Chancy and I just took a road trip up north to Monterey Bay with family. We had a sweet time away from San Diego for a bit. If you know anything about Monterey Bay, you know that seafood dishes are EVERYWHERE! Clam chowder is everywhere you look and it seems that every restaurant claims to have “The best clam chowder”. They even have people sampling their chowder outside the restaurants. After rejecting chowder after chowder, Chancy looked at me and said, “Babe as soon as we get back to San Diego, we are veganizing clam chowder.”

And so we did… and OMG I am so impressed with the team we made to make this happen.

Now let me tell you, Chancy and I both have had our good share of clam chowders in our pre-vegan days. I grew up eating canned chowder and when we first started dating we would take numerous trips up to San Francisco where we were always on a hunt for… yup you guessed it… “The best clam chowder”! So when planning this recipe, we had high expectations. It had to replicate the creamy, hearty and delicious chowder we used to enjoy.

We brainstormed back and fourth on the recipe and bingo! I thought of adding oyster mushrooms as the “clams”. Oyster mushrooms have a meaty like texture. Fresh oyster mushrooms can be found in some supermarkets and often times at farmer’s markets during this time of year. They’re slightly sweet tasting but also very versatile, because of the subtle flavor. To me, they have a clam like texture which is why I knew they would be PERFECT for our chowder.

Now, lets talk about the base of traditional chowder, It is typically half and half or heavy cream, leading it to be VERY rich yet not kind to our bodies. Luckily, with the help of cashews and cauliflower… yes cauliflower! We were able to create a decadent and CREAMY base. AHHH, I won’t stop being so excited about the success of this.

Chancy insisted on adding loads of vegetables to make it more hearty and filling, and I’m glad he did, because it did just that!