Cozy up to a big bowl of this homemade corn chowder! Easy to make with either fresh or frozen corn, it’s a great year-round soup!
I cannot wait to get into soup season! Normally we eat soup year round, but this summer has been insanely hot. And sadly, it still is. Here is is mid-September, and we’ve only had 2 semi-cool days. I say bring on the chilly weather!
There’s not a whole lot I love more than a thick and hearty soup… actually, a chowder. Chowders are so rich and stick-to-your-ribs fantastic!
CAN YOU FREEZE CORN CHOWDER?
I love freezing soups, but due to the dairy and potatoes in this one, I don’t recommend freezing it as is. If you REALLY want to try it, here’s what I would try:
- Skip adding the half and half during step #8. Instead, add it in when reheating the soup.
- Cool soup completely, then add to freezer-safe containers and freeze 1-2 months.
- To thaw, place containers in the refrigerator overnight or until thawed completely.
- Reheat in dutch oven or soup pot and once heated through, add half and half and stir to heat. Serve as directed.
HOW CAN YOU MAKE CORN CHOWDER THICKER?
I would say this chowder is about a medium thickness, but if you’d like it thicker, there are a few options.
- Puree more of the soup in the blender, or alternatively, mash some with a potato masher.
- Before adding in the half and half, whisk a tablespoon or so of cornstarch into the half and half, then add to the soup as directed.
- Add equal parts softened butter and flour and knead together with your fingers or a wooden spoon until a thick paste has formed. Add to the finished soup and stir until the heat has melted the butter. This is called a Buerre Manie and it’s a great way to thicken sauces, soups, roasts, etc.
CAN CORN CHOWDER BE MADE IN THE SLOW COOKER?
Absolutely! I get it, some days the last thing you want to do is stand by the stove for 30 minutes. On those days, the slow cooker is my best friend! Slow cooker directions are listed below the recipe.
CAN YOU ADD CHICKEN OR CHEESE TO THIS CORN CHOWDER?
Sure can! Sometimes I add about a cup or so of shredded cheddar cheese to the soup, or add a sprinkling of cheese when serving. Chicken is also a fabulous addition! For this, I like to use shredded chicken, from leftovers or a rotisserie chicken.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CORN CHOWDER
- Ultimate Grilled Cheese
- Cheesy Garlic Crescents
- No-Knead Artisan Bread
- Simple Green Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette
HELPFUL TOOLS:
- Dutch Oven – My favorite soup pot!
- Immersion Blender – If you don’t have one, these are incredibly handy! No need to transfer hot soups to a blender.
- Traditional Blender – This is my favorite traditional blender!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
- 8 slices bacon, diced
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 cups water (chicken broth or vegetable broth may be substituted)
- 8 ears yellow sweet corn (husks and silks removed)
- 1 lb. yukon gold or baby red potatoes , sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup half and half or heavy cream
- handful of chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- Slice corn kernels off the cob and set aside. Take each ear of corn and hold it over a bowl. Use either the back of your knife or a spoon and scrape any remaining pulp and juice from the cobs.
- Cook bacon pieces in large heavy bottomed pot (like a dutch oven) over MED heat. Cook about 5-8 minutes, or until bacon is crisp. Use a slotted spoon to remove to a paper towel lined plate and set aside.
- Use a clean paper towel to absorb some of the bacon grease, reserving about 1 Tbsp of grease in the pot. Add butter and melt over MED heat.
- Add diced onions and cook about 5 minutes, until soft and translucent. Add garlic and flour and cook about 1 minute, stirring often.
- While whisking, pour in water and increase heat to MED-HIGH. Add in corn, potatoes, thyme, smoked paprika, and salt and pepper. Stir and bring to a low boil, then reduce heat to MED-LOW and simmer.
- Simmer, stirring every so often, for 15-20 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender.
- Use an immersion blender to blend about half the soup until smooth. Alternatively, remove about 3 cups of the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Stir the blended soup back into the pot.
