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Briny clams, silky pasta, and a buttery, garlicky sauce make this linguine with clams taste like something you’d order at your favorite Italian restaurant.
Linguine with clams is a classic Italian restaurant dish, but it’s also one of the simplest and most affordable pasta dishes you can make at home. I know cooking shellfish like clams and mussels can seem intimidating, but they’re surprisingly easy to prepare—and once you try it, you’ll wonder what took you so long! Once the clams are cleaned and ready to go, you can make the sauce while the pasta cooks, so dinner comes together in about 30 minutes.
“I followed your instructions and when my husband tasted it, he said ‘Marry me’!”
What You’ll Need to Make Linguine with Clams
- Littleneck clams: Small, tender clams with a sweet, briny flavor. They release flavorful juices as they cook, creating the base of the sauce.
- Linguine: The classic pasta for this dish, though spaghetti works well, too.
- Dry white wine: Choose a crisp, dry wine, such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. Select a bottle that is inexpensive but still good enough to drink. Avoid “cooking wines,” which are salty and include additives.
- Garlic and shallots: Create the aromatic base of the sauce.
- Olive oil and butter: Add richness and help bring the sauce together.
- Red pepper flakes: Add a subtle kick of heat.
- Fresh parsley and lemon: Brighten the sauce and balance the richness.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How to Clean & Prepare Fresh Clams
This recipe calls for littleneck clams, which are readily available at most supermarkets. They’re usually sold in mesh bags because they’re alive and need to breathe. If your fishmonger puts them in a plastic bag, transfer them to an uncovered bowl in the refrigerator as soon as you get home.
Before cooking, check that the clams are alive. Their shells should be tightly closed. If any are open, gently tap them against the countertop; live clams will close their shells. Discard any that stay open or have cracked or chipped shells.
To remove any sand, place the clams in a bowl of cool tap water and let them soak for 20 minutes to an hour. When you’re ready to cook, lift them out of the water and rinse each one, scrubbing away any grit on the shells. Most supermarket clams are farm-raised and already quite clean, so you may not find much sand.
How To Make Linguine with Clams
Cook the pasta: Boil the linguine until just shy of al dente—it will finish cooking in the sauce. Before draining, save a little pasta water in case you need it later.
Make the clam sauce: Sauté the shallots and garlic in olive oil until lightly golden, then add the white wine, red pepper flakes, salt, parsley, and clams. Cover and steam until the clams open, about 6 to 8 minutes. Discard any that remain closed.
Bring it all together: Add the linguine to the pan and toss until it absorbs some of the garlicky sauce. If things look a little dry, add a splash of the reserved pasta water. Finish with butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, and parsley, then taste and adjust the seasoning before serving.
Linguine with Clams
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- 16 oz linguine
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup finely chopped shallots, from 2 shallots
- 6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup dry white wine
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 lb Littleneck clams (40 to 45), scrubbed
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, divided
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, from 1 lemon, plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, from 1 lemon, plus more to taste
Instructions
- In large pot over high heat, bring 4 qts (4L) of water and 2 tablespoons of kosher salt to a boil.
- Add the linguine and cook according to the package directions until just shy of al dente (the pasta should still be firm to the bite since it will cook another minute or two in the sauce). Reserve ½ cup (120 ml) of the cooking water, then drain the pasta without rinsing.
- Meanwhile, in a very large sauté pan over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté until just golden, about 30 seconds.
- Add the wine, red pepper flakes, ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, clams, and ¼ cup (8 g) of the parsley. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, until the clams open, 6 to 8 minutes. Discard any unopened clams.
- Add the drained linguine to the pan with the clams. If the pan is too crowded, transfer the clams to a plate and cover to keep warm; you can add them back when serving. Cook over medium heat, tossing occasionally, until the pasta absorbs most of the sauce and is just tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Add a splash of reserved pasta water if needed to keep it moist.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Add the butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley; toss to coat.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt, lemon zest and/or lemon juice, if necessary. Transfer to a serving dish or bowls and serve.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Storage & Reheating
Linguine with clams is best enjoyed right away, but leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days. To reheat, warm gently in a covered skillet over low heat with a splash of water to loosen the sauce. Heat just until warmed through to keep the clams from becoming rubbery. I don’t recommend freezing this dish.
