Slow Cooker Chicken and Corn Chowder
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Such a hearty, comforting and CREAMY soup, made right in the crockpot. Let it do all the work for you! EASY!
It was about 80 degrees today in Los Angeles. This is after a huge dip from our heat wave over the weekend where it was seriously over 100 degrees F.
So with this “cooler” weather, it was time to bust out the crockpot and make soup.
With corn, chicken and bacon. Obviously. But it’s all made in the slow cooker so you don’t have to lift a finger.
Okay, well maybe just two fingers for the bacon. It’ll be worth it. I promise.
And this makes enough to feed an army so you can have this creamy pot of heavenly goodness day and night. Just keep a secret stash of bacon somewhere.
It’s what puts this chowder over the top. Duh.
Slow Cooker Chicken and Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 12 ounces red potato, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 cups corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted
- 4 cups chicken broth 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup half and half
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- Place chicken, potatoes, onion, carrots, celery, and corn into a 6-qt slow cooker. Stir in chicken broth, garlic, thyme, oregano, cayenne pepper and bay leaf; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.
- In a small bowl, whisk together half and half and cornstarch. Stir in half and half mixture and butter during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Serve soup immediately, topped with bacon and garnished with chives, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I wonder if you could use evaporated condensed skim milk instead of half-and-half, as I do with many other cream-based soups, to get the creaminess without the extra calories?
Yes, absolutely.
Hello,
What would you recommend to spice this up? We love heat in any dish! I wasn’t sure if dicing up a jalapeno would do the trick or if you had a better idea? Thanks!
Jalapeno is perfect!
Another very simple homemade soup that is similar to this, although not made in slow cooker….takes about 2 hours including prep time. You can tailor it to your liking…..it is impossible to spoil recipe.
Homemade Potato Soup – Extra Hearty!!
Cut up enough red potatoes (skin on/skin off….your choice) to fill whatever pot you want to use (proportioned to your appetite, or those you are feeding).
– for a large pot (8-10 servings) – cut up (dice) 2 large yellow onions (proportion small onion for about 5 med potatoes) and add onions to potatoes in pot.
– cut up carrots, mushrooms, corn (I use off the cobb – and again, these proportioned to serving size, and how many veggies you like) but do not add to potatoes and onions.
– mince 4-6 cloves of garlic (more if large batch, and depends on how much you like the flavour)
– have 2-3 Tbsp. of butter/margarine and olive oil on hand
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
-Fill pot of potatoes with water until roughly 1 inch of top of potatoes are left showing.
-Bring to boil, and hold at a rolling boil until potatoes are cooked (about 1/4 of the water should have evaporated, that is fine, that is what you want!)
-While potatoes are heating, get frying pan to 3/4 heat, once to heat, add margarine and some olive oil (so margarine/butter does not burn).
– Add carrots and garlic 1st to frying pan, let cook for 5-8 mins, then add corn and mushrooms to pan, and cook for another 5-8 mins, stirring often so garlic does not burn (as it will become bitter). Take off burner once finished saute, I like my veggies el dente, so 10 mins overall is good.
Now that potatoes/onions are cooked (knife or fork will pierce easily), leave water in, mash until desired consistency ( I like mine chunky, so minimal mashing).
Once mashed potatoes and onions together, add 2 parts milk and 1 part heavy cream to mixture, stirring continually until you get desired consistency. Even if you mix it till thin, it will thicken with simmering due to starches.
Once reached desired consistency, add veggie mixture, and simmer on low, stirring occasionally for about 20 mins, long enough for flavours to combine, add a dollop of butter/margarine for added richness while simmering!
Enjoy! I just spilled the beans on my mothers homemade potato soup!! Its killer!!
I miss Cali!! I will try this tomorrow
Awe my response to this is that I miss California so much!!! Ralph’s was my favourite place….Safeway just isn’t the same! I miss the ocean, I miss the kind people and I miss the palm trees!!
