The Best Chicken Corn Chowder Recipe | Self Proclaimed Foodie (2024)

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Chicken Corn Chowder is a creamy and hearty soup that is packed full of flavor. It’s creamy but still has just the right amount of chunks.

Perfectly cooked potatoes and a rich broth give the soup body. Crisp bacon adds fantastic texture and taste. Your family will love this chicken chowder for dinner!

Why this recipe works:

Chicken Corn Chowder is one of those feel good soups. It has just enough of the healthy stuff for me to enjoy it without the guilt.

Is it as healthy as, let’s say, a chicken soup that is mostly broth and loaded with vegetables? No. But it has everything you’d want in a creamy chowder that is downright delicious.

How to make it:

• This recipe starts with bacon. You can easily skip the bacon, but why would you? I recommend cooking the bacon in the pot you’ll be making your chowder in. Cook until crisp, set it aside, remove most of the fat, and then start cooking the chowder in the same pot. That way you get all of the flavor of the bacon infused into your soup. I never add bacon to soups and chowders until it’s ready to serve. That way it stays crisp. Bacon that gets soggy in liquid is not my favorite thing.
• Next you’ll cook the carrot, celery, and onion in the bacon pot. This is how every soup recipe should start, in my opinion.
• To thicken the soup, you’ll add some flour to your veggie mixture. The trick is to stir it around in the fat and let it cook for a few minutes so that it develops a rich flavor.
• At this point you’ll add the chicken broth and give it a good stir to loosen anything that may have stuck to the pot. You’ll add in the corn and potatoes too. If it’s summer time and you can get fresh, local corn, that’s what you should use. Otherwise, Trader Joe’s canned corn or even frozen works well.
• This next step is optional but highly recommended. Use an immersion blender to blend about half of the soup. You still want chunks, but you also want some of the corn and potato to break down to create a more creamy soup. You can also do this by transferring about half of the mixture to a blender and pulsing a few times.
• Final step is to add milk, heavy cream, chicken, salt and pepper and cook just long enough to heat through. Voila!

This recipe uses cooked chicken.

As with any recipe that calls for cooked chicken, you have options.

You can easily go to the store and pick up a rotisserie chicken or buy it cooked from the deli.

Homemade is almost always better, as I’m sure you know, and if you have the time I recommend cooking an entire chicken in the Instant Pot or slow cooker. That way you can shred the meat for recipes like this chowder or a tasty chicken salad sandwich.

Plus, you can then make your own bone broth. I like to give you options!

Stove top or slow cooker?

Now, if you’re looking for a chicken corn chowder slow cooker recipe, this isn’t it.

As with most soups, stews and chowders, this can be altered so that you can prepare everything and stick it in the slow cooker so it’s hot and ready when you get home.

Sometimes I just prefer to cook my soups and chowders on the stove top. My kitchen is the heart of my house and what can I say… I love to cook in a good old fashioned dutch oven from time to time.

What to serve with chicken corn chowder:

I honestly think that when you make this chicken corn chowder with bacon, nothing else is needed.

If you’re the kind of person who needs variety and options at every meal, however, I offer you two choices that would take this chowder to the next meal.

1. First would be a leafy green salad. I’m thinking something loaded with fresh veggies and a light, homemade vinaigrette. The soup is heavy, so you wouldn’t want to serve it alongside a rich and creamy salad dressing too.
2. Second, you can never beat a crisp, hot out of the oven, loaf of crusty bread. Soup and bread just go together. I mean, is there a better way to lick the bowl clean when you’re done other than using a piece of bread?

Did you make this soup? I love to hear from my readers so please leave me a comment below!

This recipe was originally published in February 2018 and has been updated with more cooking tips and information. Don’t worry… the recipe wasn’t changed!