Instructions

1. Use cream and potatoes in your recipe. Traditional, New England-style seafood chowders are thickened by the amount of starch in the potatoes and the fats in heavy cream. Cutting back on the amount of potatoes or substituting a lower-fat dairy product for heavy cream can result in a lower-calorie chowder, but it will not be as thick.

2. Create a slurry by combining 2 tbsp. of flour and a 1/4 cup of water in an airtight plastic container. Shake to combine, pour into the chowder, and stir to evenly distribute this slurry, which will thicken the chowder without making it lumpy.

3. Sprinkle cornstarch into the chowder as you stir it, 1 tablespoon at a time up to 1 cup total. Check after adding each tablespoon to determine if it has reached your desired viscosity.

4. Top the chowder with plenty of oyster crackers. Break them up in the bowl with your spoon, and the starch of the cracker will increase the thickness of the chowder slightly. The crackers will increase the ratio of "lumps" to broth, also making the chowder seem thicker.