To kick off all the cold-weather recipes I have planned for this fall, I decided to start by trying a soup! This recipe is for a creamy corn chowder soup. It’s thick, hearty, full of vegetables, and really good.
I love soup as a meal. They’re easy to make and easy on the stomach (something I’m mindful of when I have a cold, for example). Plus, they’re the perfect dinner for those cold nights when you just want to snuggle up on the couch with a blanket, a good show or book, and relax. I plan on trying a bunch of different soup recipes in the coming months. Soup, salad, and bread have always been a favorite meal of mine. As a combo, it can be surprisingly filling! Especially when paired with a good whole wheat bread for dipping in your bowl.
This particular recipe is pretty easy to make. All you have to do is add your ingredients to a large pan in stages, cook for a few minutes, mix it all together, and then blend a portion of it in a blender. Easy! Let’s get to the instructions.
One Pot Creamy Corn Chowder
This recipe is a “one pot” or “one pan” meal, because all of your main cooking will happen in just one of these. You can reference the image above for seeing how I put this recipe together in 6 stages. So get out your largest pot or pan to get started! First, you’ll want to water saute the onion, red pepper, and celery for about 10 minutes on medium heat until they’re soft. If you’ve never water sauteed before, here’s a quick video on it!
Next, add the diced potato and mix well. Once mixed, add in the flour and stir to coat everything really well. At this point, the mixture will be very sticky and prone to burning on the pan. So mix everything quickly, and then add the non-dairy milk and vegetable broth.
Once again, stir everything until it is mixed well, then add all the spices. Stir again, and bring the mixture to a boil. Then reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and let everything simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. You’ll want to stab them with a fork or knife every so often to see how the potatoes are coming along.
Once the potatoes are tender, add in the corn kernels. Now, when I first set out to try this creamy corn chowder recipe, I decided to use fresh corn off the cob. And let me tell you, that was a MESS! The final soup tasted great, but honestly, the next time I make this I think I’ll try using canned corn so I don’t have corn kernels flying all over my kitchen as I cut them off the cob!
Anyway, once the corn is added, stir and then let everything cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until the corn is tender/cooked. If you use fresh corn, you’ll want to check its tenderness. But if you use canned or frozen corn this isn’t as big of a deal.
Transfer 1/3 to 1/2 of the mixture to a blender now, along with 1 can of white beans (optional) and a splash of extra non-dairy milk if needed to get the blending going. I decided to add the can of white beans at this step so the soup would have a boost of extra protein. It’s optional, and not needed, but I liked the addition. White beans are a great choice for this, because they can be pureed/blended very smoothly. In the final creamy corn chowder mixture, you won’t even be able to tell they are there!
Another tip for this step, is to blend in stages. Depending on how thick you want your creamy corn chowder, you can also blend less, or more than the amount I recommend. I prefer chunky soups, so I only blended 1/3 of the amount. But if you like things to be smoother, you can blend 1/2 the amount.
At this point, I also had to transfer my final soup and blended mixture to a bigger pot. The pan I used on the stove top just wasn’t big enough anymore at this point! I don’t have a large pot for the stove top, so I actually used the big bucket that comes with my Instant Pot. It’s not stove top safe, but I just used it to hold all of my final soup. It’s the biggest liquid holding vessel that I have!
The final thing to do, is add in the apple cider vinegar, stir, adjust any seasonings you want, and serve with garnish on top.
Creamy Corn Chowder Soup
I served this soup with cilantro, green onions, corn, and sliced spicy red peppers from my friend’s garden on top. I also squeezed some lime juice on at the end, which was really tasty as well!
As you can see by the photos, my version of this creamy corn chowder came out pretty thick and chunky (how I like my soups). But you can blend this to be as smooth as you want. It is creamy corn chowder after all.
There are a lot of vegetables in this recipe, which I think add a lot of flavor. Because of that, you can easily get away with adding less salt if you wanted to with this dish. To make it a more filling meal, serve it with a big garden salad on the side, and a hearty whole wheat bread for dipping. That’s what Cody and I did all week, and we both really loved how this soup turned out.
Well, that just about does it for this post! I know it was a short one, but I hope the instructions were easy to follow, and if you try this creamy corn chowder recipe please leave a comment below! I’d love to know what you thought of it, and if there’s anything you did differently to make it your own. And if you’re curious to try similar dishes, you can browse my other soup recipes here.
Thanks for reading!
Creamy Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 2 yellow onions diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 4 sticks of celery diced
- 2 medium potatoes diced
- 4 ears of corn shucked (or 3 cans)
- 6 TBS whole wheat or all purpose flour*
- 2 cups non-dairy milk I used soy
- 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- Scant 1 tsp salt*
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 can of white beans optional
Garnish
- Green onions
- Cilantro
- Red pepper
- Corn
- Lime juice
Instructions
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In a large pot, water sautée onion, red pepper and celery for 10 minutes or until soft.
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Add diced potatoes and mix well. Then add flour and stir to coat everything. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
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Add non-dairy milk and vegetable broth and stir. Then add in spices and stir to combine again.
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Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the potato is tender.
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Add the corn, stir, and cook for another 5-10 minutes or until the corn is soft (if using fresh).
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Transfer 1/3 to 1/2 the mixture to a blender along with 1 can of white beans (optional) and blend until smooth. You may need to blend in stages, or add an extra splash of non-dairy milk to aid blending.*
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Pour back into your main pot and stir well. Then add the apple cider vinegar, adjust seasonings to taste, and serve with garnish.
Notes
* You can use less salt if needed.
* Depending on how thick you like your soups, you can blend 1/3 of the mixture for chunkier soup, or 1/2 the mixture for smoother soup.
