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This white clam sauce is positively heavenly: lots of garlic, olive oil, white wine, and clams tossed with al dente linguine for a delicious Italian dinner! Made with mostly pantry ingredients, this easy recipe is quick enough for a weeknight dinner, but elegant enough for company or special occasions.
Before You Get Started
- Look for cans of minced clams in clam juice at the grocery store. You’ll need both the clams and the juice from the cans in this recipe, so when you drain the liquid, don’t discard it!
How to Make This Recipe
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
sTART WITH THE PASTA.
Add the uncooked linguine to a large pot of heavily-salted boiling water, and boil the noodles until they’re just “al dente”, or firm but not hard when bitten. That’s usually 1-2 minutes less than the time indicated on the pasta packaging. Drain it well and set it aside until it’s time to serve the food.
make the Sauce.
Sauté fresh minced garlic in a large pan of truly high-quality olive oil, then add the reserved clam juice, a dry white wine, and salt and stir it all together. Simmer the sauce 10 minutes or until it’s reduced by half, then stir in the minced clams and chopped parsley.
Bring it all together.
Add the drained linguine to the sauce and toss to coat, letting the pasta soak up a little bit of the white clam sauce but not all of it. Divide the pasta into your preferred serving sizes, garnish with crushed red pepper flakes and more parsley if you want, then serve and enjoy!
What I Love About This Recipe
- My love affair with shellfish began in Italy many years ago, and to this day, I always order linguine alle vongole when I’m there. I’m sadly not in Italy more often than I am, though, which meant I had to figure out a way to get my fix of linguine in white clam sauce at home. The result? This made-at-home, tastes-like-Italy linguine alle vongole (“linguine with clams”) that I’ve been making for years!
- This recipe keeps all the delicious, rich flavor of the original, but makes it so much easier by using canned clams. Aside from that, this recipe uses mostly pantry staples, making it inexpensive, too!
- Linguine in white clam sauce comes together so quickly! It’s a dish that feels fancy and elevated but really only takes a few minutes to throw together. Great for any last-minute dinner plans or “unexpected” (read: forgotten) anniversaries.
Recipe Variations
- Go Southern: In Southern Italy, tomatoes and fresh basil are popular add-ins for linguine in white clam sauce.
- Make it Low Carb/Keto: Instead of traditional linguine, use palmini noodles or a similar zero-carb pasta-alternative.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
White Clam Sauce with Linguine
Equipment
- Large pot
- Large wooden spoon
- colander
- Large skillet
Ingredients
For the Linguine
- 16 cups water
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 1 12-ounce package linguine
For the White Clam Sauce
- ¼ cup good-quality olive oil
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic approximately 4 large cloves
- clam juice reserved from cans of minced clams below
- 1 cup dry white wine sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio
- 1 teaspoon salt more or less to taste
- 3 8-ounce cans minced clams 24 ounces
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
Serving Suggestions (All Optional)
- crushed red pepper flakes
- chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
For the Linguine
- Add 16 cups water to large pot and place pot on stovetop over high heat. Bring water to boil.
- When water begins to boil rapidly, add 1 tablespoon sea salt to pot and stir to incorporate. Allow water to resume boiling rapidly.
- When water begins to boil rapidly once more, add 1 12-ounce package linguine to pot. Boil pasta 1 minute less than instructed on pasta packaging.
- When pasta is al dente, pour pasta and water into colander. Drain pasta well, then set aside.
For the White Clam Sauce
- Place large skillet on stovetop over medium-high heat. When pan is warm, add ¼ cup good-quality olive oil. Continue heating pan until oil is hot and shimmery.
- When oil is hot, add 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic and stir to incorporate. Sauté garlic, stirring occasionally, 30 to 60 seconds or until just fragrant.
- Add clam juice from 3 cans of minced clams, 1 cup dry white wine, and 1 teaspoon salt to pan. Stir to incorporate, then bring liquid to boil.
- Once mixture begins to boil, immediately reduce heat under skillet to medium. Simmer mixture 10 minutes or until liquid has reduced by approximately 50%.
- Once liquid has reduced, add clams from 3 8-ounce cans minced clams and ½ cup chopped fresh parsley to skillet. Stir until fully incorporated and clams are heated through, then immediately reduce heat under skillet to low.
To Serve
- Add drained linguine to skillet and stir or toss until pasta is fully coated in clam sauce.
- Once pasta is just coated in sauce, divide pasta into preferred serving sizes and plate accordingly. Garnish each serving with crushed red pepper flakes and chopped fresh parsley as desired. Serve immediately.
- Leftovers: Refrigerate any leftover white clam sauce in an airtight container up to 3 days. Refrigerate any leftover pasta in a separate container up to 5 days.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Absolutely delicious! Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it!
I only had two cans of clams on hand so this definitely needs three or maybe even 4 if you like lots of clams. In the can the amount of clams is about half of what you expect. Overall this was a really good recipe and easy to prepare. I also added butter just for an extra creamy texture to the broth and used gluten free pasta noodles.
Great point! Can’t hurt to add more clams to this recipe! Glad you enjoyed it and were able to make it your own.
I had never made clam sauce and was intimidated at the thought of doing so. I made the sauce according to the directions with the only exception of adding 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter at the end. I got rave reviews for this dish. I will certainly make this again. Absolutely delicious!
This is exactly what we love to hear, Linda! Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
My Italian husband absolutely loved this! Whenever we go out to an Italian restaurant, he often orders this dish and 90% of the time he’s disappointed.He was far from disappointed tonight! It was really easy to make too!
So happy to hear this!
First time making clams with angel hair pasta. It was delicious. I included 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes and juice from 1/2 lemon. The sauce was light and very tasty. Will definitely make again in near future Thanks for a great recipe.
Thanks for the amazing review, so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
SIMPLY THE VERY BEST
We’re thrilled you think so! 🙂
I was given four cans of clams … what to do with them ??? I really thought I needed fresh clams to make a good linguine with clam sauce … this recipe is perfect … tasty … perfect amount of sauce …so so easy !! Outstanding!!
Thanks for the awesome review!
I made this dish for my family’s traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner. It was very easy and convenient to use the canned clams. This recipe is absolutely wonderful . Every one commented how delicious the sauce was and how much they enjoyed it. I will definitely be using this recipe next Christmas Eve.
Debra, we’re so glad this recipe worked for you!
This a family staple for Christmas Eve dinner of the seven fishes. My Mom makes this every year! It is delicious!!
Proud to be part of your family tradition, Cynthia!
Can you please recommend a good brand of canned clam? This looks delicious!
I used Bumble Bee!
I recommend BumbleBee, which used to be Snow’s. I use the clams for linguini with clam sauce and clam dip. I’ve been eating Snow’s all my 70 years and it hasn’t changed, always good, like Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup!
The clams are available as minced, chopped, or ocean. I use the chopped for everything
All you need to do is cook the linguini as the package directs, heat the Snow’s white clam sauce, adding a small can of chopped clams, throw in a cup of clam base (see Amazon for Minor’s Clam base). I also add a teaspoon of Old Bay to the dressing.
This meal has flavors I crave and I make it about once a month. You can keep it in the fridge 4-5 days or freeze it for months.