Chicken and Corn Chowder
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One pot and less than 30 minutes is all you need to make this delicious and comforting Chicken and Corn Chowder loaded with chicken and corn. We’re accomplishing so much down home comfort today, all in one little bowl!
Easy Chicken And Corn Chowder Recipe
This chicken and corn chowder recipe is the perfect comfort food for any time of year. The combination of tender chicken, sweet corn, and warm spices makes for a hearty and satisfying meal that will warm you up from the inside out. This recipe is easy to make and can be customized to your liking with different toppings and spices.
One of the best things about this recipe is its versatility. You can use fresh or frozen corn, and you can use cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken for a quick and easy shortcut. The spices can also be adjusted to your liking – if you like your food spicy, you can add more hot sauce or even some chopped jalapeño. If you prefer a milder flavor, you can leave out the hot sauce and use a little less garlic.
Why You’ll Love This Chicken And Corn Chowder
- Easy Recipe! This simple one-pot chicken corn chowder recipe comes together in 30 minutes with very little prep and just a handful of basic ingredients that you can find in any grocery store.
- Healthy Delicious Chowder! It’s full of rich flavor and has a creamy texture, but this soup is actually gluten-free and packed with protein with chunks of lean tender chicken breasts and whole kernels of corn.
- Perfect Make-Ahead! Chowders are even better the next day, which means you can make this recipe on a Sunday, serve it on Monday, and then eat the leftovers for lunch all week.
- Olive oil – We want something neutral tasting to cook our chicken and sauté our aromatics in.
- Chicken – Boneless skinless chicken breast cubed up into bite sized pieces. You can also use chicken thighs, if you prefer.
- Aromatics – We’re using white or yellow onion and lots of fresh garlic today.
- Spices – Ground cumin is all we’re using in regards to spices today – super easy! If you’d like you could add some smoked paprika as well.
- Milk – I used lactose free milk today, it made for a super creamy totally hearty soup! Feel free to use any kind you’d like however.
- Broth – We’re using chicken broth today, low sodium as always. We want to control the salt content of our dish.
- Corn – Creamed corn, 1 entire can’s worth. We’re also using 1 can of corn, just as it is!
- Hot sauce – For a little heat, so go ahead and use your favorite brand. You can also substitute the hot sauce with a little cayenne pepper or leave it out completely if you don’t want any spice.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper to taste.
- Toppings – Green onion, chopped fresh cilantro, and shredded Monterey Jack.
This easy peasy recipe is a flour-free chowder so you don’t even have to worry about making a roux! Just follow these simple steps and you’ll have a meal on the table in no time!
To begin, you need to brown the chicken. So first pat the pieces of chicken dry with some paper towels to remove the excess moisture. Then heat the olive oil over medium heat in a Dutch oven or large soup pot. Next, add the chicken and sauté it for about 5 to 7 minutes or until it’s completely cooked and longer pink.
After you cook the chicken, add garlic and chopped onion to the pot. Then sauté it for 3 minutes or until the onion becomes soft and translucent.
To make the base, first stir the cumin, salt, and black pepper into the chicken and onion mixture.
Next, pour in the milk and chicken broth. Then bring the soup to a boil while scraping the bottom of the pot to deglaze. Now, add the cream-style corn, corn kernels, and Sriracha to the soup and stir it all together. Then turn the heat down to a simmer and cook the soup for 10 minutes stirring it occasionally.
When the chowder is ready, taste it and season it with more salt if desired. Now, garnish it with the sliced green onions and fresh cilantro. Then serve the chicken and corn chowder topped with shredded Monterey Jack cheese or cheddar cheese if you like.
What Is The Best Way To Thicken Corn Chowder?
If you want to make a thicker chowder you can do it by adding flour or making a cornstarch slurry. To use flour, sprinkle about ¼ cup of all-purpose over the chicken and onion mixture. Then stir it in and cook for about 1 minute before adding the broth and milk. To use cornstarch, mix 2 tablespoons of cornstarch together with some of the chicken broth before adding it to the soup.
What Else Can I Add To The Chowder?
The beautiful thing about soup, chowder, and stew is that it’s nearly impossible to mess it up and easy to customize. This means you can basically add anything you want to this creamy chicken corn chowder. I didn’t add potatoes, but you could. Add some black beans, bell peppers, and a dash of cayenne pepper if you want to give it a more Mexican flare. Bacon is another option! You can even use shrimp instead of chicken.
Looking To Go Lactose Free?
I made this with lactose free milk, so if you have people in your family who are lactose intolerant, this soup works wonderfully with lactose free milk. No need for anyone to feel left out! And believe me when I say that it ended up being just as delicious as if it had been made using regular.
Expert Tips
- Pat the chicken dry. Use paper towels to pat the pieces of chicken dry before sautéing them. Removing the excess moisture helps the chicken brown better, which adds even more flavor to the soup.
- Deglaze the pot. After the chicken broth and milk are added make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen any brown bits. This is done to add more flavor and prevent the bits from burning.
- Season at the end. To prevent over-salting, do not add more salt until right before serving the chowder. The broth and corn may have enough salt in them to season the soup.
Leftovers
Fridge
This dish will last in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 – 4 days. You can reheat it over the stove or in the microwave.
Freezer
This dish is perfect to freeze, just be sure it’s totally cooled off before placing in the freezer. In an airtight shallow container, this dish will last 3 – 4 months in the freezer.
