Italian Stuffed Baked Clams
Italian stuffed baked clams with chopped clams, garlicky breadcrumbs, Parmigiano, and fresh parsley, finished with lemon-garlic butter sauce. A classic appetizer at our family’s Christmas Eve table.
Servings: 12 baked clams
Calories: 99kcal
Cost: $20
Equipment
- 1 baking sheet
- 1 shucking knife
- 1 small saucepan
Ingredients
- 12 Top neck clams
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoon lemon
- ¼ cup Parmigiano
Lemon Garlic Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup white wine
Instructions
- Scrub the clams in running water to remove any sand or debris. Purge your clams by placing them in a cold salt water bath for 1-2 hours, changing the water every hour. Remove from the water, then rinse and scrub with your hands to remove any remaining grit and sand.
- If you didn't buy your clams already shucked, you'll have to shuck them now. Keep them on ice, slip your shucking knife in between the shell, and pop them open. If this is something you've never done before, I recommend buying them pre-shucked. Preheat the oven to 400°
- Combine breadcrumbs, olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, garlic, and lemon. Chop the clams. Combine with the breadcrumb mixture. Add clam juice 1 tablespoon at a time until the breadcrumb mixture has the texture of wet sand.
- Stuff the clams with about 1-2 tablespoon of stuffing. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on each clam. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are golden brown.
- In a small frying pan, add butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Then add wine and lemon juice and simmer for 5 minutes to reduce the wine by half.
- Remove the clams from the oven and drizzle with the lemon garlic butter sauce. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- Purging clams is extremely important. If not done, it will taste like you're eating sand. Make sure to rinse between steps to remove as much sand as possible.
- Shucking clams is also time consuming. You can skip both of these steps by asking for the clams to be shucked for you, which can be really helpful during the holidays, especially when you're cooking a bunch of different recipes.
- Use a large clam, like top neck clams for baked clams. They have more meat and a bigger shell to stuff.
- If you're in doubt about the texture of the breadcrumbs and clams, just add more olive oil. You want the texture of slightly wet sand.
Nutrition
Calories: 99kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 400mg | Potassium: 37mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 111IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 1mg
