Fresh Corn Chowder loaded with sweet summer corn and tender potatoes in a creamy and flavor-packed corn broth. You’ll love that you have options using either fresh corn on the cob, frozen or even canned corn when it’s not in season. It also keeps well in the refrigerator, which I love for meal planning!
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Helpful Reader Review
“This is hands down the best corn chowder that we have ever had. I made it for company and they said that we could have just served them the chowder and skipped the main course because the chowder was so scrumptious! Thank you!” – Karen ★★★★★
The Best Corn Chowder Recipe
If you love the comfort of Clam Chowder, this corn chowder recipe is sure to become a new favorite. This crowd-pleasing soup is perfect for entertaining on cool summer nights. Pair it with warm homemade biscuits and dinner is made!
Corn chowder is quite a treat when fresh corn is abundant. We love to use both the kernels and the stripped cobbs for sweet corn flavor. This corn chowder has the creamy richness of a Potato Soup and the addition of tender corn and bacon makes every bite memorable.
Corn Chowder Video Tutorial
Watch my video tutorial and I’ll show you just how easy it is to make corn chowder. Corn chowder is actually one of the first soups I learned how to make when I got married 21+ years ago. I remember researching the top restaurant copycat soups and then developing this recipe – it’s a keeper!
Ingredients for Corn Chowder
The ingredients here are simple pantry and refrigerator staples that come together to make the best pot of soup.
- Corn: Corn that is still on the cob is best so you can utilize the kernels and the corn milk from the husks. Check out my tips for buying corn. If fresh corn is out of season, no problem – see below for corn substitutions.
- Potatoes: we use Yukon gold potatoes for their tender, waxy texture which is perfect for a chowder.
- Carrot, Celery, and Onion: This aromatic trio is critical to adding flavor and we use them in nearly all of my soup recipes.
- Bacon: Sauteeing the bacon and then cooking the veggies in the bacon grease adds wonderful flavor and we use the cooked bacon to garnish the soup. No one will resist that bacon topping!
- Chicken Broth, Milk and Cream: These form the base of the corn stock. We simmer the shucked cobbs in this combination for a deeply delicious chowder base.
- Cayenne Pepper: This simple seasoning is all you need, plus salt and black pepper of course.
Can I use Frozen or Canned Corn?
Fresh corn on the cob and especially local produce will give this chowder the best flavor. For winter corn chowder or when fresh corn is not available, try these instead:
- Frozen Corn: frozen is usually produced at the peak of freshness so it will work and will save you some time. Since you won’t have the cobs for making corn stock, add a 15 oz can of creamed corn for a tastier broth.
- Canned Corn: Use (1) 15 oz can corn and (1) 15 oz can creamed corn. Add the liquid ingredients at step 3 without pre-cooking them. The liquid from the canned corn will add a boost of corn flavor.
How to Make Corn Stock
Using the whole cob of corn will give you the best-flavored corn stock. Allowing the stripped cobs to simmer for 20 minutes with the broth, cream, and milk draws out every bit of rich and sweet flavor from the corn. After discarding the cobs, you are left with really delicious corn stock.
- Make the Corn Stock – Cut the kernels from the cobs and set kernels aside for making chowder.* Place the bare cobs in a stockpot.
- Add broth, milk, and cream, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes while making the chowder. Use tongs to remove and discard cobs before using corn stock.
How to Cut Corn off the Cobs
Cutting corn from the cob can get messy with kernels landing all over your kitchen. You can avoid making a big mess with this simple trick:
Set a small bowl upside down inside of a larger bowl. Place your corn vertically on top of the smaller bowl, hold the top, and cut the kernels off by running your knife straight down against the cob. The kernels will fall into the larger bowl, just be careful not to hit the bowl with your knife. You can also do this over a bundt pan.
How to Make Corn Chowder
- Sautee bacon in a Dutch oven until crisps and renders fat. Remove bacon to a plate, reserving 2-3 Tbsp of bacon grease in the pot.
- Sautee veggies (onion, celery, and carrot) in the bacon grease until softened.
- Add potatoes and corn kernels and season with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.
- Add corn stock into the pot and simmer until potatoes are tender.
- Serve in warm bowls garnished with bacon and chives.
