20 Best New England Dishes and Food Culture

Clam chowder is an iconic soup that originated in the Northeastern United States around the 18th century. There are many variants of the dish in different states, but they all contain clams, milk/ cream, and onions.

Except for the Rhode Island version, a typical bowl of clam chowder from New England has a milky appearance, hence its informal name, “white” clam chowder. The Rhode Island version stands out for using no milk in the chowder soup.

To the south of New England, Manhattan in New York has a “red” version of the dish utilizing tomatoes, which cooks from the rest of the region vehemently oppose.

From a New England staple, clam chowder is now one of the most famous American dishes. This sweet and savory soup goes well with bread rolls, crackers, and salads.

Lobster roll is a popular type of sandwich in New England. To prepare it, locals split a New England-style hot dog bun in half at the top, not along the side, and fill it with cooked lobster meat, celery, and mayonnaise.

Created in the 1920s, the lobster roll is now something the people of New England can’t live without, especially when it comes with potato chips and dill pickles.

Maine’s lobsters are among the best in the world, making them the ideal ingredient for lobster rolls. The juiciness of premier lobster meat plus the crispness of bread in this sandwich is more than addictive.

Baked beans are a famous New England bean dish that originated in the English dish of beans and bacon. However, many people believed that it was Native Americans who came up with this protein-rich dish and introduced it to early settlers.

Baked beans are made from dried navy beans, salt pork, and molasses, which are slow-cooked in a low-temperature oven into a uniquely sweet and savory mix. Locals often serve this flavorful dish as a side dish with cornbread, salads, and meaty specialties.

The use of molasses in baked beans dates back to colonial times when British taxes made sugar so expensive that locals resorted to molasses. Formerly, people cooked the beans with a cast-iron beanpot, which is superseded by a slow cooker these days.

Boston baked beans are especially famous; this city is even nicknamed the “bean capital of the US.”

Clambake, or clam bake, is a well-known seafood dish from New England cuisine. While the name only mentions “clam,” it actually includes many types of seafood, such as quahog (hard-shelled clams), mussels, crabs, etc.

The traditional method of making a clambake involves digging a pit in the sand, lining it with stones, heating the stones with a wood fire, creating steam by placing seaweed on the stones and cooking the seafood with the heat from the stones and the steam from the seaweed.

Nowadays, the most common way to prepare a clambake is to arrange alternating layers of fresh seaweed and seafood plus root vegetables in a large pot, then steam them for hours.

Clambake owes its creation to coastal Native Americans who steamed their shellfish with seaweed, a practice that the European settlers copied and improved.

Fried clams are a popular fast food dish in New England. Though many people experimented with deep-frying clams in fats as early as the mid-19th century, modern fried clams were only invented in 1916 by the owner of a roadside restaurant in Essex, Massachusetts.

To fry clams the New England way, people dip shucked clams in a batter of milk, flour, egg yolk, and butter before deep-frying them in vegetable oil. The best condiment to go with fried clams is tartar sauce (mayonnaise with herbs and chopped pickles).

Besides serving fried clams with tartar sauce, people also prepare clam rolls by stuffing hot dog buns with fried clams. These two dishes are among the most wonderful street foods you can purchase from New England food stalls or carts.

New England pot roast, or Yankee pot roast, is a popular version of pot roast, an American dish derived from many similar European beef dishes.

Compared to other pot roast recipes in America, the New England version is more nourishing. Locals prepare it by slow-cooking beef in its juice with many root vegetables, such as potatoes, turnips, and parsnips.

Boiled dinner is a one-pot New England dish made with corned beef and vegetables, mainly potatoes, turnips, and carrots. It was introduced by Irish immigrants who came to the region in its early days.

Just like the name suggests, people make boiled dinner by boiling everything and adding some spices, like horseradish or cider vinegar, for a stronger flavor.

In the old days, boiled dinner was symbolic of the promises that the New World offered the Irish newcomers. While corned beef was a coveted luxury in Ireland, it was a cheap commodity in America that immigrants could eat to their heart’s content.

While boiled dinner is mainly for, well, dinner, people often serve the leftovers for the next day’s breakfast. They dice the leftovers and fry them with beets to create a new dish called red flannel hash.

Boston cream pie is actually a New England layered sponge cake. People refer to this dessert as a pie because of the widespread practice of baking cakes in pie tins in the mid-19th century.

The Boston cream pie was invented at the Omni Parker House Hotel, which was opened in 1856. Therefore, one of its alternative names is the Parker House chocolate cream pie.

A typical Boston cream pie consists of a sweet yellow sponge cake base, rich vanilla custard, and chocolate glazing. This decadent treat is recognized as the official dessert of Massachusetts.

Cider donut is a popular type of donut flavored with apple cider in New England, which is famous for its vast apple orchards stretching as far as the eye can see. Besides flour dough and apple cider, it also contains spices, such as cinnamon and nutmeg.

You can eat cider donuts on their own or pair them with fruit smoothies or fruit juices. Try apple juice for an even more ample flavor.

While cider donuts are available year-round, the apple season, which lasts from September to November, is arguably the best time for them. Trying cider donuts on a farm and among ripe apple-laden trees is a great joy!

Chocolate chip cookie is a popular New England treat that originated in Massachusetts around 1938. Flour, butter, sugar, and chocolate chips are the main ingredients of this cookie, but no manufacturer is willing to divulge the exact recipe.

Locals usually pair chocolate chip cookies with milk, coffee, or tea. Hot beverages go well with the sweet and savory taste of these chewy cookies.

