Crockpot Conch Chowder
What really makes chowder a chowder and not just another bowl of soup?
The word Chowder has Latin roots and originates from the word calderia which meant cooking pot. The French use the word cauldron which was the cooking vessel in which fishermen would make stew.
I always think of a cauldron as a bit heavy pot boiling over an open fire with a couple of witches throwing in ingredients, so, for the purpose of this recipe (since I’m not a witch) we’ll call my cauldron a crockpot!
Although chowder is a type of soup, it generally tends to be a bit heartier with a thick, rich soup base which has chunky bits of goodness to it. Although soup tends to have a thinner broth, both chowder and soup are absolutely delicious and are definitely comfort foods.
I grew up in Miami where we had such a blending of Latin and Caribbean influence in our foods. It was very common to have soups and island inspired chowders on the menu everywhere you go. My mom cooked soups and chowders very often because it was kind of a poor man’s food. My mom also made conch very often and she makes the world’s best conch fitters and conch salad.
In case you didn’t know, Conch pronounced “Konk” is a marine mollusk native to tropical areas such as the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Florida Keys. I’m not sure how far up the Florida Coast you can find Conch but I know we see plenty in our waters near the sandbars off Jensen Beach, Florida.
This Crockpot Chowder Recipe is one that takes time but the best part about this recipe is that you can prep everything ahead of time and toss it in the crockpot, come home, and just like that you have a pretty quick meal. We love this Crockpot Conch Chowder with a side of sliced toasty french bread for dipping and sopping up the goodness.
After searching high and low for a recipe that I felt was close enough to the flavors I grew up knowing, I formulated this recipe. I will say that you can cook this in an Instapot or a Crockpot, I tend to use both and I will explain why in detail below.
First, I learned from some of the Latin recipes that my mother handed down, that you have to use a pressure cooker to soften really tough meats. My mom often cooks ham hocks in a pressure cooker for her Spanish Pigeon Peas and Rice dish. The meat gets so tender in the pressure cooker that you can literally bite through the bone. Now, I thought to myself… what if I used the same cooking application and did this with conch as opposed to pounding it out forever. I tried it one day and have been doing it this way ever since. Granted, the conch will cook either way in the Crockpot but you will have a much better result if you can use the Instapot or a pressure cooker to soften the conch meat first. I will explain in detail in the recipe below.
The Crockpot I love the most is an 8qt oval crockpot. These crocks are not only super affordable, but they have plenty of room for large meals.
The Instapot I like is a good size one too and has lots of different functions and can be used as a pressure cooker and a slow cooker.
Let me note, you do not have to have both. One or the other will do, but my crockpot tends to run longer than my Instapot which turns off after a certain amount of hours, so this is why I cook this chowder in the crock.
You can do all your prep the night before with this recipe and then you can put everything in your Crockpot either overnight or in the morning. This Conch Chowder is made slowly so all the flavors combine together, this is why I love making it in the Crockpot.
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds Conch meat
- 2 cups water
- 1 whole Onion Cut into pieces
- 2 stalks Celery Cut into pieces
- 2 Bell peppers (red and green) Cut into pieces
- 2 Carrots Cut up
- 2 whole Garlic cloves
- 2 tsp Dried thyme
- 1 tsp Dried Parley
- 1 packet Sazon seasoning
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1 whole Scotch Bonnet pepper DO NOT CUT, LEAVE WHOLE
- 1 14oz Can Stewed Tomato
- 1 Fresh tomato Cut up
- 1 32oz Fish Stock
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Black pepper
- 1 tbsp Sirracha (optional)
- 1/2 Fresh Squeezed Lemon
- 4-5 Small red potatoes
Instructions
- Place conch meat and water in Instapot. Set pressure cooker timer to 20 minutes. Once cooking time has completed, allow pressure cooker to safely release all steam. Reserve liquid that conch meat has cooked in, as this will add loads of flavor to your chowder. Once conch meat has cooled enough to handle, cut into bite sized pieces. There are no rules, cut them as small or chunky as you like.
- Return the cut up conch meat to the liquid. If you are going to use the crockpot, you can transfer everything to that pot. If you prefer, you can continue cooking the chowder in the Instapot. The reason I cook my chowder in the crockpot is my crock can stay on low all night, whereas my Instapot automatically shuts off after a certain time. The Instapot has a slow cooker feature, so you can absolutely cook your chowder in there with no issues.
- Cut up all the onion, carrot and celery into pieces. I prefer mine chunky but cut them how you like.
- Add your cut veggies to the crockpot. NOTE that I left the Scotch Bonnet pepper whole. The reason is if you cut it, it releases way too much heat. If you leave it whole and uncut, it steeps it's flavor into the broth while only giving it a subtle hint of spice but loads of flavor.
- Add the fish stock to the crock pot and all remaining ingredients, except for lemon and potatoes.
- Give the chowder a stir and let it cook low and slow for a good 6-8 hours.
- In the final hour of cooking, remove the whole Scotch Bonnet pepper. Add your cut up potatoes and cook until tender.
- Once the chowder is cooked, add fresh squeezed lemon juice and adjust the salt and pepper to taste in your chowder. By this time, all of the flavors have really come together and the lemon serves to brighten it all up.
- For the final step, use a slurry of about a tablespoon of cornstarch and a small of water or you can sprinkle a couple tablespoons of Wondra quick mixing flour to the chowder to thicken it up a bit.
The flavor of this conch chowder is absolutely out of this world. Also, the conch meat comes out so perfectly tender using this method. You can forego precooking the conch and just let all the cooking take place in the crock. The conch still comes out great, just not as tender as if you pressure cook it first. Also, by pressure cooking the conch, you get the added benefit of conch broth to add to your stew and the flavor cannot be beat!
If you do not like any type of spicy flavor, you can omit the sriracha and the scotch bonnet pepper.
NOTE: The purpose of the sriracha adds a different level of flavor/heat and a little bit of vinegar which balances the flavors. The scotch bonnet is filled with flavor, not just heat. If you cook it whole, it only adds a subtle hint of spicy heat on the back end and is not by any means over-powering. However, if you cut into that pepper in any way, the oils will be released and the chowder may be way too spicy…but it’s your chowder, cook it how you like it. 🙂
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as everyone in my home does. I have worked on it over the years to perfect it and I’m happy to share it with you.
We love to serve this Conch Chowder with a nice slice of crusty bread to sop up the goodness.
Drop me a line and tell me how you liked it or if you have any questions.
Happy cooking!
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