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Creamy Corn Chowder

Creamy Corn Chowder

A simple soup, this chowder lets the corn taste shine through. It's a chowder with cream and potato - substantial but not heavy.
Course Soup
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 - 2 1/2 cups yellow onion, finely chopped About 2 onion or 12 ounces.
  • 3/4-1 cup Yukon gold or similar potato, cut into small dice (about 1/2-inch pieces) About 1 medium potato or 5-6 ounces.
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3 cups chicken broth Heated (microwave for 2-3 minutes, stirring every 45-60 seconds) or heated almost to simmer in a saucepan.
  • 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
  • 3 cups fresh corn kernels Equal to 4 cobs. Retain the corn cobs for adding to the soup.
  • 1 1/4 cups whole milk
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt Plus more if desired.
  • Worcestershire sauce or hot sauce Optional

Instructions

  1. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large, heavy pot. (Cast iron works well.) Add the chopped onion and diced potato. Cook on medium heat, stirring frequently, until the onion is transparent, about 8 minutes.
    Onion and potato chopped for Corn Chowder
  2. Stir in the flour, lower the heat slightly, and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes until the flour is absorbed and gets a chance to cook a bit.
    Add flour to cooked onion and potato for Corn Chowder
  3. Gradually add in the heated chicken broth, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth and a bit thickened. Add in the white pepper.
  4. Add in the corn kernels and bring the chowder to a simmer. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the corn cobs, tilting them so that excess liquid drips back into the pot.
    Adding corn to the onion, potato, flour and chicken broth for Corn Chowder.
  5. Then carefully transfer about 2 cups of the liquid and bits of corn, onion, and potato to a blender or a deep container into which you can fit an immersion blender. Puree the 2 cups of soup and pour it back into the large pot.
    Using an immersion or regular blender, blending part of soup to make Corn Chowder
  6. Add the milk, heavy cream, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir those ingredients into the chowder. Bring it to a simmer if you will serve the chowder hot, being careful not to let it boil once you've added the milk and cream. If serving cold, refrigerate the chowder.
    Adding milk and cream to Corn Chowder
  7. Serve with Worchestershire sauce or hot sauce and extra salt.
    Creamy Corn Chowder

Recipe Notes

An easy way to cut the kernels off the cob is here. If fresh corn not available, you can substitute two 10-ounce packages of frozen corn. Of course, if you use frozen corn, you won't have cobs to put in the chowder while it simmers. That's OK. The cobs do give the chowder a deeper corn flavor, but it will still be delicious without that step. 

Father Curry's version uses 2 cups of light cream instead of the whole milk + heavy cream. (The only light cream at my local grocery contained chemical additives, so I decided that I would go additive-free with milk and heavy cream. See my post on the difference between heavy cream and whipping cream.) The whole milk/heavy cream ratio is basically equivalent to light cream, also known as table cream.