A classic to say the least! Linguine and clams is one of my go-to dinners when I am craving garlicy steamed clams. The base of the clam pasta is a buttery sauce with garlic, white wine and sweet tomatoes that simmers with fresh clams until just opened. Grab the crusty bread and a crisp glass of wine for this decadent pasta dinner!
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About This Recipe
Clam pasta has been on our dinner rotation for 15 years and counting and this is the only way I make this classic pasta dish. Traditionally, you'll find white clam pasta recipes, which are delicious, but I love adding the sweetness of juicy tomatoes that cuts through the rich buttery clam sauce. The base of the clam sauce is all thanks to delicious canned clams, giving even more fresh and briny clam flavor.
If you are looking for more ways to enjoy fresh clams, try my Spanish style steamed clams, which makes a great tapa or add fresh clams to Italian seafood stew, that I can literally polish off with an entire loaf of ciabatta!
📋 Ingredients
- Fresh Clams: Look for Manilla clams, littleneck clams or "steamers". Clams should be fresh and always kept cold without any cracks or broken shells.
- Olive Oil and Butter: The base to sauté the chopped garlic. I suggest using unsalted butter since clams can be quite salty on their own.
- Garlic Cloves: Look for garlic bulbs with thigh cloves, which means the garlic is fresh.
- Red Pepper Flakes: Optional but highly suggested. Only a small amount of red pepper flakes is added, so it's not too spicy, but if you prefer absolutely no heat, then just omit.
- White Wine: Use a white wine that you enjoy drinking and some suggestions are a dry white wine such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc.
- Canned Clams: Canned clams are a necessity of a delicious and briny clam linguine. Add the canned clams with their juice for the most flavorful clam sauce.
- Lemon: Fresh lemon zest and lemon juice brings a layer of freshness and acidity to the rich buttery sauce.
- Tomatoes: Not exactly traditional in a white clams sauce, but the addition of sweet chopped tomatoes gives the clam pasta a lovely sweetness. You can use cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, vine ripened tomatoes or canned dice tomatoes.
- Cooked Pasta: Linguine is my preferred pasta shape when it comes to a clam pasta, but other shapes work beautifully, such as spaghetti, angel hair, fettuccine or penne rigate.
- Fresh Herbs: Use flat leaf parsley or basil and add right at the end of cooking.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🍋 Substitutions and Variations
- No fresh tomatoes? Use a 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes or ½ cup of chopped sun dried tomatoes.
- If fresh clams aren't available, use only the canned clams and it will be be absolutely delicious!
- Clam pasta works with all sorts of pasta shapes, such as spaghetti, fettuccine, angel hair and penne rigate.
💦 How to Clean Clams Before Cooking
Now before we get into the steaming, let's talk about how to properly clean clams first. Honestly, it takes longer to clean clams then to cook them, but worth it so you don't bite into a hard piece of sand. Here is a detailed step by step guide on how to clean clams!
- Once you bring home the clams, place them on ice and leave in the fridge until you're ready to cook them later (usually on the same day).
- 30 minutes before you're ready to cook, place the clams in a large bowl of cold tap water with a good sprinkle of salt. This help the clams spit out any sand that may be inside.
- Right when you're ready to cook, use a Shellfish scrubber or something similar and scrub the outside of each clam. Then, you're ready to cook!
⏲️ Instructions
Step 1: In a large skillet over medium heat, drizzle olive oil and add butter, chopped garlic and red pepper flakes. Sauté until garlic is lightly golden, about 1-2 minutes.
Step 2: Pour in the white wine and canned clams with their juices and reduce for another 2 minutes so the liquid reduces slightly and alcohol cooks off.
Step 3: Add the chopped tomatoes with their juices along with the lemon zest and juice and continue sautéing for another 3-4 minutes so the tomatoes begin to soften.
Step 4: Add the cleaned fresh clams and give everything a good mix. Cover with a lid, leaving a small opening and cook until the clams have opened just opened up, about 5-7 minutes.
Step 5: Once all the clams have opened, turn off the heat and garnish with chopped parsley.
Step 6: Add the cooked pasta and toss the linguine with the clam sauce.
Step 7: Serve the pasta with clams and tomatoes and finish with a few fresh clams right on top. Serve and enjoy!
📍 Recipe Tips
- Discard any fresh clams that have cracked shells or clams that don't open.
- The clam juice, wine and fresh clams is what gives the clam sauce a saucy consistency. if there is too much liquid or the sauce is too "lose", simmer for 5 an additional minutes before adding the fresh clams.
- Fresh clams only need 5-7 minutes to cook, so add them right before you're ready to serve.
- There is no salt in the recipe because clams can be salty on their own. Taste and add salt as needed.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, if making clam pasta ahead of time, make the recipe without the fresh clams. Clam pasta with canned clams can be made up to 3 days in advance and make great leftovers!
Use a crisp dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc.
For pasta with clams, aim for ½ pound per person.
