Norwich regained their three-point lead at the top of Division One thanks to a storming second-half display led by Malky Mackay, who scored two goals and turned in a commanding performance in defence.
Ipswich dominated the first half and were unlucky to go in with the score level at half-time.
After 18 minutes in which neither side created much in the way of a clear-cut scoring chance, Ipswich began to put pressure on the City goal.
Ian Westlake came closest to scoring when his shot came back off Robert Green's right-hand post.
On 28 minutes Matt Richards played a one-two with Darren Bent but fired wide with only the keeper to beat.
In the 36th minute Bent looked certain to score when he lobbed the ball over Green only to see it rebound off the crossbar.
Jim Brennan limped off in the 45th minute and was replaced by Jason Shackell.
The second half started with Ipswich looking to continue where they had left off at the break, but Mackay nodded City ahead in the 50th minute when he got on the end of Ian Henderson's right-wing free-kick and beat Kelvin Davis at the far post from six yards.
Tommy Miller was lucky to escape a yellow card for a foul on Henderson, but when the Norwich winger whipped in the resulting free-kick from the right wing Mackay was there again to give a lesson in finishing by hitting the top left-hand corner with a rasping right-foot shot from seven yards.
Paul McVeigh came close to making it 3-0, but Davis did well to turn his shot away for a corner.
Norwich were denied a penalty when Drissa Diallo fouled Darren Huckerby on the edge of the penalty area, but Diallo was shown a straight red card for his reckless challenge.
Substitute Phil Mulryne's free-kick hit the wall and minutes later Mackay was only inches away from a hat-trick when he got a toe to Huckerby's cross.
Huckerby then fed substitute Iwan Roberts, but Davis was quickly off his line to gather the ball.
Referee Clattenberg threw the Blues a lifeline when he amazed Norwich fans by awarding a penalty for a push.
Tommy Miller made no mistake from the spot, hitting a right-foot shot high into the net beating Green's dive to his left.
The last word however was left to Huckerby who had not been involved as much as usual.
His angled left-foot drive took a deflection off Georges Santos giving Davis no chance and sending the City fans home to celebrate a rare Carrow Road victory over their local rivals.