Other Delicious Soups To Try
- Lemon Rice and Chicken Soup
- Lasagna Soup
- Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Red Lentil and Chicken Soup
- Creamy Loaded Potato Soup
- Chicken and Dumplings
- Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
- Cabbage Soup
- Pumpkin Soup
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Chicken and Corn Chowder
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound chicken breasts (skinless and boneless cubed)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 medium onion (chopped)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 2 cups milk (*)
- 2 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
- 14 ounce cream-style corn (1 can)
- 14 ounce corn kernels (1 can)
- 2 tablespoons hot sauce (**)
- 2 green onions (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro (chopped)
- ½ cup Monterey Jack cheese (shredded (optional for topping))
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- In a large Dutch Oven or soup pot heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook the chicken for about 5 to 7 minutes, until cooked through and no longer pink.
- To the pot, add the garlic and chopped onion and cook for another 3 minutes until the onion becomes translucent, stirring occasionally.
- Season with cumin, salt and pepper, then add the milk and the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add the cream-style corn, corn kernels, Sriracha sauce and stir. Simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro, and serve topped with cheese if preferred.
Equipment
Notes
- * I made this with lactose free milk this time, but you can use any milk 2 or 3% or heavy cream if preferred.
- Use your favorite hot sauce or substitute it with ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper if you wish.
- You can use leftover chicken, or a pre-made roast chicken for this recipe.
- Pat the chicken dry. Use paper towels to pat the pieces of chicken dry before sauteing them. Removing the excess moisture helps the chicken brown better, which adds even more flavor to the soup.
- Deglaze the pot. After the chicken broth and milk are added make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen any brown bits. This is done to add more flavor and prevent the bits from burning.
- Season at the end. To prevent oversalting, do not add more salt until right before serving the chowder. The broth and corn may have enough salt in them to season the soup.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
I e made this at least 10 times! Love it! I added cream cheese and used heavy cream to make it thicker but either way it’s awesome!
So glad you love the chowder and have made it a regular in your rotation! Your additions of cream cheese and heavy cream sound absolutely decadent. Thanks for sharing your tweaks! – Jo
I made this delicious Chicken and Corn Chowder recipe for dinner tonight. I must admit I added some frozen hash brown potatoes to the pot. Simply delicious 😉! No leftovers tonight for sure. I have made others but the cumin definitely brought it over the top. My husband loves sriracha so how could you go wrong😊. Thanks for a perfect dinner paired with fresh baked potato bread 🍞. I’m in heaven♥️
Sooo delicious!!! Family loved it. Even better the next day but great no matter first or second day. Can’t wait to make it again! Your recipes are always good Jo!
So glad you liked it!
I loved that this was a simple, quick, and easy clean up recipe. My whole family enjoyed it! I used 2% milk and it thickened as it simmered. There was no need to use cream, half and half, or full fat. I just added drained corn kernels on top of the creamed corn. Would make it again!
So easy and SO delicious!
I do like this but there are a few changes I would make…
1.) If you’re feeding this to any children only 1tsp of Saracha (wat to spicy for my littles).
2.) Use something to make this thicker ie: subs some heavy cream for some milk or use 1/4 C flour like other recipes say.
Other than that it’s great!
This recipe is amazing and so easy to make! I used rotisserie chicken. My entire family loved it. Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
Absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing!
We usually have potatoes in our chowders, so I added cubed potatoes after adding chicken broth, but before the milk. Then once they were cooked, continued with the recipe.
I’m so glad you liked it!
I live in MA and we love chowder here. I don’t always want clam or fish so corn chowder is a great way to change it up. I just made this chowder and I could not wait to scoop some into a bowl. I did add 2 medium diced potatoes and cooked it a little longer till they were tender. I used 2% milk and it was a little thin so I made a small amount of roux to thicken the sauce a bit and it came out so good. I will be freezing some to enjoy later. Thanks Jo for a great recipe, Slurp!
I’m so glad you like this chowder, Lynda! I like the roux idea!
Awesome recipe! I’ve made it multiple times. I used half and half and added cream cheese to make it thicker. It’s wonderful!
I’ve tried cooking this chicken and corn chowder for our monthly friends potluck. It’s a hit , my fiends like it so much and they even asked for the recipe.. thank you so much for sharing this. Even my kids loved it.
That’s great, so glad you guys all liked it!
Hey Jo!
I am from Austria and corn chowder is no known meal, so I was intriegued browsing your site. I tried this recipie today and it turned out really delicious!
Canned cream-style corn isn’t available here, so I looked up a fitting recipe and started with cooking the chicken, removing it from the pot and continuing with cooking the cream corn. Then I proceeded as descibed in your recipe.
Really really good! Thanks!
Greetings, Maria
So glad you tried it and liked it.
I don’ use regular milk anymore and wonder if almond or cashew milk will work? I
I made this after work last week and used a roast chicken from the grocery store and regular 1%milk and some evaporated milk. It was fabulous and so simple to pull together on a busy week night. I doubled the batch to freeze in individual portions for quick week day lunches too! I particularly loved the flavor of a touch of spice with a little sweet from the milk.
I tried this recipe and like all your recipes, it was delicious. The one thing I did differently was to just brown the chicken really well in the first step. The reason I did this was to not over cook the chicken. The recipe has the chicken fully cooked in the first step and then cooked 13 more minutes. Came out really good and the chicken was very tender. Thanks for the recipe.
My pleasure, glad you liked it!
I went out to dinner last evening and had chicken with corn chowder and now I see your post. What a coincidence. I definitely have to pin this. I would love to try yours out. It looks great!