Whoopie pie is a well-known baked confection throughout New England. It has many alternative names and falls into various categories, from cakes and pies to cookies and sandwiches.

A whoopie pie consists of two large mound-shaped flavored cookies, usually made from chocolate or pumpkin. Between them is a white, sweet filling of marshmallow creme or buttercream.

The name “whoopie” possibly stems from the expression “whoopee,” which people used to express joy in the old days.

Many American states compete for the birthplace claim of this sublime sweet food. But in 2011, Maine recognized it as the official state treat.

Snickerdoodle is a famous cookie in New England states. While it is made with classic cookie ingredients, it is rolled in a mixture of white sugar and cinnamon to add an herbal touch.

Snickerdoodles have been around since the late 19th century, charming countless children and adults with their soft and chewy goodness. There are multiple theories about how this beloved snack got its curious name.

One says that “snickerdoodle” is a corruption of the German word “schneckennudeln” (a type of German sweet bun). Another argues that New Englanders just made up a funny-sounding name with no real meaning.

Boston roast beef sandwich is a well-liked New England sandwich hailing from Massachusetts. The cream of this sandwich is the beef roast, which is thinly sliced, grilled with aromatic spices, and served rare.

Other ingredients of the Boston roast beef sandwich are fragrant onion roll, cheese, horseradish, and spicy chilly pepper. These ingredients create a quick bite with a mouth-watering taste.

Boston roast beef sandwich first appeared in the North Shore of Massachusetts around the 1950s and has remained a local specialty ever since.

Grinder is a common New England term for the submarine sandwich (often shortened as sub), a popular sandwich in America. It comes in both hot and cold varieties.

A hot grinder has a toasted Italian roll, meat, and mayonnaise. Meanwhile, the cold one includes a large bread loaf and cold cuts.

Regarding the name grinder, many people explain that this sandwich forces your teeth to “grind” in order to chew the crunchy crust bread and its accompanying fillings.

Interestingly, the Italian-American communities in many parts of New England are home to the original sub (or grinder) sandwich.

Stuffed clams, or stuffies, are a popular seafood dish in New England, especially in Rhodes Island. They began as a dish introduced by Italian immigrants and changed to adapt to the local palate.

There are many ways to prepare stuffed clams, but they all conclude with stuffing clam shells (the bigger, the better) with a spiced mixture of cooked clam meat and cheese, then baking them until they are rich and succulent.

Although stuffed clams are popular throughout America, New England stuffies always stand out thanks to the region’s abundance of premier clams. Clams casino is a variation of stuffies that serves clams with bacon in half the clam shell.

Fluffernutter is a kid-friendly sandwich widely enjoyed in New England, especially in Massachusetts, its birthplace. It comprises two slices of white bread, one spread with marshmallow creme (“fluffer”) and the other peanut butter (“nutter”).

While this sweet sandwich emerged in the early 20th century, its catchy name resulted from a marketing program in 1960. Throughout its history, fluffernutters have been a beloved snack and dessert.

You can add more ingredients to the classic fluffernutter for a more diverse flavor, such as banana or bacon. Replacing the bread with rice crackers or rye bread is also a great idea.

Anadama bread is a New England yeast bread dating back to at least the mid-19th century. Its buttery, grassy-smelling taste has long delighted the locals.

What distinguishes anadama bread from similar dishes is the addition of cornmeal, molasses, and, sometimes, rye flour, which makes the bread more crumbly and nutritious.

According to a famous anecdote, a fisherman in Massachusetts is responsible for creating Anadama bread. Fed up with his wife’s terrible cooking, he accidentally made it from the leftovers while cursing her: “Anna, damn her!”

Johnnycake, also known as shawnee cake, spider cornbread, or johnny bread, is a New England staple dish created by Native Americans.

There are competing theories about the origin of the name johnnycake. One of them suggests that “johnny” was derived from Shawnee, a native people in the Northeastern Woodlands.

A jonnycake consists of cornmeal, water, eggs, and solid fats like butter, which are mixed and pan-fried in a skillet. The use of cornmeal as the principal ingredient belies the johnnycake’s indigenous root.

While popular in many American states, especially identified with Rhode Island, jonnycakes are also a cornerstone of Caribbean cuisine.

Apizza, pronounced ah-beets, is an exciting New England pizza native to the city of New Haven in Connecticut. It was created as a result of an intense family rivalry by local pizzerias in the 1920s.

Apizza is a variation of thin-crust, coal-fired Neapolitan pizza and is famous for its crispness and chewiness. While normal pizza always has a crust layered with red sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese, apizza doesn’t.

Instead, people adorn New Haven-style pizza with tomato sauce, garlic, and parmesan. Apizza also offers different topping choices, including mozzarella, olive oil, anchovies, littleneck clams, etc.

Hasty pudding is a traditional dessert for Thanksgiving celebrations in New England and many parts of America.

The main ingredients for modern day hasty puddings are cornmeal, milk, eggs, and molasses. The batter is flavored with spices before being baked in the oven.

Hasty puddings originated in the traditional English wheat flour-based puddings prepared by early colonists. However, since they couldn’t easily find wheat flour in the new land, they replaced it with cornmeal, which was used extensively by local Native Americans.

Against the onslaught of commercial puddings, traditional hasty puddings have lost their appeal with many modern families. But in many rural areas, making hasty puddings for Thanksgiving is still a hallmark of the local lifestyle.

Do you find the description of my suggested New England dishes insightful? Next, let’s look at the common features of New England cuisine as a whole.