Name: Clams Italiano
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: ½ cup butter; 5 cloves garlic, minced; 2 cups dry white wine; 1 tablespoon dried oregano; 1 tablespoon dried parsley; 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes; 36 clams in shell, scrubbed

These clams are steamed in wine, butter, and herbs. When the clams are gone, dip Italian bread in the broth.

Clams Italiano

butter

garlic,

dry white wine

oregano

parsley

red pepper flakes

clams

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic in butter briefly. Stir in wine, and season with oregano, parsley, and red pepper flakes.


Place clams in the wine mixture. Cover, and steam until all the clams have opened: discard any that do not open. Serve in soup bowls, and ladle broth generously over them.


YUM! The family really liked this for our 7 fish deast on Christmas Eve. HINT: Once you scrub the clams, put them in a bowl of cold water and sprinkle 1 T corn meal over them. Let them sit for half and hour then rinse and cook. This cornmeal "snack" feeds them and they spit out any sand they have inside in favor of the cornmeal. Learned this trick from Cooking Light.

I'm giving this recipe 4 stars for several reasons.  I cooked it as directed, except for the amount of clams, and felt several things were out of sink.  First, 2 cups of wine is more then needed, 1 cup would be plenty. Secondy, I would increase the amount of red pepper flakes to 2 teaspoons, for a little extra kick.  With that said, I thought this was real good as is, but could have been better.  What really blew my mind was the amount of clams it called for....."36 small clams in shell"....to serve 6.  Are you serious??  I cooked up 5# of small calms, about 150-200 clams, and had enough sauce left over for 100 more. Who eats just 6 clams?  Anyway....I'm sure I will make this again, with the changes I mentioned.

wonderful recipe! i made this as an appetiser this evening for my boyfriend (he is milano italian, extremely picky eater) and myself.i served it with extra fresh parsley and lemon wedges, crusty bread. was only able to eat two clams because my boyfriend hogged the bowl and ate everything, but i was just happy dipping the bread in the broth. It's great (the sauce) on spaghetti too. excellent with a glass of good white wine

I have made this recipe several times.  I put the clams and sauce over linguine and it is wonderful. My father used to make linguine and clam sauce all the time and it took me a long time to find a recipe that is nearly as good, this is it.... Great recipe...

There should be a 5+ star option on here!!! All I'm going to say is "Oh my gosh...." ironically, that was all that was said while my fiancee and his friends *inhaled* all 40 clams. The only change I made was doubling the garlic (that's just our personal taste - severe garlic lovers!!)

We were looking for a recipe that we could recreate at home to one of our favorite appetizers, this recipe is the closet we have found, substituting chicken broth for the white wine made it perfect!

We did not like this at all. I used a Chardonnay wine. Maybe that was the wrong wine to use.  Too much oregano and parsley.

Very tasty and easy to make.  It is great as a meal or an appetizer.  Remember the dipping bread, that is the best part.

This recipe was just delicious and so very easy! We went to a restaurant and ordered clams and they were excellent but my husband thought that these clams were even better!! Big compliment, coming from a critic.  My son even loved them too.


Ive been doing this recipe for a few years now, although i also put shrimp and throw some fresh basil(makes a huge difference). This is served well over angel hair pasta, and you can still dip your bread. Really good recipe.

My family loves steamed clams and this was wonderful! It was a different from the usual way I prepare them and everyone loved them!

Wonderful!  Restaurant-quality dish!  The broth is truly amazing - definitely need bread to dip.  And it's easy - what could be better?

Delicious, but needs more zing.  Try fresh basil instead of Oregano.  Also finely chopped roma tomato and serve with a handfull of green onion tops chopped fine.  Squeeze of lemon and good to go.  Use small, sweet and tender clams.  Larger clams might be easier to eat, but this dish is not intended to be anything but an appetizer or light meal, so who cares if the clams are massive, Lizzy!  Yuck, they are way too meaty for this delicate recipe.

Excellent dish.  Easy to prepare even though it looks and tastes gourmet.  My boyfriend loved it.  I added mussels and served it over linguine.  Next time I think I will add clam juice as one reviewer suggested. This was worthy of being served at a dinner party or for a special occassion.  I can't wait to make this again!