- Add in half and half, reserved corn juice, and about half the chives. Stir in and heat through.
- Serve sprinkled with remaining chives and cooked bacon pieces, if desired.
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Chef Tips
SLOW COOKER DIRECTIONS:
- Cook bacon in skillet. Set aside to drain on a paper towel-lined plate (this will be used as a garnish).
- Add all ingredients (except half and half, chives, and cooked bacon) to a 6 qt or larger slow cooker. Stir well, cover and cook on LOW for 7-8 hours.
- Use immersion blender to blend about half the soup (or add 3 cups of soup to a blender and puree then add back to the slow cooker).
- Stir in half and half and chives, cover and cook another 10 minutes or so to heat through.
- use approximately 4 cups of frozen or canned corn (32 oz)
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Kat says
I recently learned how to boil water so I thought I’d just go all in and try making my favorite soup! lol
Just wanted to ask how you think adding a diced carrot or two would work out?
The Chunky Chef says
Lol I hope you love it! I think adding some carrot would be a great addition 🙂
Kat says
It was delicious (I did add 2 diced carrots)! Thank you!
Jeanette says
Oo i so wanted this to be amazing.. And it’s probably me… I’m not sure what i did… It looked so good.. Yes i used frozen and added a bit of honey.. But tasting it was just… Okay.. Like not really tasting like much..i even used chicken stock. I added some more salt and am frying up some Kielbasa … Maybe that will up it. Again, not unhappy with recipe just thinking of something to give it a..umph
Carrie Barrows says
I use red pepper flakes in mine and some seasoned salt – salt is essential to developing flavor in my opinion.
Birdie Harms says
Great soup! I did use chicken broth instead of water, which I do with almost all of my soups to add richness of flavor. I am lactose intolerant, so I use Califa coconut milk and coconut water blend. It doesn’t add a coconut taste that I am that aware of, so it lets me have these amazing soups that have cream in them without substituting taste. I also added a can of creamed corn which helped on creaminess since I don’t use cream. I mashed some of the potatoes and added the butter/flour paste as you suggested and that worked super great. I loved that tip!!!! Thank you for this recipe. It goes in my book!!!
Glenn Graziano says
Fantastic hearty corn chowder! My son and i stood over the pot while the concoction came to life. Just delicious. Don’t be afraid to add some heat.
Patricia Porter says
This recipe is very similar to my own, including using water to cook the potatoes; however, I do cook the potatoes separately and drain. this allows me to make a creamy, milky broth using a roux and then adding the potatoes, corn and bacon.
Another twist I like is to use both cream corn and whole corn. The cream corn adds some additional creaminess to the soup and for the whole corn if not using fresh corn on the cob I like to use the mexi-corn which has peppers diced into it.
Keep up the yummy work!
P.S. Kudos to you for not taking the bait on negativity!
R Ruthrauff says
My husband made this for dinner. Very good but light in flavor. Next time add some chili flakes.
Elizabeth LaCroix says
Wonderful recipe! You know it’s VERY GOOD when…… All four of my kids and husband loved it. I used organic frozen corn, I’m sure fresh would have made it even better. Thanks!!
Daniel Ackroyd says
Fantastic recipe! I completed through step 5 and then threw it all in the slow cooker. I substituted pork belly for the bacon and chicken broth for the water. I also used 3 cups of frozen corn and one can of creamed corn to make up for the “corn milk”. I also added half a bulb of freshly roasted garlic to the whole mixture instead of adding the minced garlic in step 4. The immersion blender was the real star of the day for getting that final texture. Thanks for sharing!
Donitta says
Really good . I added broccoli.
J. Johnson says
It is so good. Thank you. I used frozen corn instead of fresh off the cob, fresh thyme instead of dried, chicken broth instead of water, cream instead of half&half, and didn’t remove any bacon grease. I added maybe 1 tsp of cayenne pepper, and on a cold autumn day it is delightfully warming. I’m writing out the recipe for my binder now. As I say, this WILL be a regular at my house.
