Corn Chowder
This easy corn chowder recipe is perfect for tonight’s dinner! Loaded with tons of sweet corn, potato, & smokey bacon. A delicious one-pot meal!
Good morning my friend! How is your week going?
Here in PA it’s been sunny and gorgeous and we are LOVING it. My kids have been at day camp all week, so the days have been busy and our evenings are more relaxed. Dinners have been quick, easy and full of fresh summer produce.
We absolutely love meals like this. Soups and salads are on heavy rotation around here! Things like broccoli cheese soup, Cobb salad, and loaded baked potato soup are quick and easy to throw together, and everyone in the family enjoys.
So today I’m sharing another one of our absolute favorites: corn chowder.
I make this recipe often. We enjoy it all throughout the year, but especially in summer when the corn is fresh, sweet, and at its absolute best.
It’s a little creamy and very hearty, and it’s bursting with the most incredible corn flavor. There are big hunks of potato and lots of crisp, smoky bacon. And best of all, it’s so easy to make in just one pot.
I love a one pot meal! And this recipe whips up in 15 minutes or less. What could be better?
HOW TO MAKE CORN CHOWDER
You’re going to love how easy it is to make this soup. And you only need a handful of basic ingredients.
- Bacon
- Onion
- Potatoes
- Milk
- Cream
- Corn
- Salt, and
- Pepper
Start by cooking the bacon. Just lay the slices into the bottom of your soup pot. I really like using a heavy-bottomed, enameled cast iron pot like this one: Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven. It’s just the right size, it heats evenly, and the enamel makes cleanup a snap.
While the bacon renders, you can chop your veggies. A coarse chop is just fine, no need to be too fussy about it!
You can use any variety of potato you like. I usually look for russet baking potatoes. They’re really starchy so they help to thicken the soup. But on this day I only had smaller potatoes on hand, so I used them.
If your potatoes are very large, you may only need 2. Mine were small so I ended up using 4 altogether.
Once your bacon is cooked crisp, remove it from the pot and let it drain on paper towels.
Then add your onion and potatoes to the pot. They’ll saute in the hot bacon fat. YUM!
Once the onion is starting to look a little translucent, add the milk and cream. And then the corn can go in!
If you have fresh corn, I highly recommend using it. Just slice the kernels right off the cob.
Or if not, frozen corn kernels will work just as well. I use them a lot in the wintertime.
Season with salt and pepper, and allow this to simmer on very low heat until the potatoes are soft.
HOW TO MAKE CORN CHOWDER IN A SLOW COOKER
This recipe can easily be adapted for a crock pot as well.
Just crisp up your bacon and saute the onions and potatoes in a skillet, then transfer to the slow cooker. Add the milk, cream, corn, salt, and pepper, and cook it on low until the potatoes are done.
Easy as can be!
HOW TO MAKE YOUR CORN CHOWDER THICKER
One thing I really like to do when the soup is done is to get out my hand blender and just give it a few quick blasts. You don’t want to completely puree the chowder (it’s meant to be quite chunky), but if you can break down some of the potato and corn, it will make the broth much thicker and heartier.
Here’s a link to the kind of hand blender I like to use: immersion hand blender.
If you don’t have one of these in your kitchen, you could also just ladle out a little of the soup into your regular blender, puree, and then stir that back into the pot.
IS CORN CHOWDER GLUTEN-FREE OR VEGAN?
This chowder recipe is 100% gluten-free, so you can rest easy if you’re thinking about making it for someone with a sensitivity.
However, it does contain dairy and bacon, so it is not vegetarian or vegan. If you’d like to make it so, just swap in your favorite vegan dairy and bacon substitutes.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CORN CHOWDER FOR DINNER
Honestly, a bowl of this is all I really need for dinner. But if you’d like to balance the meal out with some additional protein, we often enjoy it with a little cooked chicken thrown in, or some grilled shrimp or even lobster!
It’s also really good with a green salad and a hunk of crusty French bread. Or you could also do it with soft breadsticks, homemade crescent rolls, or buttermilk biscuits. Or these cheddar chive biscuits would be fantastic!
CAN YOU FREEZE CORN CHOWDER?
If you have any leftovers, just pop them into an airtight container and keep them refrigerated. They should last for about a week in the fridge.
This corn chowder could also be frozen! Place it in a container in the freezer, and it will last for around 2 months.
A few more of my favorite corn recipes:
- Moist & Sweet Cornbread
- Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Blueberry Swirl
- Grilled Corn & Goat Cheese Flatbread with Blueberries & Basil Vinaigrette
- Buttered Popcorn Creme Brulee
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Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 3 slices bacon
- 1 onion
- 2 potatoes, (large)
- 5 cups (1182.94 ml) milk
- 1/3 cup (78.86 ml) heavy cream
- 4 cups (656 g) corn kernels, (fresh or frozen)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt , (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, (or to taste)
- fresh chives, (optional garnish)
Instructions
- Place the bacon in a large, heavy bottomed pot and cook over medium heat until crisp.
- Transfer the cooked bacon to a plate lined with paper towels, and set aside.
- Roughly chop the onion and potatoes, and add them to the pot.
- Cook over medium heat until the onions are beginning to turn translucent, then transfer this mixture to the crock pot, if using.
- Add the milk, cream, and corn, turn the heat down to low, and allow the chowder to simmer until the potatoes are soft (about 20 minutes on the stove, or 4 hours in a crockpot.)
- If desired, use a hand blender to blend the soup to the consistency you prefer.
- Season with salt and pepper, then ladle into bowls and garnish with crumbled bacon and fresh chives.
LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS RECIPE!
This is THE BEST corn chowder recipe I have come across. I chose this recipe, because it seemed easy and I had all the ingredients on hand. We made it for dinner on Wednesday and the family loved it so much I made another batch on Friday to eat throughout the week! Even my dad (or has sworn up and down for YEARS that he doesn’t like corn chowder) loved it!!! Only thing I would change is, ADD MORE SEASONING! We added some parsley, more self, a dash of garlic powder, and a tiny bit of butter and it was pure PERFECTION!
So happy you and your family are enjoying it! Thanks so much for the great feedback.
which type of potatoes do you like to use when making this? Did you peel them?
Hey Cindy! I use Russett potatoes and I don’t peel them, but you can if you prefer!