My wife and I got several cooking appliances this holiday season. We got an amazing smoker that I will likely write about later; a multi-purpose Cuisinart thing to replace our electric griddle, waffle iron and George Foreman grill; and an Instant Pot to replace our crockpot, pressure cooker and rice maker. Unless you have been under a rock, the internet has been buzzing about the Instant Pot, for good reason. Last night we made a clam chowder so good, I felt like I had to share it. We made up the recipe, but I had a lot of help. First, we found the following recipes on the internet.

Instant Pot New England Clam Chowder
Pressure Cooker Recipe: New England Clam Chowder
New England Clam Chowder In Pressure Cooker Recipe
New England Clam Chowder (Pressure Cooker)
Lower Carb New England-Style Clam Chowder
Light Low-Carb New England Clam Chowder Recipe
SLOW COOKER LOW CARB CLAM CHOWDER WITH BACON
Creamy Paleo Clam Chowder
KETO CROCK POT CLAM CHOWDER

I even found a Ketogenic Diet Pressure Cooker Recipes cookbook that I plan to order. After that, I took my favorite ingredients from all of the above, together with advice gleaned from friends who have Instant Pots, Keto and Instant Pot groups on Facebook and of course, /r/ketorecipes and improvised the rest.

Kelly’s Keto Klam Kachow-der

I had to throw the family name in there because even accidentally being associated with a hate group is offensive and we can’t have that. That’s four K’s not 3. Besides, this recipe turned out so good it can only improve the family name.

Ingredients:

• 1 lbs Bacon cut crosswise into pieces
• 1 medium Onion chopped
• 2 stalks Celery chopped
• 1 head Cauliflower cut into florets
• 3 10oz cans of Fancy Whole Baby Clams
• 1 can Mushroom Pieces strained
• 2 cans Chicken Stock (about 3 cups)
• 1 tsp Ground Thyme
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Old Bay Seafood Seasoning
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 8oz Cream Cheese softened
• 1/2 stick Butter melted
• 2 cups Heavy Cream

Directions:

• Saute Bacon in non-stick pan
• Add Onions and stir occasionally until Bacon is cooked and Onions are caramelized
• Empty the contents of the pan into the Instant Po
• Deglaze the pan with the juice from the canned clams and pour into Instant Pot
  

  This is not how I did it, but how I will do it again. I had tried to saute the Bacon and Onions in the Instant Pot but the bottom was getting crusty and it didn’t seem to get hot enough to caramelize the onions. I remembered being told that the Instant Pot might not come to pressure if the bottom was scorched so I transferred it to a non-stick pan and my wife finished frying it up while I deglazed the Instant Pot on Saute with the Clam juice.

• Add Clams, Mushrooms, Celery and Cauliflower (should fill the Instant Pot 2/3 to 3/4 full, stirring will distribute the Bacon, Clams and Mushrooms among the florets and settle the contents a bit in case you are worried)
• Add Chicken Stock (This should bring the water level upto about the level of the ingredients)
• Close lid, press the Soup button and select Low Pressure (it should default to 30 minutes)
• When done, do a Quick Release (which took 4 minutes), add remaining ingredients, stir thoroughly and serve