Creamy White Clam Sauce Recipe (With Zoodles)

An easy-to-make creamy white clam sauce recipe! It's the perfect way to top off low-carb keto zucchini noodles or any other healthier pasta option.

Article Index

• Why you'll love it
• Ingredients
• Tips
• Instructions
• ️ Serving suggestions
• Variations
• FAQS
• Related recipes
• Recipe

Why you'll love it

This delicious recipe is perfect for anyone who loves pasta and seafood.

It tastes like linguine but is delightfully low-carb. It's a complete meal with your meat and veggies - all in one dish!

To test out the spiralized zucchini noodles, I made a white clam sauce recipe to go on top. The dish was fantastic! I can't believe I didn't invest in one of these spiralizers before. I could eat these zucchini noodles every day.

Ingredients

Cooking with clams is so easy! Here's a bit more information about what I used in my creamy white clam sauce.

Zucchini

You'll need about three zucchini to spiralize into noodles. Use less or more, depending on the size of the zucchini.

Butter

If you are going to add more salt to the recipe, use unsalted butter.

Garlic

Freshly minced garlic will have the most flavor.

Clam Meat

I used thawed frozen clam meat. You can use canned or fresh clams as well.

Heavy cream

Use full-fat heavy whipping cream. It will give you the richest and fullest flavors.

Olive oil

This is another source of healthy fats. If you don't have olive oil, you can use avocado oil.

White wine

The white wine is what adds tanginess to the creamy white clam sauce.

Salt and pepper

Add just enough salt and pepper to enhance all the other flavors in this sauce.

Fresh parsley

Dried parsley doesn't have the same aroma as fresh. So, use a few sprigs of fresh parsley as a garnish.

Parmesan cheese

Grate your parmesan cheese at home for the boldest and freshest flavors.

Please note: Check out the recipe card at the bottom for a full list of ingredients used to make this low-carb recipe.

Tips

• Add healthy fats. I've been trying to get more good fats into my diet, so I added extra virgin olive oil into the creamy white clam sauce. I also used butter to brown the garlic, so it had a bit of fat from that as well.
• Top with cheese. This dish is definitely good enough to eat as is, but I love cheese, so I sprinkled some grated parmesan cheese on top. Fresh grated is best, but I only had the stuff in the can.
• Use other types of veggies. I'd like to experiment with making more keto pasta noodles out of low-carb veggies. I think these thin, spiralized zucchini noodles will be excellent in pasta-type salads. 
• Add reserved clam juice. If you have clam juice leftover, add it to the sauce, it will give it a deeper flavor.

Instructions

Here's how to make the best clam sauce and zucchini noodles. All the complete instructions for this recipe are in the printable card at the bottom of this post.

Spiralize the zucchini

I like to prepare the zoodles first with the spiralizer and set them aside.

Zucchini is very high in water content, so if I can, I make my zoodles the day before. Then, I place them in the refrigerator in a container between paper towels. This allows most of the moisture to be absorbed before use.

Start making sauce

To make the sauce, start out by melting butter in a large skillet or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Then, add garlic and cook for about 2-3 minutes.

Add the clam meat

The clam meat is added next, and it's stirred over the heat for another 2-3 minutes. Next, the white wine and olive oil are added, and the mixture is then brought to a boil.

Simmer until reduced

The white clam sauce simmers until the liquid is reduced. The heavy cream is added next, and the mixture is simmered again until thickened.

Pour it over the pasta

Once the clams were heated and the sauce reduced, I poured it over the zoodles. Then I heated the entire mixture over medium heat until the zucchini strands were heated.

But you can also prepare the zoodles ahead by stir-frying in fat and then topping them off with sauce for each individual serving.

️ Serving suggestions

This is an entire meal in one pan. However, here are a few additional ideas of things that you can serve along with it!

Creamy white clam sauce will taste delicious with some cheddar biscuits on the side. In fact, I love to dip the biscuits right into the sauce.

If you like the creamy flavor, you'll also enjoy this creamed asparagus soup. Serve it on the side.

If you want to add pasta to this meal, make sure it is low-carb. Maybe add some homemade keto egg noodles on the side!

Variations

This is such a simple recipe, so there are a lot of different variations and changes you can make that will still taste delicious.

You can choose to use fresh baby clams, canned, or frozen.

It's a bit cold to be out clamming, so I used frozen clam meat in the sauce. I thawed the meat in the refrigerator for about 8 hours and then rinsed the clams with water to make sure they were thawed completely.

The clam meat was pre-cooked and shelled, so I didn't have to worry about any of that. And it does save prep time over using fresh clam meat. I prefer to cook with chopped clams.

If you want this sauce to be spicier, add more red pepper flakes or a dash of sriracha!

Instead of heavy cream, make this with some half and half. It won't be as rich but will still have the same nutritional content.

FAQS

Before we get to the printable recipe card, here are some questions people often ask about this creamy white clam sauce recipe.

Related recipes

If you enjoyed this keto clam sauce recipe, here are some more easy seafood recipes and keto side dishes you should make next. They are some of my favorites!

• Keto Bang Bang Shrimp is a perfect Bonefish Grill copycat with the same fiery flavor.
• Easy Keto Crab Cakes are made with pork rinds and have no net carbs, so they are a completely guilt-free recipe.
• Low Carb Gumbo has a combination of juicy shrimp and spicy andouille sausage in a Cajun-flavored broth.
• Easy Lobster Bisque is incredibly rich and creamy and only has 4g net carbs per serving.
• Keto Clam Chowder is a creamy New England-style recipe that is perfect on a cold day.

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Recipe

First published on March 18, 2015. Post updated on June 7, 2022, with new photos and additional recipe information.