Learn how to make the BEST clam juice recipe from fresh clams instead of using the salty bottled stuff from the grocery store. We give you our family clam broth recipe, plus tips and tricks for easily making your own clam nectar at home in less than 20 minutes. It's a Whole Lotta Yum!
Making your own clam broth is so easy!
Storebought clam stock is honestly so pricey these days. For the price of buying fresh clams, you can easily make your own stock and have the clams to eat too!
Our simple homemade clam stock is simple, it's healthier and tastes fresher than than the bottled variety, and the only essential ingredient is the clams!
You can use homemade clam juice from scratch to make our healthy dairy-free clam chowder, seafood soups and stews, a Bloody Caesar, or use it in any recipe that calls for clam broth or clam juice.
What is Clam Juice?
Clams juice is a type of seafood stock made from fresh clams and clam shells. It's used as a base for soups, sauces, and stews, or can be drunk straight from the glass or used in cocktails. Clam juice is high in protein and other nutrients and lasts for about a week in the fridge.
We feel blessed to live in the PNW and have pretty easy access to fresh clams. If you haven't ever tried to dig for your own clams, it's quite the experience!! We enjoyed that as a family when I was growing up but now it's easier just to drive to the grocery store since we're no longer in a clam digging area.
If you're wanting to make the BEST possible recipes using fresh clams, making your own clam juice (or sometimes called clam broth or clam nectar) is definitely the way to go. It's easy to boil the clams on the stovetop, serve them with lots of butter for dinner, and then process the leftover pot liquid to make your own homemade clam juice recipe.
What you'll need
You just have to love a one ingredient recipe, you just need a batch of fresh clams, whether they're from the grocery store or freshly caught. Now that you know how little there is to the clams juice ingredients, we bet you'll start making the homemade fresh version over bottled.
- clams, live
- water
- optional add-ins- white wine, garlic, fresh herbs
** Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact quantities **
Kitchen supplies
- stock-pot
- strainer
- coffee filter
- slotted spoon
How to make clam juice
- Rinse the clams with water to remove any sand or dirt.
- Add the cold water and clams to a stock-pot, put the lid on the pot. Bring the water to a boil on medium-high heat. As soon as it starts bubbling, turn the burner down to medium so the liquid can simmer.
- Cook until the clams open up, which will take about 3-5 minutes.
- Remove the cooked clams from the "juice." Toss any clams that did not open up, they are not safe to eat. Use the clams in a recipe or just to eat.
- Strain the dirt and sand. Take a fine mesh strainer and line it with a coffee filter. Pour the liquid into the strainer and into into a bowl or a quart-size measuring cup.
- The clam juice recipe should make about 4 cups of broth, if it doesn't add a little water to bring it up to the 4 cups mark.
Use the strained stock for any recipe calling for clam juice, broth, or stock like clam chowder or other seafood recipes. Enjoy! is now ready to use for any recipes like clam chowder or other seafood dishes.
Recipe notes
- The recipe makes a simple clam broth aka juice version that doesn't have added flavors like white wine, garlic, salt, or other seasonings. We prefer to keep the clam juice simple and add the seasoning to the recipe we're making instead.
- The recipe used manilla clams which are common in the Pacific Northwest, they are very small and only take about 5 minutes to cook. Another popular grocery store variety is the Littleneck clam, they are larger than manilla clams and could take 10-11 minutes to cook.
- Storebought clam stock (or nectar or juice as it's sometimes called) adds salt. We didn't add salt since clams have a natural brined flavor from the sea. Feel free to add extra salt to your recipe, as needed.
Reader questions
Yes, clam stock can be frozen. We suggest freezing it in small batches so you can easily use it in other recipes, a little goes a long way. It will stay good for up to six months.
Some people say clam juice tastes fishy, while others find the slightly fishy taste delicious. Most recipes just use a small portion of clam stock or clam nectar to add a seafood flavor and it is not overpowering whatsoever.
More seafood recipes
- dairy-free clam chowder
- Dungeness crab cakes
- air fryer salmon fillets (skin on)
- tuna stuffed peppers
If you loved our recipe, please leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review and leave us a comment too! Connect with us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube!
Clam Stock Recipe
Learn how to make simple homemade clam juice recipe from fresh clams the easy way! Whether you call it calm broth, clam stock, or nectar, it makes the best base for soups, stews, and other seafood dishes.
Ingredients
- 2 lb clams, live
- 3 cups water
Instructions
- Rinse the clams to remove any remaining sand or dirt before you start cooking.
- Add the live clams and the cold water to a medium-size stockpot. Place the lid on the pot. Turn the heat to medium high and bring the water to a bowl. As soon as the water starts bubbling, turn the pot down to medium to simmer.
- Cook until the clams open, which will take about 3-5 minutes. We used manilla clams, littleneck clams will take longer to cook (about 10 minutes).
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked clams from the "juice." Toss any clams that did not open up, which means that they were dead before cooking and aren't safe to eat.
- To strain the sand and dirt from the clam juice, take a fine mesh strainer and line it with a coffee filter. Pour the clam broth liquid from the pot through the strainer and into a bowl or a quart-size measuring cup.
- The clam juice recipe should make about 4 cups of broth, if it doesn't add a little water to bring it up to the 4 cups mark.
- The remaining strained clam juice is now ready to use for any recipes like clam chowder or other seafood dishes. Enjoy!
Notes
The recipe makes a simple broth that doesn't have added flavors like white wine, garlic, salt, or other seasonings. We prefer to keep the clam juice simple and add the seasoning to the recipe we're making instead.
PNW Manilla clams were used in the recipe, which are very small and only take 3-5 minutes to cook. If you have larger clams like Littleneck, they'll take up to 10-11 minutes to cook. Regardless, clams are done when their shell pops open.
We didn't add salt since clams have a natural brined flavor since they're from the sea. Storebought clam juice does add salt. Feel free to add extra salt to your recipe if you feel it's needed.
Bill says
2 lbs of clams, three cups of water makes 4 cups of juice? How does that math work?