Name: Keto Seafood Chowder Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 5
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 pieces of bacon; 1 piece of celery diced; 1/2 cup carrots, diced; 1/4 cup frozen corn; 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided; 4 ounces bay scallops, frozen; 4 ounces raw shrimp, frozen (no shells); 4 ounces langistinos, frozen (see notes for substitutes); 2 cups water (+1/4 cup for cauliflower cream); 2 teaspoons Old Bay Sseasoning; 1 tablespoon Better than Bouillon vegetable base; 3 cups cauliflower florets; 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated

Jump to Recipe

This easy, creamy keto seafood chowder is a hearty low carb soup that you can make in less than 30 minutes. It uses a healthy cauliflower cream sauce instead of flour to thicken this flavorful soup. So it’s gluten free, low carb (6g), low calorie (169 calories) and high protein (14.5g)!

You might also like this keto clam chowder recipe!

Closeup of a white bowl with keto seafood chowder with bacon crumbles on top. — *This post contains affiliate links. For more information visit our policies page.*

Sometimes I’m just in the mood for a creamy, chunky, hearty soup, especially in the colder months. So today I made this keto seafood chowder with frozen shrimp, scallops and langoustinos I found at Aldi. And I also used a cauliflower cream sauce to thicken the seafood soup and make it creamy without using all purpose flour or any other thickeners.

Boy was it good as well as very hearty. I ended up eating it for both lunch and dinner as my meals. Not only was it tasty, each serving has only 169 calories, 14.5 grams of protein and 6g net carbs. This is the perfect soup for a cold day or if you are looking for fish Friday or lent recipes.

A serving of the low carb seafood chowder and a large bowl of it in the background.

What is a chowder different from a soup?

In a nutshell, a chowder is chunky and thick more like a stew, whereas soup is usually thinner. Also a chowder is often made with a roux using all purpose flour and often contains seafood and vegetables like potatoes.

Because I wanted to make a keto seafood chowder, I used a cauliflower cream instead of a roux and I also eliminated the potatoes. Both of which are high in carbs. I did use a bit of corn and carrots which are higher carb vegetables but I used just a small amount for color and sweetness.

Recipe ingredients and substitutions.

The ingredients I used in this recipe are bacon, celery, carrots, frozen corn, cauliflower, shrimp, scallops, langostinos, olive oil, Old Bay seasoning, Better than Bouillon base, fresh garlic and parmesan cheese.

frozen seafood – I had planned to buy shrimp, scallops and clams from Aldi for my seafood soup. However I could find canned clams there, but I did find langostinos which I always wanted to try. You can use this seafood combination or any type of seafood you want. They also carry a frozen seafood mix with shrimp, calamari, mussels and scallops. That would work fine too.
veggies – I used carrots, celery, and frozen corn. You can eliminate the corn if you want but I do like the color and sweetness it adds. The celery and carrots should stay though. If you can try other vegetables too and that frozen veggie mix with carrots, corn and green beans would be a nice short cut.
Old Bay seasoning and Better than Bouillon – I love Better than Bouillon and use it in most of my 50+ soup recipes. You can substitute with broth or stock. If you can find seafood that would be great but chicken or vegetable broth would be a good second. You can also use bouillon cubes for more flavor. But try the BTB if you can. The Old Bay seasoning is a must but cajon or creole seasoning mixes would also work.
cauliflower, garlic and parmesan cheese – I used these in the cream sauce. If you don’t want to use this you can use a bit heavy whipping cream at the end but it won’t thicken the soup too much. You would still want to use the garlic and Parmesan for flavor.
bacon – I use this for flavor not only as a topping but also I use the grease to saute the veggies so I would keep this in unless you don’t eat meat. You can use butter instead of the bacon grease.

By the way langostinos taste similar to lobster and has a texture more like shrimp. Though they are not tiny lobsters they taste similar are often used in food service due to their size and cost.

Below you can see the Aldi bags of seafood I used.

3 bags of seafood from Aldi - scallops, langoustinos and shrimp.

How to make keto seafood chowder.

Step 1: First thing to do is cook the bacon. You want to use the bacon grease as the oil to saute the vegetables. Once the bacon is cooked, take it out and crumble it for later.

Step 2: Next add in the diced celery and carrots and frozen corn. Saute until they soften a bit and then add the crusted garlic, Old Bay seasoning, Better than Bouillon soup base and water. Mix well.

Soup pot with mixed vegetables sautéing.

Step 3: Ad in the frozen seafood. Make sure the shrimp doesn’t have any shells on them by the way. Let the soup simmer for a few minutes to cook the seafood and vegetables. This should only take about 5 minutes or so.

Step 4: While that is cooking you can make the cauliflower cream sauce. Place cauliflower florets in a microwave steamer or microwave safe bowl with a tablespoon or two of water and cook for 5 minutes.

When they are fork tender drain then place in a high speed blender like a Vitamix along with ½ cup of water, olive oil and parmesan cheese. Below is a picture of it from popular keto chicken pot pie soup.

Blender pitcher pouring eto cauliflower cream sauce into a white bowl.

Step 5: Add the finished cauliflower cream sauce to the chowder, mix well to incorporate and you are done! You can now ladle into bowls and add the crumbled bacon on top.

Closeup of a white bowl with the finished chowder recipe with bacon on top.

Recipe Tips and Notes.

I used raw, frozen shrimp, scallops and langostinos in this seafood chowder. However you can substitute any kind of seafood you want. I would consider clams and a white fish as possible substitutes.
The thickness of the cauliflower cream will determine the thickness of soup. So err on the side of a thicker cauliflower cream sauce as you can add water or broth to thin it at the end. If you don’t want to make the cauliflower cream you can substitute with heavy cream at the end. I would still use the crushed garlic and parmesan to flavor the soup.
I used celery, carrots and corn as my vegetables. Because carrots and corn are higher in carbs I didn’t use much. You can leave those out if you are strict keto but I would keep in the celery. You can use other low carb vegetables like mushrooms, turnips, celeriac, radishes, etc. Just count your carbs.
I like to use bacon grease for the flavor when sautéing the vegetables and then crumbling it and adding it to the top. You could mix it in the soup at the end to add more flavor but it won’t be as crispy obviously.

More low carb seafood or lent recipes to try.

If you are looking for a low carb recipes you can eat for a fish Fridays or lent here are a few I think you will love. I also have a post of 55 keto seafood recipes.

keto spaghetti squash seafood alfredo
low carb lump crab cakes or salmon cakes
keto air fryer fish sticks or fried shrimp
low carb fish tacos or shrimp tacos
keto cajun peel and eat shrimp, coconut shrimp
keto air fryer salmon bites, smoked salmon, Asian salmon or tuna steaks

Aerial view of a bowl of the seafood chowder with a bowl of bacon bits and bigger bowl in the background.

Well I hope you enjoy this keto seafood chowder as much as I did. It was so tasty and since I have leftover seafood from this recipe, I’ll be definitely be making it again on another cold winter day.

The nutrtional information for 1 serving is:
169 cals/ 8.1g fat/ 8.4g carbs/ 2.4g fiber/ 14.5g protein = 6g net carbs