Easy Linguine with Clams
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The easiest, budget-friendly pasta you will ever make, and it’ll be on your dinner table in just 30 min. It’s just THAT easy!
I feel like there’s a lot of mystery surrounding clams. They add such sophistication and elegance to a meal, you can’t help but wonder if they’re super expensive and difficult to cook with. But believe me when I tell you that this is the quickest, most budget-friendly dinner you will ever make, especially for those fancy nights in.
Clams are about $4.99-$6.99 per pound, and you can easily feed a family of four with 2 pounds. And once you have your clams, all you need is a few pantry ingredients.
From there, you’ll make an amazing fresh clam stock as these babies steam and open up in just 5 minutes. All that’s left is to add in your linguine. See, I told you – this really is a 30-min meal start to finish!
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Easy Linguine with Clams: Frequently Asked Questions
You’ll want to rinse and scrub the clams from debris under cold running water. This will also give you a chance to check (and discard) clams that are cracked, feel hollow, or gaping open. All clams should be tightly closed.
Soak the clams in a bowl of salt water – about 4 quarts cold water + 1/3 cup salt – for about 20 minutes to 1 hour. This will help filter out the sand and grit. Using a slotted spoon, drain the clams from the water and into a colander (pouring the water and clams together into a colander will add all that sand right back!), rinsing them thoroughly.
A salad and crusty bread or skillet dinner rolls would be great accompaniments.
Easy Linguine with Clams
Ingredients
- 12 ounces linguine
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- ½ cup vegetable broth, or more, as needed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 pounds littleneck clams, cleaned
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Melt butter in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in vegetable broth; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in clams. Cover, with a tight-fitting lid, and cook until the clams have opened, about 5-8 minutes. Discard any unopened clams.
- Stir in pasta and additional vegetable broth, as needed.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
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Can I use chicken stock instead?
Yes.
Spending over $22 in ingredients for just ONE dinner? Yikes.
Emla, the beauty of spending $22 for one dinner that serves 4 is equivalent to spending the same amount for one eating out! That’s the beauty of home cooking 🙂
Yes it is expensive, I agree but nice for a special dinner for you and a date, spouse, partner, for Valentine’s Day, Anniversary, Birthday. If you have children set them up early with a Mac and cheese
Casserole. I loved clams as a small child but many little ones are less adventurous. Don’t forget to get 2 bottles of wine, 1 to cook with and 1 to drink with the meal. MaryAnn from Boston – clams are out of season here so canned are our Winter Option.
Do you think chicken broth (instead of vegetable) will be too overpowering for this dish?
Chicken broth should work just fine.
This may have been mentioned in a previous comment but I have canned clams on hand, how many 6.5 oz cans should I use? Next time I’m at the market, I’ll get fresh but I want to make this NOW! 😀
Kristina, I actually do not have much experience cooking with canned clams so I’m not entirely sure on the ratios here.
Hi I make Con Von Gale all the time from whole baby clams in 10-12 oz cans from Geisha or Bumblebee.. I use 3 cans for the same amount of linguine. The can broth is part of the recipe. That will be roughly 9 of the tiny cans. +/- to your taste. I tried it once with a 12oz package of coarsely chopped frozen sea clams, thawed that came out very well my thought is half Clam broth(available in 12 oz bottle from Snows or Atlantic Seafood) half wine a a dry or medium white wine, something good enough to drink. Add some lemon wedges, to taste, squeeze then drop into the broth. My recipe came from an Italian Grandmother of a Nurse I worked with. It calls for a half and half mix of olive oil and butter fresh Italian parsley or thyme if you prefer, or oregano. Whatever your taste buds prefer. I use black pepper over the red pepper, baby clams have a delicate taste, but sea clams are assertive enough for red pepper flakes. Just have the pasta water boiling when you start the sauce, it comes together quickly linguine and clams need to cook together. Otherwise linguine will be over cooked or clams get tough and rubbery.
This looks so delicious! Can I add a little white wine to the sauce while cooking? If so how much and what kind would you recommend? Thank you!
Megan, you can actually swap out the vegetable broth for white wine, or you can adjust as needed to fit your taste preferences.
This looks delicious. Mussels are my favorite so I may have to sub some of those in here too!
The first recipe I ever posted was clam chowder and I haven’t cooked with clams since… something I keep thinking about. Where did you buy your clams? When I bought them from Whole Foods, they were not so budget friendly. :/
I purchased them from Gelson’s and they were very cheap!
Picked up my clams..I always use little necks… What do you serve for the side? Love how simple this recipe is!!!
This would go great with some crusty garlic bread!
Perfect recipe for me. I live in a little salt water town. Clams all over the place.
I have eaten clams with linguine, but never fixed it. This look damn delicious and
easy.
Linguine with clams is one of my favorite seafood dishes… yours looks INCREDIBLE! We have some clams frozen for clams casino, but I’ll probably be making this instead! 🙂
How do you clean the clams? Thanks
There are actually many ways to clean clams, and many resources on Google. But please feel free to check out this great tutorial here: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-clean-the-sand-out-of-c-58389.
I really enjoy seeing this site in my inbox, the receipes look great and easy to prepare. Thank you
This sounds wonderful for a quick meal during the holidays! I would also like to make some of your skillet to oven chicken thigh dishes but don’t see those recipes anymore. Can you repost them please?
Terrileigh, I am a little confused because I have not taken those recipes down. Please feel free to browse through the visual recipe index here. You can also use the search bar on the right sidebar.
OOooooooooo! This is awesome! I always “treat” myself with linguine and clams when I am out to eat (I am the only one in my house who likes it!) but this looks super simple! I will have to treat myself at home when I am the only one home to feed! =)
SaraLily
In a Nutshell…
UN PLATO DELICIOSO!!!
Felices Fiestas!!!
Conxita :))))))
Some couples have “their song”, we have “our food”. Can’t wait to try this!
Mmmm clam-infused pasta, sounds divine 😀 Perfect Sunday dinner 🙂 x
This looks delicious; however, I prefer red clam sauce. How can I convert this?
Judy, this recipe is strictly for white clam sauce, and without further recipe testing, I cannot advise on converting this recipe to something entirely different.
Thank you.
How much canned clams would I use and use the clam juice too or drain it?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
I make clam sauce a lot. You use clam juice, and the juice on the clams as well. If you want less fishy taste skip the juice and just use the juice they are in. Also do not put the clams in until the pot is removed from the heat when using canned because they will get really tough.
I love clam linguine, this looks incredible!