Chicken Corn Chowder – Lightened Up
If you love a hearty soup that eats like a meal, you’re going to love this award winning lightened up chicken corn chowder.
This soup won the recent SouperBee soup making competition featuring 8 of Winnipeg’s top foodies. I was honored and thrilled that my chowder was voted #1. It truly is an awesome soup – just look at the gorgeous veggies that make up this chowder.
To keep this soup on the lighter side, I used evaporated milk instead of half and half or whipping cream. But don’t worry, the thickness of the evaporated milk, the potatoes and the flour in this soup ensure it has the thick creamy texture you’d expect in a chowder.
Like any soup, there are plenty of adjustments you can make to suit your personal preferences. Add or decrease the cayenne pepper, thyme, basil or oregano. Omit the green onions or add more. Leave out the red peppers. Add more or less corn or use a package of frozen mixed vegetables. Use homemade, canned or cubed stock or bouillon. Use leftover chicken, cook some just for this soup or leave it out entirely. Add crumbled bacon or grated cheddar cheese as garnish. You are only limited by your imagination and what’s in your fridge!
Once you have your chosen ingredients, making it is fairly straight forward. In fact, as my friend Lindsey pointed out you could even make this soup in a crockpot.
Chicken Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp canola oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 celery stalks diced (save any leaves)
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 large starchy potatoes (russets) diced
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme 1 tsp dried
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 3 Tbsp flour
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 tbsp white or red wine vinegar
- 1 can 370ml or 12.5 oz evaporated milk (2%)
- 2 cups cooked shredded or cubed chicken*
- 1 1/2 cups corn kernels cooked, canned or frozen
- 1/2 red pepper diced
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper as desired
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp celery leaves parsley or green onions to garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil over medium high heat in a large soup pot.
- Cook onion, garlic, celery and carrots until slightly softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir frequently.
- Add potatoes, thyme, basil and oregano cook for 1 minute until herbs become fragrant.
- Sprinkle flour over the mix and allow to cook for 1 minute.
- Slowly stir in soup stock and vinegar. Stir until boiling and slightly thickened.
- Reduce heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are fork tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Add evaporated milk and stir well.
- Add cooked chicken, corn and red pepper and heat through, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasoning with cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper.
- Remove from heat. Garnish with celery leaves, parsley sprigs or chopped green onions.
Notes
Make this recipe in a crockpot. Add all ingredients except flour and evaporated milk to the crockpot and let cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hrs on high. Mix flour with a bit of the evaporated milk until smooth, stir into the soup. Add the remaining evaporated milk. Cover and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
Enjoy this hardy soup with a slice of homemade artisan bread.
Want to learn more? Get Getty to facilitate a home cooking session like “30 Minute Soups” for you, a group of friends or a community group. Getty Stewart is an engaging and enthusiastic facilitator that makes it fun and easy to learn tasty recipes, time-saving tips, and helpful kitchen ideas. She is a Professional Home Economist, author of Manitoba’s best-selling Prairie Fruit Cookbook, Founder of Fruit Share, mom and veggie gardener.