More Seafood Recipes to Try
Linguine and Clams
LittleFerraroKitchen.com
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 garlic cloves chopped finely
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup white wine
- 2 6.5 ounce canned clams
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- 2 medium sized tomatoes chopped into ½ inch cubes
- 1 pound fresh clams soaked and scrubbed with Shellfish scrubber
- 1 pound cooked linguine save ½ cup of pasta water if needed
- Chopped parsley or basil for garnish
Instructions
- In a wide skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and butter, Once melted, add the chopped garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté until garlic is lightly golden, about 1-2 minutes.
- Pour the white wine in along with the canned clams with their juices and continue cooking for another 2 minutes so the alcohol cooks off the liquid has slightly reduced.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, with their juices, along with the lemon zest and juice and continue sautéing for another 3-4 minutes, until the tomatoes begin to soften.
- Next, add the cleaned scrubbed clams and toss everything together. Cover the pot with a lid, leaving a small opening and cook until the clams just open up, about 5-7 minutes. Discard any clams that have not opened.
- Once done, turn off the heat and garnish with chopped parsley and toss with the cooked linguini. If sauce is too dry, add ½ cup of reserved pasta water and stir to combine.
- Serve linguine and clams in wide bowls and top with several fresh clams on top.
Notes
-
- Discard any fresh clams that have cracked shells or clams that don't open.
- The clam juice, wine and fresh clams is what gives the clam sauce a saucy consistency. if there is too much liquid or the sauce is too "lose", simmer for 5 an additional minutes before adding the fresh clams.
- Fresh clams only need 5-7 minutes to cook, so add them right before you're ready to serve.
- There is no salt in the recipe because clams can be salty on their own. Taste and add salt as needed.
Terry Franks says
This is SO GOOD! I didn't have fresh clams so tried it with canned ones and it was still amazing! Thank you!
Samantha Ferraro says
Fantastic Terry glad to hear it. The first time I did this recipe was with canned clams only also. The addition of the whole clams came when photographing the dish and turned our it was icing on the cake. Or in this case Whole clams on the pasta, LOL. Thanks for the great feedback, Samantha.
Luv2cook says
Best Clams and Linguini recipe ever. The tomatoes might be the key, they add a little sweetness and burst when you bite them. It was an easy recipe to follow and the bowl was empty, even the kids went in for seconds. Were going to do the Asian spicy Mussels in coconut milk by this chef next.
Tom says
I was given a choice of whatever I wanted for a fathers day dinner and the family would do the cooking. The Linguine and Clams is what I picked. They had a heads up on my decision so they even ordered the Shellfish Scrubber. In the past I only rinsed the clams. The family pitched in and when they were done scrubbing the bowl was full of silt and sand. We will now Always scrub the shellfish, ALWAYS. The recipe happened fast once they put the clams in the pan. They found BABY Heirloom tomatoes and they kinda made the dish I think. This was the best fathers day meal ever. Thank you Chef Samantha.
Larry says
Thank you for such a great recipe with the clams. It was an easy recipe to follow and a finished dish that was so delicious. With this warm weather, I look forward to doing this again and again.
Thanks so much. Truly great!
Laurel says
I usually make this without a recipe but it is SO much better following this recipe! So so delicious! The flavors balance so nicely 😋 definitely making again. We added sausage too 😅
Jan Jones says
I just have to comment: This was the best recipe! Absolutely Delicious recipe. I believe it is one of the absolute best for Linguini and Clams. I bought some frozen clams and put them in the fridge, kind of forgot about them until looking for something else. Decided to make them tonight and this recipe only had 3.5 *'. It sounded good so I went for it and did it exactly as instructed and it was magnificent. Better than restaurants. Thank you so much!
Samantha says
Thank you so much for the lovely comment, Jan!!
Andrea says
This is the best linguine and clam sauce recipe I have tried! I've made it twice already this summer. The chopped tomatoes are a perfect touch.
Samantha says
Thank you so so much Andrea!!
Simptreat.Com says
shell noodles tossed with sauteed shrimp in fresh garlic, light olive oil, splash of vodka and finished in a cream reduction
Samantha says
Sounds great! Thank you for sharing!
Rosie says
Thanks for this recipe, Samantha! We live inland and I've used canned clams the buttery way for years, but it's summer and I went looking for something fresher and lighter. I wasn't looking for a replacement recipe or expect to enjoy this as much as we did, but that's what happened. As a nod to summer, the one tiny tweak I made was to add the tomatoes a bit later so they cooked very briefly, but fall's coming fast now. 🙂 Thanks again.
Samantha says
Hi Rosie! Thank you for sharing your tip..I love feedback and discussion! I think I add them sooner because I get excited for their juices to come out! But really, I'll eat tomatoes at any stage lol
Tristin says
Yum! I love the addition of tomatoes and the lighter less butter version.
Samantha says
Ahh thank you Tristin!!! I would put tomatoes in everything if I could lol