Corn Chowder
My creamy Corn Chowder recipe is the ultimate comfort food, loaded with sweet summer corn (or frozen/canned!), bacon and tender potatoes in a rich, flavorful broth.
Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 5 ears corn OR 4 cups canned or frozen corn, not thawed
- 4 slices bacon chopped
- 1 large onion finely diced (about 1.5 cups)
- 3 sticks celery cut into ¼ inch dice (about 1 cup)
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika or regular paprika
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon salt or more to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes (about 3 medium), peeled and cut into ¾ inch dice
- ½ cup whole milk
Instructions
- Prepare corn: Shuck corn. Cut corn kernels off cobs over a medium bowl. Reserve cobs.
- Cook bacon: In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot (around 5 quart), cook bacon over medium-high heat until browned and crispy. Remove bacon bits and set aside.
- Cook vegetables: Add onion, celery and corn kernels to bacon fat. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with smoked paprika, dried thyme, salt and pepper.
- Make soup base: Reduce heat to medium-low. Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir until evenly coated, about 30 seconds. Gradually add chicken broth, stirring constantly, until smooth. Stir in heavy cream.
- Cook chowder: Add potatoes and reserved corn cobs to pot. Bring to a boil over medum-high heat, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 15-25 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Take off the heat, remove cobs and discard.
- Finish and serve: Blend 1 cup of soup with ½ cup milk until smooth, stir back into soup. For a thicker soup, whisk 1 tablespoon cornstarch into 1 tablespoon cold milk. Stir slurry into soup, bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer until thickened, 1-2 minutes. Allow soup to stand 5-10 minutes before serving to thicken even more. Serve garnished with bacon (and chopped green onion, if desired).
Notes
Ingredient notes
- Potatoes: I like using Yukon Gold potatoes because they hold their shape in the soup. If you prefer the potatoes to fall apart and make the soup thicker/creamier, use Russet potatoes.
- Milk: Whole milk is best, but 2% can be used. Feel free to use more cream in place of the milk.
- Cream: This is one recipe where I recommend sticking to real heavy cream vs half and half, because the half and half tends to curdle in this recipe.
Recipe tips
- Careful when browning: Do not brown the vegetables or the flour while cooking them in bacon fat, else the soup will not have its signature light color.
- Soup looks odd after cooking: Right after cooking, the top of the soup may look odd and like the soup has broken. Don’t worry, that’s completely normal and will go away once you stir!
- Thicken to taste: I like a thick corn chowder, my husband likes it more brothy. I will usually divide the entire batch in half and leave one more brothy and thicken the other one with some cornstarch slurry.
- Store leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.