Don't you just love fresh summer corn? Pick up some fresh cobs and use them to make our easy, creamy, and healthy potato corn chowder recipe.
If you love soups with vegetables, we think you'll enjoy our 10 Vegetable Soup and our Broccoli Stilton Soup.
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Ingredients
Our potato corn chowder takes pantry staples that are easy to find. Let's talk about the key ingredients.
- Aromatics: We used yellow onion, celery, and fresh garlic.
- Vegetables: We used fresh sweet corn kernels and chunks of red potato.
- Spices: We used fresh thyme leaves, bay leaves, black pepper, and salt.
- Dairy: We used heavy whipping cream in our ingredient shot and coconut milk in our photo shoot below for a diary free version.
- Liquid: We used low sodium chicken stock, but you could also use vegetable broth.
How to Make
Gather all the ingredients for our potato corn chowder: vegetables, spices, liquids, flour, and oil.
- In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, heat up the oil then saute the celery and onion until soft then add the garlic and cook for a minute.
- Place the kernels in the soup pot, turn the heat down to medium-low and sprinkle on some salt then cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Turn up the heat to medium-high, sprinkle on the flour and cook for a minute while whisking.
4. Deglaze the pot with ½ cup of stock and scrape the brown bits (fond) off the bottom with a wooden turner. Add the rest of the chicken stock and whisk.
5. Add in the cubed potatoes, bay leaves, black pepper, and one cob with the kernels cut off. Cover and bring the potato chowder to a boil for 7 minutes, then simmer until the potatoes are soft, roughly 5 minutes more. Taste and adjust any seasonings.
6. Remove the Dutch oven from the heat, pour in the coconut milk (dairy free version) or heavy cream, and stir.
7. Remove the bay leaves and garnish them with fresh thyme leaves (in photo above) or fresh chives.
8. We encourage you to try our potato corn chowder recipe when fresh summer corn is in abundance. Serve it with homemade jalapeño cornbread that is straight from the oven.
Recipe FAQs
There are three methods used to thicken chowder. One, whisk flour into a small bowl of broth before putting it in the soup pot. This will help prevent clumping and will help it dissolve evenly into the soup. Second, you can use potatoes. Boil the potatoes in the chowder for at least 7 minutes. This will release starch from the potatoes, which will thicken the soup and make it creamier. Last, make a slurry with cornmeal and water by whisking them together in a small bowl, then adding it to the chowder.
Chowder is at its heart a type of soup, but it is distinguished by its thicker texture and richer flavor than most other soups.
Traditionally, chowder starts with butter as the fat, but you can use olive oil or bacon grease. All good chowders start with cooking aromatic vegetables. The French have a blend of aromatic vegetables (onions, celery, and carrots), which they call mirepoix. The Creoles have their 'holy trinity,' which consists of onions, celery, and green pepper.
This corn potato chowder gets its flavor base from sauteing onions, celery, and garlic in unsalted butter. Then fresh thyme leaves are stirred in and cooked for one minute to release more flavor. Then, the corn and potatoes are added to finish off the dish.
Place a small bowl that has a rim on the bottom upside down inside of a larger bowl. Rest the bottom of a shucked corncob inside of the rim of the small bowl. Using a sharp chef's knife, slice the kernels off the cob, cutting top to bottom. The loose kernels should be contained in the larger bowl, reducing the mess. Rotate the cob and repeat until all the kernels are sliced off the cob.
Serve
Our potato corn chowder recipe tastes amazing when served with jalapeno cornbread. It would also taste wonderful when served with a crisp green salad, fresh crusty bread, roasted broccoli, grilled cheese, or a BLT sandwich.
Store
- Make Ahead: You can easily make our potato corn chowder recipe the night before and reheat it for your event.
- Leftovers: Any food that isn't finished can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: To warm up any leftovers, place the potato corn chowder in a pot or saucepan over medium heat, stir, cover and heat through.
- Freeze: If using you are planning on using cream, freeze what you need before adding the dairy for up to one month. Thaw overnight in the fridge, reheat on stove top, mix in the dairy and taste, adjust seasonings.
Expert Tips
- Want more protein? Add two strips of crumbled bacon at the end.
- Want other garnishes? Try grated cheddar cheese or charred jalapenos.
- Need dairy free? Substitute with coconut milk.
- Want thicker soup? Puree a few cups of the chowder, then add it back into the soup.
- Want it tangier? Add Greek yogurt to the potato corn chowder.
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Recipe
Potato Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup celery, chopped (2 large ribs)
- 1 ½ cups yellow onion, chopped (1 large onion)
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced (2 large cloves)
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 4 cups fresh sweet corn kernels, 6 cobs of corn
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken stock, low sodium, fat free or vegetable broth
- 2 medium red potatoes (180g), peeled and cubed
- 1 cob of corn with kernels cut off
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream or full fat coconut milk
For Garnish
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, heat up the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and celery. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until soft and tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, roughly one minute. Sprinkle in the fresh thyme leaves, then stir and cook for one minute.
- If using fresh corn, husk the cob, then cut the corn off the cob. To do this, set a small bowl upside down inside a larger bowl. Stand the cob upright with one hand. With your other hand, use a large chef's knife to cut the kernels off the cob starting at the top and cutting down the cob. The kernels should fall into the large bowl.
- Add the fresh corn and 1 teaspoon salt to the veggies. Mix well and cook for 20 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.
- Sprinkle flour over the vegetables, and mix until well combined. Cook over medium high heat for a minute while constantly whisking to get rid of the raw flour taste.
- Deglaze by pouring in ½ cup of chicken stock and scraping the brown bits (fond) off the bottom with a wooden turner. Pour in the rest of the chicken stock and whisk until smooth. Add the potatoes, black pepper, bay leaves and corn cob, then stir. Cover and bring to a boil for 7 minutes, then lower the heat to a simmer for 5 minutes to make sure the potatoes are cooked.
- Remove the pot from the heat. Add the heavy cream or coconut milk and stir until combined. Adjust seasonings to taste. Garnish with more fresh thyme leaves or chives. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Want more protein? Add two strips of crumbled bacon at the end.
- Want other garnishes? Try grated cheddar cheese or charred jalapeños.
- Need dairy free? Substitute with coconut milk.
- Want thicker soup? Puree a few cups of the chowder, then add it back into the soup.
- Want it tangier? Add Greek yogurt.
Nutrition
Serving sizes and nutritional information are only an estimate and may vary from your results.
Our potato corn chowder recipe was originally published on June 15, 2018. This post was updated with new photos and content on July 15, 2022.
Alex
The corn is sweet and the thyme adds some flavor to the soup. The broth is nice, too, and the potatoes are soft.
Emma
We're glad you enjoyed it, Alex!
Beth
This delicious soup is filled with fresh corn and potato chunks. The thyme in it tastes lovely, and the chowder is overall very nice. I like eating this with cornbread.
Emma
Thank you, Beth! We're glad you enjoyed the chowder!