Corn Chowder
Quick answer
- Total time
- 45 min
- Level
- Easy
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 10
About this dish
Corn chowder is a classic American cream soup that layers smoky bacon fat, sweet corn, and tender potato into a rich, warming bowl.
Read more
Bacon is rendered until crispy and set aside, and the fat left in the pot is used to sweat onion and garlic, building a smoky, savory foundation. A small amount of flour stirred in before the stock thickens the base slightly, preventing the finished soup from being too thin. Diced potato simmers for fifteen minutes until tender, then corn kernels go in for five more minutes of gentle cooking. Blending only half the soup with an immersion blender and stirring it back in creates the ideal chowder texture: part creamy, part chunky, with intact corn kernels and potato pieces throughout. Heavy cream is added at the very end and brought just to a simmer - boiling it vigorously risks curdling. The corn's natural sweetness meets the cream's richness for a comforting, rounded flavor, finished with crispy bacon bits and chopped parsley. Fresh corn cut from the cob in season delivers noticeably better sweetness and texture than frozen or canned.
Ingredients
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Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Heat
Dice 300 g potato into small even cubes so it cooks at the same pace.
Finely chop the onion and garlic, then drain 400 g corn well so excess liquid does not thin the chowder.
- 2Control
Set a pot over medium low heat and render 100 g bacon slowly until the pieces are crisp and browned.
Lift the bacon out for topping, leaving the smoky fat in the pot as the flavor base.
- 3Control
Add 2 tablespoons butter, the onion, and the garlic to the bacon fat.
Cook over medium heat until the onion turns translucent, then lower the heat if the garlic starts coloring too quickly.
- 4Control
Add the potato and 600 ml chicken stock, scraping the bottom of the pot to loosen any browned bits.
Once it boils, reduce to low heat and simmer about 15 minutes, until the potato is tender.
- 5Control
Stir in the corn and simmer 5 more minutes so it heats through and releases sweetness.
Blend only half the soup, then stir it back in, keeping some corn kernels and potato pieces intact.
- 6Finish
Stir in 200 ml heavy cream and 1 teaspoon salt, then warm just until the soup barely simmers.
Do not boil hard, or the cream can split. Serve topped with the reserved bacon and parsley.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- Bacon fat renders out to sweat onion and garlic, building a smoky base for sweet corn and potato chowder.
- Finish cue
- Once it boils, reduce to low heat and simmer about 15 minutes, until the potato is tender.
- Avoid this
- Do not boil hard, or the cream can split.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official cooking and food safety guidance.
This recipe
45min, 10 ingredients
Category median
45min, 8 ingredients
Based on 310 recipes
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