Delicious - delicate tasting but full of flavor. I halved the broth ingredients as I was using smaller clams (pre-shelled when hubby caught them), and I added a few frozen julienned carrots and some sliced mushrooms to the broth about 4 or 5 minutes before taking off the stove. Next time I think I may reduce the oregano a bit like another reviewer suggested.

GREAT!  This recipe was very easy.  My boyfriend and I could not stop raving about the clams.

This recipe was right up our alley!  We enjoyed a local fresh catch of the day and made about 200 clams.  My family enjoys the sauce over linguine so I was pleased that the recipe made so much.  I doubled the recipe with the exception of the clams and used several pounds.  I subbed beer for the wine because, well, we drank all of it earlier LOL  - it was vacation after all!  Fantastic recipe enjoyed by all.

DELICIOUS and a life-saver for me when my dad randomly came home with a bag of clams...and asked ME to cook them. I will definitely save this recipe for the future. Another page on this website told me something essential to cooking clams and that is that you can tell when clams, unlike mussels, are fully cooked when their shells open, and this takes about 4 minutes. I made the mistake of cooking my first dozen clams for 15 minutes, and although they were still good, they were a bit chewy. 4 minutes was perfect and so were my next dozen clams :) thanks!

The white wine sauce smelled and tasted wonderful.  I used fresh oregano and parsley, took someone's idea and served with Italian bread.  It made a lovely firs course.

I've made this for special guests who know "good food".  They all, myself included, LOVE this dish!!  I used a Sauvignon Blanc although you could use a Chardonnay.  I also changed all wine to 1/2 wine, 1/2 chicken broth.  I serve it with Ciabatta (my personnal favorite) but have made this with linguini.  Wonderful! One of my all time favorites!


Made these last night and got rave reviews.  Excellent.  Next time I will add some minced clams and serve them over pasta.  Thank you.

Restaurant quality recipe.  Flavor is unbelievable. Definitely a favorite of mine but My only problem (and it has nothing to do with the recipe) is that no matter how much I seem to clean the clams I get sand! Any suggestions from anyone?

Actually, my boyfriend made this for my birthday dinner a few months ago.  It turned out great, except that he didn't know you're supposed to soak the clams before cooking so they release all the sand and other grossness...I feel that should be added to the recipe instructions for newer cooks!

Otherwise, great recipe as-is.

This had good flavor and the clams were tasty.  Next time I make, not so much oregano, used fresh parsley.

What a great recipe! Easy, beautiful. I felt like I was back in Italy! Really! We had an abundance of clams that we dug that morning, and I was looking for a good recipe that wasn't chowder, etc. This was perfect. Its an easy one that will definitely "WOW" company! I highy recommend it.

I also agree with the individual that gave this recipe one star.  The finished product definately had too much oregano and parsley and masked any other flavors.  I'm giving this two stars though b/c I think it has potential and perhaps I also used the wrong wine.  After I added fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, and fresh parmesan the broth was tolerably palatable.  I will not be following this recipe again.

They were ok...i made them for christmas eve and not a lot of people ate them.  I just felt like it was missing something.  I think i'll experiment a bit with this recipe.

Wow fabulous recipe. Just tried it but did not have white so I used a Red Merlot from France. Very delicious. I am having it again next week for company so wanted to be the guinie pig. Five stars from me!!

A restaurant quality recipe! I made this as a first course at a dinner party recently and people are still talking about it. This recipe is definitely a keeper!!

AMAZING. We made this with 100 manila steamer clams and it was SO GOOD! Our few tweaks were fresh parsley, a pinch of dried onion and fresh squeezed lemon juice. Even our 9yr old raved!

This is the best!!! Also good for other seafood like mussels and or fresh fish. 

Excellent. I used fresh parsley and cooking wine (which has salt added). Next time I will use regular wine because it was a little salty - but still delicious - and very easy to make!