What to Serve with Linguine with Clams
To complete the meal, toss an arugula salad or make some roasted asparagus. Warm some crusty bread to soak up the garlicky sauce, and pour a few glasses of the same white wine used to make the dish. For dessert, finish with tiramisu.
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Hi Jenn! I wanted to make this for my family soon, but there are eleven of us. So I wanted to know how many times should I do it? And also, can we use fresh clams straight off the beach with this recipe? ( my family collected some the other day)
Hi Vivian, You could either make 2 or 2.5 times the recipe. And I believe you should stay away from clams you find on the beach from a food safety standpoint (they could be coming from polluted waters). Hope that helps!
I have made linguini and clams wirh many recipes.This one was the best.I added about 3/4 lb shrimp when most clams were opened. This is my go to recipe from now on.just perfect
Here’s to the crew
Linguine and clams awash a absolute hit with this Crew
My Family made Me make it twice in a week and a half
I kind of stacked it up a bit by adding to Your recipe Jenn
I doubled up on the garlic added a extra of of clams and two cans of minced bar harbor clams and a bottle of clam juice
They absolutely loved it
Thank You for making me the new chef in the house with Your fantastic recipes 🥰
Wow. The best I’ve ever had!!
Hi Jenn and others!
Like many others on this site, I have made NUMEROUS of Jenn’s recipes and each time, they have been a hit. I am planning on making this tomorrow for a group of 6 adults – will the amounts indicated in the recipe truly serve six people? Should I 1.5x the recipe? Thank you!
Hi Emily, this will serve six nicely, but if you’re nervous about it, feel free to make 1.5 times the recipe. Hope everyone enjoys!
Thank you Jenn! I will do that!
Your recipe for Linguine and clams did not disappoint. Everything was easily spelled out with no room for error. I made as written. I appreciated the tip on soaking the clams to eliminate the grit. This was as good as any restaurant entree. I will be making it for friends since I’ve had a practice run through! Coveting the leftovers!
Linguini and clams has been a long time favorite of mine. I tried this recipe, and it beats and exceeds many of the restaurants I have tried. The flavor is outstanding and it uses whole fresh clams, not chopped or canned. Thank you!
ABSOLUTE WINNER! Not only did it look great, it tasted fantastic. I did make some changes by adding a can of diced tomatoes, cutting the olive oil to 3 tablespoons, and eliminated the butter. I did not have any lemon zest (lemon was already zested) but increased the lemon juice to 2 tablespoons to make up for it. It was such a fresh tasting sauce and we didn’t miss the butter at all! One thing I do with pasta is to combine it with my sauce, make sure it’s bubbly, the. Cover and turn off the heat for about 10 minutes. The pasta absorbs the sauce much better this way. It’s definitely in my rotation as we have access to fresh dug steamer clams all month long.
O.K. Made this last night…! My wife and I both thought it turned out great. I used fresh, in the shell, clams and my only regret was that even though I soaked the mussels in cold water for over an hour, they were still a little gritty. (It could be that I didn’t really scrub the shells as I inspected then, I only held them under running water… .)
To me, the key step is to add pasta water after the butter melted at the end (i only used 3/4 cup) and then agitate the pan a lot (a lot, lot). That really creamed up the “sauce”. Also, I took the time to remove almost all of the shells (which took a minute because for the ones that weren’t already separated form the clams, I had to take them out, let them cool a bit to then knock the clam back into the pan).
To be honest, next time, I’m going to look for already shelled fresh clams (if those exist) or use canned… unless I can find a fool proof way totally eliminate the grit.
But, to sum it up… it was a total success. Great recipe and guide…!
Planning on making tomorrow. Got a Kg of fresh clams from the Amsterdam Friday market. …and just to p— off the ~silly gringos who say… “you can’t add cheese to seafood dishes”… Ima finish with copious spoons of parmesan…! …because it’s hella good…!