Samvia Henry says
AHHHMAZING! Thank you! I didn’t use any bacon as we don’t eat any meat and this turned out so delish! My family enjoyed it. I used half and half and water which made a very creamy base. I blended it and it was extra creamy. Thank you so much for this!
Susan Antos says
Thanks, Chef! This corn chowder is delicious. I made it with vegetable stock instead of water and whole milk rather than 1/2 and 1/2 to cut calories and it was still creamy tasting, probably because of the blending of the potatoes and the corn.. I loved the ideas in the comment section about making broth out of corn cobs. I had never heard of that but sounds like a great idea.
Amy Froehlich says
It was delicious! It is alot of work esp if you double recipe. I will try frozen corn next time to see. I also added some carrots and red pepper for flavor. I actually was tempted to add some kielbasa to it but didn’t want to change the flavor for first time. But the bacon went well with it.
Erin says
I made this last night! I added a red bell pepper and celery salt. I also used chicken stock and it was amazing! I even impressed my Italian mother-in-law
(who is an incredible cook). I didn’t blend any of it. I just simmered it down longer and actually really loved the consistency.
Tammy Watson says
Thank you for the recipe. I put my spin on recipes usually and had some deer sausage (that is really good), three slices of bacon and some ham. I actually made corn stock last night from cobs and used this as the broth. Used fresh corn on the cob and added celery as well. Didn’t have smoked paprika so used regular and added a little liquid smoke. Didn’t have heavy cream so used evaporated milk. Added some fresh dill and will add fresh parsley as a garnish. It smells delicious and hope it tastes as good as it looks.
Olivia Frazzetta says
I made it with chicken stock. I also placed cobs in pot of simmering corn chowder , so that the rest of the juice and pulp would be extracted. Before I purée, I removed the cobs. The Corn Chowder was delicious!!!!!! Recipe was a double yum!!!! 😋
Mary Jackson says
I love this recipe i also use chicken broth and breast of the chicken.. Thank you for the recipe. Now i don’t have to eat it from the can..😋
Baby Jane says
Made it as is, first time cooking corn chowder and it was amazingly delicious. Great leftover and even eating it cold. Will be making this again and again thanks for sharing the recipe!
Kieth Biasillo says
The single biggest reason I am so unimpressed with this potentially winning recipe is that you add 5 cups of no flavor. I am sure you catch my drift… please be MUCH more creative when cooking… there are so many better alternatives that will enhance the flavor of this dish GUARANTEED!
The Chunky Chef says
Thank you for your concern with my “creativeness” when cooking. I chose to use water as I wanted to simple flavor of the corn to shine, but as mentioned, you can substitute chicken or vegetable broth if you’d like. That’s the beauty of cooking… you can add your own flair to things!
Karenina says
Resending cmt, as the 1st time, it said unavailable.
You are far more gracious than I am, concerning the negative comments from others. As my dear, sweet grandmama used to say, “If you can’t say something nice, then just “hush up, youngin!” 😁
Your chowder looks amaazing and I am currently cooking it now for dinner tonight! Thanks so much for sharing 🙋♀💞
Linda Lum says
There are two kinds of commenters–those who offer constructive criticism in a friendly manner, and those who assume a condescending, snarky tone of superiority.
Lorraine says
Try not to hurt yourself, climbing down off that high horse of yours.
Karenina says
LMBO high horse! You’re so funny 😂
Karenina says
Excuse me, Mr Negativity ~ Have you even made this chowder yet? It’s best to make it before commenting. I know your mama taught you better than being rude to others. Please, make the chowder and then comment.
Quincy says
Keith no one likes a smarty pants. Chef made it his way and you made it your way. There’s plenty of room for everyone to customize their own versions.
Marla says
Thank you for this tasty recipe. It was easy to make and forgiving to approximate measurements. I did sub whole evaporated milk which worked well.