This was wonderful!!  I didn't have all the ingredients, so I used a cup of chicken broth instead of wine, my kids don't really like the taste of wine in cooking. I also used fresh parsley chopped up, and left out the oregano and pepper flakes. My 10 yr. old son had 3 helpings! My 13 yr. old daughter loved it! I made it with stuffed clams and a salad. It was a very quick dinner, and everybody loved it! This is definatly a keeper! Thanks Bonnie!!

Very nice! We didn't have any oregano but folllowed everything else exactly. It was delish!

Wonderful!Love this sooo much. My husband used to be disgusted at the sight of clams, so I bought some for myself and made this recipe, the house smelled amazing, and it convinced him to try this, since then he has becoe a clam addict, and my father in law put the juice in a cup and started drinking it =(. Also I used chicken broth, i didnt have any wine. 

turned out really good.  i added a little lemon and 1 jar of clam juice. very easy to make.

My husband and I thought this was great.  I used chicken broth instead of wine and added fresh herbs from my herb garden.  Basil, Oregano, and Parsley.  Served with angel hair pasta.

great recipe, i reduced the wine by 1 cup and added half a chicken bullion cube for more flavor.  I also reduced the oregano by half.  Otherwise very good.  Served it with pasta.

excellent recipe! we really enjoyed the clam liquor. will definetly will be making this again.

Yeah, it was really good. I used one teaspoon oregano and and a half teaspoon of red pepper. My son and I ate about 5 pounds of clams. Also had bread and salad. Like I said...really good.

I have already made this recipe three times.  My guests loved it!!! Its was the hit of my dinner party.  I serve this a appetizer with warm french bread.  The only change I made to the recipe was, I used unsalted butter.  Thnaks for the great recipe!!!

This was outstanding! I've never made clams before, but order them often when we're out. I was tempted by all the great reviews, and I've gotta tell you, these were just awesome. I can't believe how easy these were to make and will be making them often. My husband even loved them and he isn't the biggest fan. The other clam lovers that were here couldn't stop raving them. BRAVO! notes: I only had cooking wine on hand, and felt it worked fine. I made one batch as a test, left the broth on the range and only added butter to make the second batch. Everyone loved the broth for dipping their crusty bread in.

I grew up in Seattle Washington and pride myself on knowing good seafood.  This is a great recipe and very easy to make.  My two and three year old enjoyed it as well.  Try sour dough with the meal, I think it brings out some very subtle flavors.  Good recipe.

I made this tonight using cherrystone clams. It was excellent. Everyone enjoyed it and we didn't change a thing. Get good crusty bread to sop up the liquid.

Yummy!!  These were soo soo good.  I served over angel hair pasta with artichokes to dip in the yummy sauce which I made 1.5 amount of.  Didn't have basil but it didn't hurt anything.  Thanks for the GREAT post!!

great recipe, though i prefer to use a good olive oil instead of butter.

Fantastic! I use Chardonnay and 50 Mahogany clams. It was perfect and delicious and best of all easy!!

So simple and so delicious!  I made this recipe tonight.  I nearly tripled the amount of clams and there wasn't a single clam left.  My son alone ate more than two dozen of them.  I served them with linguini.  The clams and the broth were perfect with the pasta.

There seems to be some confusion re: size and type of clams used in this recipe. I sought this recipe out after trying a similar appetizer in a Cape Cod restaurant where cherrystones(small quahogs were used. It's a bigger, meatier clam and a perfect appetizer served with crostini for dipping.Steamer clams..while good, don't do this recipe justice (in my opinion) as an appetizer as they are so small. They would be better served with this recipe if served over linguini. My favorite additions to the broth include cilantro,lime and chopped red pepper. This is THE PERFECT appetizer for any shellfish lover. Thank you!

Soooooo good!  One of the best clam recipies I have tried thus far.  Delicious with crusty bread for dipping and a salad.  Make sure to use quality wine for this as it makes a big difference!  What you don't use in the recipie enjoy with your meal!

This was so good and so easy. I reduced the amount of butter and wine just a tad, and used fresh parsley. I could have drank the sauce, it was that good.

This is AWESOME! Made exactly as recipe says and got rave reviews from everyone at our BBQ. Don't skip the bread you will need it!

