This quick and easy potato corn chowder recipe is a delicious thick and creamy soup that is perfect for a summer lunch or dinner. It really showcases beautiful, sweet, farm fresh summer corn. Plus, since it is a chowder, it fills you up and leaves you satisfied. Just make a pot of this and pair it with some sandwiches (BLTs maybe?) or some delicious bread (like zucchini cheese bread) and you have a meal.
I know what you might be thinking, soup for a summer dinner? Have you lost your mind? Just trust me on this one guys. It is a quick soup with a cook time that is a fraction of all my other soup recipes. Thanks to the little trick of making the corn, potato, cream puree in the blender, the soup thickens quickly. You don’t need to leave it simmering away on stove top to get an awesome thick chowder. Basically, once the diced potatoes are soft you are ready to enjoy it. So you can have a creamy, satisfying chowder without sending your electric bill through the roof.
Watch your Heat and Stir
The fact that it does thicken so fast brings me to my next point. Stir your soup people! And for the love of God make sure it’s not getting too hot! Once you add cream to anything (soup, sauce, paprikash, etc.) it has the potential to break if it gets too hot, so you need to keep the heat low and stir it so that the heat is distributed evenly and the bottom doesn’t burn.
There is nothing worse than having a dish break on you right at the end. I have memories of my mother cursing under her breath as she ran a pot of cream soup down to the basement to dump down the utility sink. All that waste because that silky pot of cream of something she had finishing on the stove, as she did literally sixty other things, broke and became a curdled separated mess fifteen minutes before company arrived. Don’t let this happen to you, watch that your soup isn’t getting too hot. If you start to see it bubble turn it down, and if it is already as low as it can go turn it off for a few minutes before turning it back on simmer.
A Note on Seasoning
Another quick note on the seasonings. The measurements I have provided for the seasonings are guidelines that are yours to tweak to your taste. Depending on how you feel about salt and any substitutions you make, you may need more or less than 2 teaspoons. I also don’t actually measure out my fresh thyme. I just cut off 5 or so thyme sprigs and run my thumb nail down the stems so that the leaves fall directly into my soup pot. Frankly, I can’t really imagine measuring out fresh thyme. Getting all those little tiny leaves into a measuring spoon sounds horrible! Cooking is supposed to be fun not torture. I have also used fresh oregano in this soup as well and have really liked it. Have fun with it and trust your taste buds!
Potato Corn Chowder
Equipment
- blender
- soup pot
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 cups potatoes peeled and diced
- 1 can creamed corn
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 medium onion minced
- 4 stalks celery diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 cups milk whole
- 1 quart chicken stock*
- 3 ears fresh corn* cut from the cob
- ½ tsp white pepper
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp fresh basil minced
- 2 tsp fresh parsely minced
- 2 tsp fresh thyme
Instructions
- Add the cream, 1 cup of the diced potatoes and can of creamed corn to the blender and blend until smooth.
- In a large thick bottomed pot (I like my large enameled french oven for this) melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and garlic and saute for about 3 to 5 minutes or until soft. Be careful not to burn.
- Add the blended potato corn mixture, milk, stock, remaining potatoes, fresh corn, white and black pepper and salt to the pot. Turn the heat down to medium low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Turn the heat to low and add the fresh basil, parsley and thyme and simmer for 35 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Ladle yourself out a nice bowl full and enjoy!
Notes
I hope you like this recipe! If you try it out leave me a comment and rating below to let me know how it turned out. Happy cooking!