How to Remove Corn Silk
After the corn is shucked, it’s important to remove the silk threads for the smoothest consistency. The easiest way to remove corn silk is to brush the corn with a bristled brush or even a clean toothbrush. The bristles catch the silk and it comes off quickly and easily.
Storing Corn Chowder
- To Refrigerate: Cool the soup completely to room temperature before storing, then transfer it to airtight containers and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
- Freezing: I would not recommend freezing corn chowder since the dairy in the recipe can separate, and potatoes can get grainy and mushy.
- To Reheat: Add soup to a saucepan and reheat over low heat, stirring frequently to bring back the creamy texture. You can also reheat in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until heated through.
Topped with bacon and chives, this Corn Chowder becomes such a comforting bowl of soup. It’s a family favorite, right up there with Zuppa Toscana!
More Corn Recipes
If you love sweet summer corn, these corn recipes are the best way to enjoy corn while it’s at the peak of freshness and flavor.
- Boiled Corn on the Cob
- Avocado Corn Salad
- Grilled Corn in Foil
- Instant Pot Corn on the Cob
- Mexican Street Corn
- Shrimp Boil
- Corn Guacamole
Corn Chowder Recipe
Ingredients
For the Corn Stock:
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
For the Corn Chowder:
- 4 cups corn kernels (from 4-5 ears corn), reserve cobs for stock*
- 4 oz (4 slices) bacon, chopped
- 1 large onion, finely diced (1 1/2 cup)
- 1 large carrot, cut into 1/4″ dice (1 cup)
- 3 stalks celery, finely diced (1 cup)
- 1 lb Yukon potatoes, 3 medium, peeled and cut into 1/4″ thick pieces
- 2-3 tsp sea salt, or to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 2 Tbsp Chives, chopped, to garnish
Instructions
How to Make Corn Stock:
- Cut the kernels from the cobs and set kernels aside for making chowder.* Place the bare cobs in a stockpot.
- Add 4 cups broth, 1 1/2 cups milk, and 1 cup cream to pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer un-covered 20 minutes while making the chowder. Use tongs to remove and discard cobs before using corn stock in step 3.
How to Make Corn Chowder:
- Place a 5 Qt dutch oven over medium/high heat. Add chopped bacon and cook stirring occasionally until browned. Remove bacon bits with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- In the same pot, add chopped onion, celery and carrot to the bacon fat and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft (7-8 min).
- Add sliced potatoes, 4 cups corn kernels, 2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper. Pour corn stock into the pot, bring to a light boil then simmer uncovered 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste**. Ladle into bowls and garnish with reserved bacon and chopped chives.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Family-Favorite Soup Recipes
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Split Pea Soup – My Mother’s recipe
- Beef Stew
- Tomato Soup
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- French Onion Soup (Natasha’s Fave)
This is a wonderful soup! I’m a bit milk intolerant so I used a cup of mixed half and half and cream and left out the milk entirely. It was so delicious and family friendly.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Claire!
Amazing! I’ve made this three times and it’s SOOO good! I follow the recipe exactly and then at the end I take two big spoonfuls of soup in a slotted spoon so the broth drains and I blend it up until it’s consistency is like corn bread mix and pour it back it. It really enhances the taste. It’s definitely one you need to try. I’ve even made it back to back, when one batch was gone I made another… it’s that good.
Thank you for following the recipe as it is, we’re so happy that you loved the result!
Absolutely delicious. Made it exactly as written and we all loved it.
That’s so great, Tricia! I’m happy it was a hit.
Delicious!
Instead of regular bacon, I cut up a Canadian Bacon roast into chunks and sauteed it in bacon fat before adding the onion. Left out the potato and carrot but added a brick of cream cheese, a large tablespoon of curry powder as well as pepper and chili flakes. No salt needed as the back bacon roast had plenty. Fresh corn and vegetable broth simmered for the same amount of time and every bite was a delight!
Hi Angela! That sounds wonderful! So glad it was delicious. Thank you for sharing your experiment with the recipe. 🙂
Natasha – you’re “krashchyy”! I always have something new I want to try out on my family. The kids loved this corn chowder. They have asked for it for school lunches too! Dyakuyu
Hi Lynn! I’m so glad they loved it. Thank you for the review. 🙂
This chowder was delicious! We grilled the corn in the husks first. Wow!! The smokiness definitely came through in the best way. I added jalapeño as well. This is a keeper!