Excellent I used fresh manilla clams, next time I'll add shrimp,squid, and scallops to this fine dish.bread is needed for dipping in sauce

Really, Really, REALLY good. I added fresh basil that was either use it or toss it. Thanks!

This is a fantastic recipe! I usually serve this dish over linguine, but most recently, I cooked the clams and sauce in a large foil pan on the grill and served it with crusty Italian bread as an appetizer. Received many compliments. And you can freeze the leftover sauce for another meal -- just add some fresh clams.

Everyone at the table gave this recipe a five star rating!  My first attempt at steamed clams and it was easy but tasted fabulous.  Next time will serve over linguine.  Definately a keeper!

Loved this and it was so easy!  Made it twice this summer first time for just our family &amp; then again for friends.....everyone loved it!!

Very Good..........I didn't have any clams, used mussels instead threw a few shrimp for good measure. My husband liked it a lot

Just made this for dinner--wonderful!  The  sauce is wondrful with bread---but we also served it over bow tie pasta.  Great way to start the holiday weekend!

This was very good.  But I put in to much red pepper flakes, and my husband said it was a bit spicy, but still very good.

Just tried this today. Used fewer clams because they were really large.   RESULTS:   PRO: Tastes good enough to serve in a restaurant. Broth really smells and tastes delicious. Easy to save all that broth to put on pasta later.   CON: clams a bit tough even though I removed them right when they popped open. I thought the oregano flavor was just a bit too strong. I probably shouldn't have used oregano. I thought it was perfect with just garlic and parsley.  Also I simmered too long and broth got just a bit too salty.  4 stars because the flavor was very good but not mind blowing.   Next time:  Less or no oregano. Unsalted butter  Figure out how to get more tender clams.

Everyone loved this.  Even my 6 year old who turned up her nose when I was cooking them.  I did change the wine to chicken stock. I used littleneck clams, so I just made a 100 count bag.

excellent recipe, I would reduce the amount of wine.  Also, we used unsalted butter but it tasted salty.  Don't know what made it salty.

thought i would give this one a try, 1/2 cup of butter sounded like a lot, so i changed a few things. First i just used 1/8 cup butter. and since i didnt have any wine i substituted apple juice. also i added cream to make it a yummy creamy sauce to go with the clams.kept all the other spices called for. im not much if a clam eater, but my father in-law ate the entire batch and asked if there was more.

First and foremost, hold back on the wine with this one!! The sauce comes out way to watery/thin. I would like to try the recipe again, but this time I will reduce the wine and possibly add a little flour to thicken the sauce up. Flavor was good. I tossed it with fettucini and served with fresh, Italian bread.

OMG! Thank You! This ROCKS! Made it as an app and having more tonight!

My husband and I LOVED these! I made two pounds and it went FAST. Will make again SOON! Thank you!

I've made this recipe many, many times for friends and family and it's always wonderful.  I live in the Pacific Northwest where clams are plentiful on the beaches so trying to find different ways to prepare them is fun.  The only thing I do differently in this recipe is use a lot more clams than the recipe calls for, I cook them in batches since they won't all fit into my pan and I just keep adding more to the same broth as the others cook and are removed.  I also use fresh parsley since we never seem to have dried ones and instead of wine, we use chicken broth like someone else suggested.

I followed this recipe EXACTLY and all I can say is WOW!  Great recipe!  Thanks for sharing!  

FABULOUS.  Absolutely loved it.  I also used 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes, and it was PERFECT.  I usually use Scott Ure's Clams from this site, but I think this recipe is definitely better.  The only change I made was to add 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic.  Unlike other reviewers, I think the red pepper flakes and 2 cups of white wine is perfect for this recipe - it makes a GREAT dipping sauce for crispy bread like Pugliese, Olive bread or Rosemary bread!  Bon appetit - this is phenomenal... thanks for the recipe!

Too much italian seasonings, masked the clams' flavor.  

PERFECT. They were better than any Seattle restaurant clams I've eaten.

I love making this for my guests! This is one of my favorites!

I didn't love it.  Needed more butter\oil and less wine. I think maybe I chose a wine that wasn't dry enough.

