Linguine with Clam Sauce
Linguine with Clam Sauce is a tasty pasta dish, flavored with Italian seasonings, clams and wine. Even better it’s easy to make!
It was many years ago when I got the special recipe that this is based–in fact, in my late teens. One of my adult ballet buddies passed it along and mentioned that it was a favorite company dish of hers. It won’t be long before you have a place of your own and need recipes like this she added!
Of course she was correct! And over the years I pulled it out many times to the delight of family and friends.
This all went fine until I started to gain weight. You see the original recipe had no wine or clam juice but did have a solid 3 sticks of butter! It was luxuriously rich, and with sorrow, I decided it needed to go the way of two scoop ice cream cones.
But I often thought of it longingly. So this year I decided to do a mini makeover and sub some wine and clam juice for part of the butter.
And Linguine with Clam Sauce is back on the menu!
Why You’ll Love This!
Flavorful. With butter, wine, clams and Italian seasonings, this is a taste delight.
Easy. This dish is ready in about a half hour and uses mostly pantry staples.
Versatile. Make a great dish for company or treat your family, even on a weeknight!
Step by Step Overview
Cook the linguine according to package directions.
In a Dutch oven or stock pot, sautee 5-6 minced garlic cloves in 4 Tablespoons of butter.
Add basil, thyme, clam juice and 1/2 cup of white wine, then cook until reduced. Set clams aside for later.
Add clams, remaining 4 Tablespoons butter, and parsley. Cook until heated through.
Add cooked, drained pasta to the sauce. Toss until well coated.
Serve hot.
How to Serve / Variations
You’ll see many similar recipes that use 16 ounces of pasta. I personally think that’s stretching the sauce too far and only use 12 ounces. And I may experiment with a 3rd can of clams the next time I make this.
Back in the day I often served this with garlic bread–at a very real risk of butter overload. With my reduced fat version, however, I think going back to garlic bread would be perfect.
And I always love adding a salad!
This dish is sometimes called linguine in white clam sauce. That’s to distinguish it from its lesser-known tomato-enriched cousin, red clam sauce. So many clam sauces, so little time!
Tips & FAQs
Decades ago, white pasta was pretty much all that was available. Today I (usually) use organic whole wheat pasta (Delallo and Bionaturae are both excellent). Of course, when prepping for this post I found that my small town grocer had only white–so maybe times haven’t changed that much!
If you can find cans of minced clams, I actually prefer those to the chopped. If your chopped clams have some larger pieces, I recommend mincing them first.
This dish has a compromise amount of butter between the original and most contemporary recipes. It’s only about 2 Tablespoons per (generous) serving but if you’re still worried, you can substitute half olive oil. But personally, I’d keep the butter in the sauce and skip the garlic bread or go with an olive oil based garlic bread.
But do the salad for sure.
More Spaghetti Recipes
- Baked Spaghetti from Jen Around the World
- Creamy Gochujang Noodles (Redo) from Magical Ingredients
- Eggplant Spaghetti Aglio e Olio from Palatable Pastime
- Lemon Ricotta Spaghetti from Creative Cynchronicity
- Ricotta Pasta Frittata from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Spaghetti Pie from That Recipe
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Linguine with Clam Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter divided (1 stick)
- 5-6 garlic cloves minced
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 13 ounces canned clams with liquid
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 Tablespoon fresh
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped
- 12 ounces linguine
Instructions
- Cook the linguine according to package directions
- In a Dutch oven or stock pot, sautee 5-6 minced garlic cloves in 4 Tablespoons of butter
- Add basil, thyme, clam juice and 1/2 cup of white wine, then cook until reduced. Set clams aside for later.
- Add clams, remaining 4 Tablespoons butter, and parsley. Cook until heated through.
- Add cooked, drained pasta to the sauce. Toss until well coated.
This is such a classic! It’s so easy to make and is budget friendly. And a total pantry reipe, too. Looks so delicious!
Yes, yes and yes!
Fantastic! Thanks so much!
Glad you enjoyed Perry!
This sounds simple, comforting, and delicious! Perfect meal idea after the holidays.
Thanks!
Inger, this linguine with clam sauce looks so comforting and full of flavor, I love how you lightened up the original recipe without losing that buttery richness. The mix of wine, herbs, and clams sounds absolutely perfect for a cozy weeknight dinner or even something a bit special.
Thanks Raymund!
I lvoe linguine with clams — and have made it many times with shallots, which are nice and sweet. It is a good dish for beginning the new year!
The shallots would be a good sub for the garlic David!