Chicken & Corn Chowder

Thick and creamy and loaded with tender chicken and corn, this flavor-packed soup is a must-try on a cold day or whenever you’ve got a hankering for a hot and hearty soup! Would you like a bowlful? Roll up your sleeves and in about 40 minutes, you could be digging into a brimming bowl of Chicken & Corn Chowder!

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Packed with chicken, corn, potatoes, carrots, and more, this creamy soup is just about as hearty and satisfying as chowders can get! It’s also an easy fix, and can be on the table in about 40 minutes.

What You Need To Make Creamy Chicken & Corn Chowder

• Bacon
• Onion
• Celery
• Carrot
• Chicken broth – see my notes below
• Dried thyme
• Chicken – see my notes below
• Potato
• Corn – see my notes below
• Milk
• Heavy cream – half and half will also work
• All purpose flour
• Salt and pepper

Chicken Broth in Soups

I love to make my own chicken broth, and it’s so easy! Just save raw chicken bones and toss them into a pot with carrot, onion, garlic, celery, and a few bay leaves. Top the pot off with water, and simmer for a few hours.

Of course, you can get cheffy and brown the bones in a hot oven before making the broth, but this soup is loaded with flavor and doesn’t need that extra step.

Another option is to save the carcass from a rotisserie chicken. You know, the kind you get in a grocery store? Pop all those bones and bits of skin and fat into a pot. Add the veggies, top off with water, and simmer for a few hours. The flavor is much more robust than just using raw bones, and without having to roast the bones.

No time to make your own? Use low or no-sodium chicken broth to control the sodium. Your favorite store brand will work, just read the ingredients! There should be no added flavors, colors, or starches in chicken broth!

WHat Kind Of chicken To use In Chicken Chowder with Corn

Make things easy on yourself and use leftover chicken, especially rotisserie chicken! You need about 2 cups of leftover chicken for this recipe, which is about the equivalent of 2 breasts.

No cooked chicken? No problem! Starting with raw chicken is easy. Add cubed raw chicken to the onion, carrot, celery mixture after the onion has softened. Cook until the chicken is cooked (or mostly all the way cooked) through. Continue on with the recipe.

Corn – The Secret Ingredient in This Recipe

How can corn be the secret ingredient in Chicken Corn Chowder, you might ask? It’s not the corn itself that’s the key to this amazing chowder, but how you PREPARE the corn.

I’m using a cheffy trick here for squeezing out maximum corn flavor.

1. Use corn on the cob for this recipe, if at all possible.
2. Cut the kernels off the cob then simmer the COBS in water. This pulls out all sorts of corn-y goodness from the cobs, creating a rich corn-based stock to use in this soup.
3. Let the corn broth reduce a bit so that it’s super-concentrated.
4. This corn broth is added to the soup base to infuse it with all sorts of corn-y flavor!

Don’t have fresh corn? Don’t sweat it! Use frozen corn but be sure to add an additional 1/2 cup of chicken broth to compensate for the lack of corn broth.

How To Make This Easy Chicken Corn Chowder Recipe

1. Cut the kernels off 2-3 cobs of corn. You want 4 cups of corn kernels in total.
2. Simmer the naked cobs of corn in 2 cups of water, for about 15 minutes. Simmer until the liquid has reduced by about half.
3. Meanwhile, sautee the bacon in a medium size heavy-bottomed pot. When it is brown and crisp, remove it and set it aside. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat from the pan.
4. Sautee the onion, celery, and carrot in the bacon fat, until the onions are cooked through. Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional minute.
5. Add the corn broth and chicken stock. Simmer about 10 minutes.
6. Add the potatoes, corn, and chicken and simmer about 15 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through.
7. Add the red bell peppers, milk and cream.
8. In a separate small bowl, mix 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour with 1/2 cup cold water. Slowly add this to the chowder in a stream, stirring as you add it. Bring the pot of soup back to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes until thick and gorgeous.
9. Season with salt and pepper.
10. Serve with reserved bacon and get ready for the applause!

Chef Jenn’s Tips

• Dried thyme and cream are a lovely combination but if you don’t have dried thyme, substitute a few sprigs of fresh thyme.
• A pinch of cayenne or red pepper flakes will add a spicy touch to this soup.
• Dice your potatoes small – not only will they cook faster, it makes for a much more elegant chowder if all the veggies are chopped the same size. I sometimes use an Alligator Chopper to make the dicing easier.
• Lighten this soup up a bit by using all milk instead of milk and cream.

What To Serve With Chicken Corn Potato Chowder

The sky is the limit, but some of my favorite pairings with this hearty soup is a slice of crusty bread, one of these tasty cinnamon muffins, a light salad, or serve this easy chowder recipe as an appetizer to meals of steak, pork chops, or even Shrimp Scampi.

Can You Freeze Chicken Corn Bacon Chowder?

Heck yes, with a caveat. Potatoes don’t typically freeze terribly well in soups. They tend to lose their structure in the freezing/thawing process, and can disintegrate. If you don’t mind the potatoes getting mushy, this soup freezes like a dream!

Frequently Asked Questions

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Step By Step Process

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Want More of Chef Jenn’s Easy Recipes?

• Sous vide sausage
• Smoked tri tip
• Smoked Brussels sprouts
• Smoked Cream Cheese