Seafood Chowder

Updated June 2022 by Serena Bansal Registered Dietitian BSc Hons

Seafood chowder is one of my all time favourite foods – it is cheap, low GI, full of omega 3, high in protein and perfect for a cold night.

This recipe is really quite versatile also, there are no real rules as to what vegetables you can use – so long as they are chopped into small cubes. You can also make it gluten free if needed – just check you are using a gluten free stock.

Using new potatoes over old potatoes is just 1 trick on how to reduce the overall GI of this dish which in tern will avoid blood sugar (and insulin) rises in the body. Producing excess insulin is an issue for those with polycystic ovary syndrome and leads to some rather unwanted symptoms.

The dish contains prawns, but did you know that there is a myth with eating prawns? The myth is that because they are high in cholesterol, they will increase your cholesterol. BUT actually, dietary cholesterol does not increase your blood cholesterol – it is saturated fat that does this.

Making this Seafood Chowder low FODMAP

This recipe contains onion, stock and sweetcorn making it not suitable for the low FODMAP. However, these can easily be changed or swapped: you will need to make a low FODMAP stock using this recipe, you can switch the onions for the green part of the spring onion and then switch the sweetcorn for a red bell pepper.

Top Tips

• To speed things up even further, why not use some pre-prepared vegetables?
• Use this recipe as a great bulk – cook option and store some portions in the freezer for later in the week.
• Avoid a bread side dish as this will increase the GI load of the dish and also the calorie content.
• Spread the dish over 6 people and use for a starter.
• If you fancy a desert, keep it low GI as this dish already contains carbohydrates. A great option would be yoghurt and 1/2 tablespoon of non added sugar peanut butter.

Seafood Chowder Recipe

Serves: 4

Cooking difficulty: medium

Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 220g of peeled and cubed new potatoes
• 165g Sweetcorn (use to red bell pepper if following a low FODMAP diet)
• 1 tbs of corn flour
• 600mls of fish stock – using a fish stock cube (make a low FODMAP stock if following a low FODMAP Ddet)
• 2 large carrots cubed
• 1 large onion (use green part only of spring onion if following a low FODMAP diet)
• 390g fish pie mix
• 120g of cooked prawns
• 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• Pepper to season
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of double cream (use lactose free cream if following a low FODMAP diet)
• 200mls milk (use lactose free milk if following a low FODMAP diet)

Method

1. Chop the onion, carrot and potato into 1 cm cubes.
2. Start cooking by adding the oil and onions to a pan and cook until soft.
3. After 5 minutes (or when the onions are soft) are in the cornflower and cook for a further 1 minute – stirring continuously.
4. Add the stock and bring to the boil.
5. Add the potatoes and simmer for 10 – 12 minutes.
6. Take off the heat temporarily and mash the mixture softly so that some of the potatoes crush, thickening the mixture.
7. Place back on the heat and add the carrots, sweetcorn, cayenne pepper, cream and milk.
8. Simmer for 5 minutes.
9. Add in the fish and simmer for 3 minutes (or until fish cooked through).
10. Take off the heat, add the parsley and season to taste with pepper.