This came out great!  I cooked the clams exactly to recipe.  Then I made this into an entree by tossing some of the broth into cooked spaghetti and then topping the pasta with the mussels.  There were tons of mussels left over so then we had second helpings the "appetizer" way...just mussels in the broth and then used bread for dipping.  It was wonderful both ways.  Will definitely use this one again.

If you're serving this as an appetizer 36 clams may be enough.  But if you want this as a meal, make sure you increase the amount because they certainly won't last. The recipe is excellent.  Try serving mussels this way (which I like even better than clams.)  Thanks for sharing!

This recipe is outstanding!  I would not change a thing.  I used it as a appetizer. Dipping Italian bread in the broth is a great idea too!


Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.

This was great, make sure you have some good bread to dip into the broth.

My favorite recipe on this site! I've never made clams before, but this was easy, fast, and my boyfriend LOVED it (even though he's not a seafood fan). As other users suggested, we put the clams and sauce on top of some spaghettini, although, I think the sauce was a bit thin, so next time I'll just sop it up with Italian bread. I will also probably chop up some tomato and put it in at the end.  Overall - amazing.

3 Dozen Clams were a bit much for me, so I used the original recipe w/ just 2 dozen.  Served w/ hot &amp; crusty Italian bread and friends loved it!
Will definitely make &amp; serve again!!

Not only is this delicious with clams but also with mussels and my personal favorite; the true little steamer clams (ones with the tails). And yes Bonnie, a nice loaf of Italian or French bread to sop up all those wonderful flavors is a must! Thanks so much!!

I served them as an appetizer for hubby's b-day, and everyone loved them!! Receipe was awesome, as wriiten, Thank you!

My boyfriend just returned from a fishing trip to B.C. He brought back a bunch of fresh clams. He had me get a recipe on our favorite site, All Recipes, and we came up with this one. OMG is all I can say. It is heavenly. I would have to agree with the other reviewer though that you could cut the butter and wine in half. I did use a homemade Chardonnay and it was delicious. And dipping your bread is a must. Kudos!!

It was good but why o why would you add that much red pepper flakes?  I only put 1/2 t., and it was still too hot. I used mussels and shrimp and served over thin spaghetti.  

Yum-bola!  I, too, had never made clams before, but now that I know how easy it is to prepare a delicious clams appetizer, I'll make them often.  I did heed some of the other reviewers' remarks about the amount of broth, and halved the broth recipe while keeping the specified amount of clams.  Still had plenty of yummy broth to sop up with some crusty bread.  I do agree that 6 servings is a stretch - it's too tasty to just eat 6 clams.

Much too brothy.  Lacked depth of flavor. Not sure how to fix it.  Need enough liquid to steam the clams, but the broth/sauce needs butter, olive oil and undiluted seasonings.  Won't make it this way again.

I would definitely reduce the amount of wine and add more garlic. The flavor was a little diluted with the amount of wine. Tasted great, but I went without the red pepper and won't do that next time I make it. It did need a little kick.

Absolutely wonderful. This was my first time making clams, and this recipe is easy and impressive. I only gave it four stars because I will omit the red pepper flakes from now on (though I know they were optional, I wanted to try it). They make the dish too spicy for me. Otherwise this dish is great! Thanks

can't go wrong with this recipe, great flavors!

This is a good recipe but the wine was just too much and overpowering for us. I made it again the next day because we just all love clams and instead of 2 cups of wine, I used only 1 and used 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock. 36 clams for 6 people is also not realistic.  Between 3 people, we easily had 4 pounds of clams (which was way more than 36) and could have had more.

My husband and I love this dish.  It is so easy and the sauce is always fabulous.

Amazing and so easy to make!  I am not even a fan of clams but I could not stop eating these.  Make sure to have a load of french bread to dip in the left over juice!

This is phenomonal.  Very simple recipe.  We serve it over linguine tossed with canned white clam sauce.   The only change we make is serve about a dozen clams per person.

Clams Italiano

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total: 30 minutes

Servings: 6

Cost: $4.58 /serving

Author : Bonnie Dailey

Ingredients

Instructions

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