I’m so glad you found a keeper, Tricia! That’s so great! Thank you for sharing your great review with me!
Thanks for all the recipes. My question is if I leave out the onion will it change the flavor? Love onions but covid has ruined my taste for certain things and that is one. I’ve been looking for a corn chowder and this looks like the one. Thank you
Hi Sharon. I think it will still have a good flavor without the onion. Let us know how you like this recipe! 🙂
I live in rhode island and the native corn is at every farm, today it finally rained so i made this receipe, it came out amazing, i thank you for such a great idea…
You’re so very welcome! I’m glad you finally got the chance to make this recipe. 🙂
Hi Lindy
I live in Rhode Island too. I’m making this chowder today with Rhode Island native corn. It’s delicious,,
I’m planning on making this corn chowder for the weekend. Can leftovers be frozen?
Hi Sherry, I haven’t tested that, but one of our readers wrote great feedback regarding freezing this recipe.
It looks like scallions not chives on top. This is a good idea!
One of the best soups ever! I made this as close to the recipe as I could. My wife is very selective about her food choices and doesn’t usually like vegetable centric dishes or soups. She loved this dish. We had a corn chowder at a local restaurant a week ago and enjoyed it. Wanting more, I found your recipe. I found all of the vegetables at the farmers market yesterday and made your dish last night. Epic dish with all super fresh vegies, corn picked same day, made to the recipe.
Sounds good and the recipe is so versatile so that’s alright to change it up a bit according to the preference of your wife. I hope you’ll both enjoy all the recipes that you will try!
To be honest, it kind of drives me crazy when people totally change a recipe, but here I am doing it myself. I followed everything exactly except using heavy cream and whole milk because we try to eat light most of the time. Instead I used 2% milk and a can of fat free evaporated milk. I also had some rotisserie chicken left over so added that for protein. It was amazing! Thickened nicely. Will make it again since fresh corn is now in season. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Toni. I don’t mind if you guys make some minor changes as long as the major and important ingredients are still there. Thanks for the good feedback!
Hi Natasha, just a thought but I bet you could boost the flavor of the broth by scraping the bare corn cobs before boiling to get the “corn milk” the stock as well.
Hi Laurie! Thank you for sharing that with us. 🙂
Added a package of turkey smoked sausage cut in half inch dice. Family loved it.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing that!
I love this as is, but sometimes (like today) I use this a base for my Southwestern chicken corn chowder. I basically make it the same way, but I add some cooked chicken, a can of green chilis, and some taco seasoning to give it a soutwestern taste. It’s delicious!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Dawn!
I made this with a ham bone from the gazed Easter Ham.
It was mouth watering and the aroma was unbelievable. Just ask the neighbors.
Nice to know that it was a huge hit!
Do I have to add chives? Would it change the flavor if not added?
The chives add great flavor, Ruth. But if you prefer to leave them out, that is fine.
I am making a big ham this weekend. Wondering how you used the hambone to make the chowder. It sounds like your chowder was amazing!
This has had my mouth watering for several days but I needed to go to the grocery store. Do you think it would work well with pork sausage?
I haven’t tested that but I think it could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe!
I added corn starch to thicken a little. I also added garlic thyme and two cans of crab meat. Best soup I ever made!
Yum! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Jennifer!
I love this recipe, but wanted to see if anyone had added crab meat. So glad I found your comment that you had added it to this recipe, and the quantity. Thanks!
Sounds like a real winner! Thank you very much!! I want to try that this week with frozen corn. We buy fresh corn from the Amish family less than a mile away from us. They have 7 girls. The oldest one is 13. The 10 year old is much sharper with the cash register than a lot of Walmart cashiers! When I husk the corn and there is silk left over I say that is a bonus, extra fiber!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Daniel! I bet it is so good fresh off the farm!
Yup, it is good fresh off the farm! Early in the season we got 3 dozen ears for a cookout with our 4 grand children. We usually had very little left overs. Then later on there were some leftovers which we froze. Sounds like a lot of corn but 2 are football players. One is a linebacker over 6 foot. Takes a lot of grub!
Sounds awesome!
Have made several of your recipes and they have all been fantastic especially the many different soups. Thanks for all your hard work and delicious ethnic recipes, much appreciated.
Happy to hear that you’re enjoying my recipes, Jim!