oops gotta go.
This recipe looks great. I may just give it a shot.
These look great! (and fab pictures too, btw!)
Here’s another fave recipe of mine for steamers.
Steamer clams with dill, white wine and butter
http://wp.me/puWta-5p
Had to try this recipe. I loved it, as well as everyone else who tried some. This recipe even converted some people who were not fans of clams to become fans. Delicious!
Let me tell you, by far one of the greatest easiest recipes that I have ever cooked. The steamers were incredible, thank you so much for letting us copy it.
Wonderful recipe. I moved to Seattle 2 years ago and have become addicted to clams fixed this way, and yes a cool glass of white wine is perfect!!!
Thanks
I just Googled steamed clams and found yours. I’m making these for dinner tonite – and they’re even from Puget Sound! Your pictures are beautiful. I’m looking forward to poking around the rest of your site.
Trying this recipe for the first time. I am not a fan of muscles, but do like clams. I have always made them with white wine, but have never tried them with dry sherry. I am doing that tonight. The recipe sounds amazing and cant wait to taste.
Great pics too btw.
Followed your recipe and loved it! Last time I had clams, was almost twenty years ago….can’t wait that long again!
Thank you for this recipe! I was craving simple clams in white wine/butter/garlic and all the recipes I looked at were not so basic, with lots of things going on. There is a time and a place for that. However, tonight, I just wanted the simple, perfect clams. I am eating them right now! Had to stop in the middle of the bowl to thank you, and to make the experience last longer as I am scarfing them down.
Great recipe! I am out on Block Island, had a few people over, sat on the deck and everyone enjoyed these great clams.
Hi! I used this recipe to as a guide and my meal was delicious! I served the clams and sauce over linguine. My experience is documented below:
http://recipesistolefromyou.tumblr.com/post/8021916797/steamed-clams-in-a-white-wine-sauce
Thanks for the guidance!
Was raised on clams…forgive me, the canned variety in a sauce. I finally got brave enough in my late 30′s to not only invest in fresh, but used your very simple recipe with a crusty loaf. Sweet-mother-of-pearl! This is just perfection. I think that when ingredients are few, one should use quality ingredients. I decided on this before attempting this other-worldly dish. Good butter, great wine, and super fresh parsley. Very fresh clams are a no-brainer. I bought 3lbs. of fresh from my local gourmet butcher when I made this recipe & only 2 clams out of the whole bunch did not open. I am freezing the left over broth, although I cannot decide yet what to do with it yet….Chowder maybe?? Praise to ALICE!!
Hi Katherine,
I am so glad you liked this recipe. As far as what to do with the leftover broth.. I would freeze it and use it for chowder or you can make a reduction with it, add some cream and use it as a pasta sauce – yum!
I love your site! The pics are fantastic – vibrant and drool-worthy.
My love of clams is new but this recipe is the perfect place to start. I added some half&half for a little creaminess, and a few sprigs of thyme.
Great recipe. So so good. Much better than our local seafood restaurants, and we live on the coast. Thanks!
Hi Alice, I have to say, your recipe was so good! This was my first time doing any kind of recipe for steamed clams, and decided to go with your recipe. Omg, it was so GOOD!!! My husband and I ate the whole thing. I suggested to him that we do this weekly and he quickly agreed, so we are saving this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing it!!!
i made a variation of this by just adding mushrooms and heavy cream. OMG so EFFing good
Sounds good except one problem, What type of white wine? There are obviously many types, and I was curious as to which one worked out. Just as there are many different types of reds
We recently moved to the the PNW. Today I toodled on over to Central Market and bought me 3# of manila clams. Trying your recipe. I’m figuring we can do better at home versus a restaurant. I’ll be making a couple variations (shallots in addition to the garlic and a few flakes of red pepper to kick it up a notch). I’m *so* looking forward to this…
I just bought some fresh clams and mussels, and wanted to know if this recipe works for mussels too?
We just tried this recipe…let me say, OMG! This is INCREDIBLE YUMMY GOOD…PERFECT!! I did not change one thing and it is WONDERFUL! I am from Federal Way, WA and have eaten many little neck clams and this recipe is PERFECT!! We will definitely use it again. At first, I did not think it yeilded enough broth to did sourdoughbread for the two of us, but it did. We had steak, roasted asparagus and these yummy morsels, and it was plenty for two! We used 2# total, and I could have eaten the whole 2# myself! The shells were alittle thicker than the PNW ones, so we needed to cook about 10mins (ours came from Sonora, Mexico). I would probably use unsalted butter next time, but other than that, this recipe was PERFECT!!! We just returned from San Diego where we paid $18 PER bowl, and our clams tonight were on sale at Bashas in Phx for $2/pound, so we SAVED ALOT!! Wine even had a $1 off coupon! Need I say more on how perfect tonight was?!?!?! THANK YOU!!!
I think this is the best way to cook clams. I’ve tried them various ways and sometimes I use Asian flavors (soy sauce, sesame oil, chili, green onion, rice wine vinegar etc) to make something a little different. But I always come back to the butter, wine, garlic, lemon, parsley clams recipe because it seems to be the perfect way to bring out their yummy clam flavor! I like French baguette bread on the side too to mop up all the lovely juices. Yummy!!!!
I have a question regarding clams. I recently took my 10 year old clamming for the first time. We live out on the Peninsula by Forks, Wa. We moved here, so were not from here and clamming is new to us. So I had to get a fishing license and I was told I could only collect 15 clams. My son could also collect 15. We decided (unwisely) I think to only keep the largest clams we found, since 15 small clams is really not enough to make a meal out of. I brought home our 15 each limit and steamed them. I used Garlic and white wine. I found that the large clams didn’t taste as good as small ones. I also found them strange to eat. I have always enjoyed steamed clams but didn’t know what to do with one the size of my hand. The sand alone in the belly of that clam was pretty massive. So my question is this: what recipe could I use for Large steamed clams? Is there another way to prepare them after steaming them to make them taste better? Any ideas?
Andrea, I live in forks also and I had to laugh when I read your post. The 15 is the limit on razor clams and butter and steamers are by the pound/or bucket. Not sure if anyone cleared this up for you. There is something that looks like a steamer, but is a horse clam and the shells are darker and the limit is 7. If you get a guide, it shows the different ones.. I am making this recipe tonite, the steamers are on sale at Thriftway until tomorrow
hi!
Love ur recipe …
but can i use rice white （米 酒）instead?