Easy Clams Casino Tarts

Name: Easy Clams Casino Tarts
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 30
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 4 (6.5 oz.) cans chopped clams, drained; 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened to room temperature; 1 (1 oz.) packet ranch seasoning; 1 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled, reserving 1/4 cup.; 1 cup panko bread crumbs; 2 packages (15 count) mini phyllo cups; Chopped chives for garnish (optional)

•Posted: Oct 5, 2016•Updated: Jul 6, 2020

•Dan

•3 comments

★★★★★5 from 2 reviews

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These Easy Clams Casino Tarts are a one bite Thanksgiving appetizer idea! A mini version of your favorite clam appetizer, without all the work!

Mini Clams Casino Tarts – The Perfect Thanksgiving Appetizer!

My favorite way to eat clams is to make steamers. Steamers in beer, with a few beers on the side…that’s my favorite way to eat them, all year long, no question.

My boys are obsessed too, which is why we were so excited to find frozen steamer clams in a buttery-garlic broth at Trader Joe’s. I can tell you, it’s 5 bucks for a pound package and it takes 5 minutes to cook in the microwave. You’d never think to cook clams in the microwave, right? But TJ’s nailed it. We love them so much we used them to make this quick Spaghetti with Clams recipe…

So we buy them in bulk whenever we go. But there’s also clam chowder – definitely up there on the list, fried clam strips…all good.

And then there’s the classic Clams Casino. Clams Casino seems to be one of those appetizers that you only order at restaurants, meaning for me I don’t have them very often. It sort of seems like a fancy appetizer, even though it’s basically clams and bacon, it just doesn’t seem like something I’d throw together at home.

I took the basic idea behind this fancy clams casino and turned it into an easy, fun appetizer that I know you’re going to love!

How to Make these Mini Clams Casino Tarts

All you need to make these Easy Clams Casino Tarts is a few cans of chopped clams, crumbled bacon, cream cheese and ranch seasoning. If you want to really skip a step you can use the pre-cooked bacon that you just have to microwave for a few minutes, or even bacon bits.

I only mention bacon bits because they have some really good brands out there now, right in the salad dressing aisle at your store. Just make sure the words “Real” appear on the label…

The ingredients for the filling go into a bowl and get stirred together. Simple enough.

Next grab some store bought phyllo dough cups and start filling them up. Don’t be stingy here, give them a good scoop.

While the tarts are in the oven you can make the crispy panko topping. Just add panko and some of the crumbled bacon to a pan and toast for w few minutes. Topping done, just set it aside until they come out of the oven.

Bake the tarts at 350 for 15 minutes then pull them out and top them with as much of the panko-bacon topping that you can…this is really the only part you might need some skills for. Getting the topping to stay on top of the tarts.

As you can see from mine I got an A for effort.

Doesn’t get much easier than that! And no one will ever guess that it only took you about 20 minutes to put together. Fancy food turned easy, even if you take the extra step and add a few chopped chives.

So if you’re making these Mini Clams Casino tarts for a holiday like Thanksgiving, you can check one thing off your to-do list, even the day before.

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