Oceania → New Zealand → Canterbury
🥗 STARTER
Kiwi Seafood Chowder
A thick, creamy New Zealand chowder of green-lipped mussels, white fish, prawns and scallops with kūmara, onion, celery and thyme, served with crusty bread.
New Zealand · medium · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 35 min
~413 cal · 32g protein · 24g carbs · 20g fat · 2g fiber · 5g sugars · 11g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Seafood chowder is a fixture of café and restaurant menus in New Zealand, from waterfront fish cafés to old country hotels, and a favourite way to start a meal by the sea. Oamaru's Star and Garter, one of the country's oldest restaurants, is known for its chowder.
Clam chowder arrived in New Zealand in the late 1800s as an American dish, and Kiwi cooks made it their own with local shellfish. There are pipi chowders made with surf clams, and seafood chowders built on whatever the boats bring in: green-lipped mussels from the Marlborough Sounds, firm white fish such as tarakihi or hoki, prawns, scallops, or a packet of marinara mix from the fishmonger. Like New England chowder, it is always made with milk or cream.
This version follows a Kiwi supermarket classic: mussels steamed open first, their juices saved, then onion, celery, garlic and thyme softened in the pot, kūmara simmered in until tender, and the seafood added for the last couple of minutes so it stays tender before cream goes in and the chowder is reduced until thick.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 1 kg green-lipped mussels in the shell, scrubbed and debearded
- 1/2 cup water (for steaming the mussels)
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
- 1 large (about 400 g) kūmara (sweet potato), peeled and cut into small chunks
- 400 ml fish , many stock cubes contain wheat
- 100 g firm white fish fillets (tarakihi, hoki or snapper), cut into chunks
- 150 g raw prawns, peeled
- 100 g scallops
- 250 ml cream
- to taste salt and black pepper
- 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to serve
Instructions
- 1Put the mussels and the 1/2 cup water in a large pot, cover and steam over high heat for 3 to 5 minutes, shaking the pot, until they open. Lift them out, discard any that stay shut, and strain and keep the cooking liquid. Take most of the mussels out of their shells, keeping a few in the shell to garnish.
- 2Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook the onion, celery, garlic and thyme for about 5 minutes, until soft but not coloured.
- 3Add the kūmara, the fish stock and the strained mussel liquid. Bring to the boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes, until the kūmara is soft and starting to break down at the edges.✎ Chef’s noteCrush a few pieces of kūmara against the side of the pot; they help thicken the chowder.
- 4Add the fish, prawns and scallops and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until just opaque. Stir in the mussels.
- 5Pour in the cream, season with salt and pepper and simmer gently for about 5 minutes, until thick and creamy, without letting it boil hard. Serve hot, topped with the reserved mussels in their shells, parsley and black pepper, with crusty bread.
New Zealand café and home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Canterbury. The plains themselves are the other story. Canterbury is flat, dry and heavily irrigated, running sheep in very large numbers and growing wheat and stone fruit, while the braided rivers coming down off the Alps carry salmon. Lamb here is a commodity as much as it is a dinner.
🗺️
New Zealand. New Zealand pairs Māori traditions like the hāngī earth oven with abundant lamb, seafood, and dairy. Kūmara (sweet potato), pavlova, and a strong café culture round out a fresh, produce-driven national table.
🌍
Oceania. The twentieth century changed the Pacific plate faster than anything before it. White rice, tinned corned beef, mutton flaps, flour and sugar arrived by ship and are now entirely everyday, and the public health consequences are among the most closely studied anywhere. Alongside that, Australian and New Zealand kitchens have taken up Asian technique and Maori and Pasifika cooking in a way they had not before.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from New Zealand
Boil-Up with DoughboysA one-pot Māori classic: pork, kūmara, potatoes, and watercress simmered together, with dumplings dropped in at the end.
PavlovaA cloud of meringue, crisp shell, marshmallow heart, piled with cream and summer fruit. The dessert two nations claim.
Mince on ToastSavory, gravy-rich beef mince spooned over hot buttered toast, a nostalgic Kiwi breakfast and any-time comfort meal.
Browse all New Zealand recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Steamer.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a New Zealand meal
Flat WhiteDrink
PavlovaDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Bahamian Conch ChowderBahamas
Bergensk FiskesuppeNorway
Bermuda Fish ChowderBermuda
Pitche-Patche (Bissau-Guinean Oyster and Rice Soup)Guinea-Bissau
Ebbeh (Gambian Cassava and Seafood Soup)The Gambia
Humarsúpa (Icelandic Langoustine Soup)Iceland
Frequently asked questions
What is Kiwi Seafood Chowder?
A thick, creamy New Zealand chowder of green-lipped mussels, white fish, prawns and scallops with kūmara, onion, celery and thyme, served with crusty bread.
Where does Kiwi Seafood Chowder come from?
Kiwi Seafood Chowder is a New Zealand dish from Canterbury, New Zealand.
Can Kiwi Seafood Chowder be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kiwi Seafood Chowder recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kiwi Seafood Chowder safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kiwi Seafood Chowder take to make?
About 55 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 35 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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