Made this last night. It was delicious!! Made the recipe as written and did find it to be a thinner chowder, but still very filling. In the Northeast, we have lots of kinds of chowder from thin and broth-y to super thick, so the fact that it wasn’t super thick was fine. Thank you for your recipes – they rock!! Much love…
Made this soup today. Used skim milk instead of cream and it turned out well!
Thanks for this easy recipe!
I’m noticing many talk about curdling milk and/or cream. Thank god I used to be a sous chef lol. Boil your chicken in 4 cups off water with a lid on, strain with a siv to omit the excess fat, boil potatoes seperate with 1/4 cup water in a small pot, agin leave lid on, until they’re mostly cooked. Give potatoes a quick mash (leave them clumpy as they’ll break up in the crock). Add to your pot of chicken stock and combine before adding to crock.
Add ALL ingredients to the crock while chicken and spuds are cooking. Then just add the combined chicken and spud mixture to the pot, quick toss and voila!
Crock on hi for 2 hours work perfectly, then set to low for another 2-3 hours. When you turn heat down that’s the BEST time to add cornstarch! Do not dump it in and put lid on, it will curdle. Stir your soup slowly and add mixture slowly, it will omit any curdling. When your ready to dive in to this masterpiece it’s absolutely divine! ☺
Oh! 1 more thing, don’t add your bacon to the crock, it will go soggy and has a weird texture when gooey lol. Sprinkle bacon on when serving (make sure it’s nice and crispy, not half cooked)
I forgot to mention be sure to use COLD water of cream with the cornstarch to omit curdling as well. It may take a few minutes of stirring before starting to thicken. I use 3 tbsp tp 1/3 cream for thickening in a 4 qt crock.
Hi Chungah! I just started this this morning! I have one question, the recipe lists butter as an ingredient but I don’t see where its added in the crock pot. Do you just throw some dollops in there?
Erin, the butter is actually listed in the second to last step:
In a small bowl, whisk together half and half and cornstarch. Stir in half and half mixture and butter during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.
Oh yes, one more comment. I would save the bacon and add it towards the end. Even though it was very crispy when I tossed it in, and I’m sure the flavor blended in, the little pieces ended up being little flabby almost colorless nibblets of meat. I would add it either at the end and leave it fresh or add it in the last 30 minutes or so.
Thank you for your feedback, Madonna. The bacon is actually added at the very end when serving.
Mine has turned out wonderful!
I just used boneless skinless chicken breast, & a little more seasoning,
with salted butter instead,
Slowly adding the cream mixture
later on low, but use extra,
I have previously used sour cream when I didn’t have half & half,
& its amazing with Alfredo sauce from
a jar as substitute, creamy &
adds more flavour! Yum
But the recipe says bacon is just added
at the very end, on top like a garnish,
I do this for all of my chowders
Thank you for sharing Joanne!
I was sooo looking forward to this recipe. It wasn’t as creamy as I had hoped. Partly my fault though. It was a disaster for me. First of all, let me say that I must be the slowest chopper in the world because this was NOT a quick recipe. There is a lot to chop and a lot of ingredients. My goof was that even though I skimmed thru the instructions, I guess because of the way the items are listed, I tossed everything in together from the beginning. Just as others have said, the half and half curdled and separated. I did not choose to toss out all these ingredients though. There was too much money involved for me to take the loss. I took a lot of time to scoop out slotted spoonful at a time and literally rinsing all the curdled milk/corn starch blend from all the vegetables in a colander. That left the broth and curdled milk. I then strained everything through cheesecloth filtering everything out. I was left with about 99% of all the white mush in the cloth leaving me pretty confident I had removed all of the original cornstarch and half & half. Of course a bit of the spices and some of the smaller onion pieces were left too but not enough to worry about. The recipe had cooked about 2 hours when I checked it so the flavors had already blended through into the broth. I blended everything back together and tasted everything again. It was a bit low on salt so I added some and also added just a touch of thyme back in.
So, with that resolved, the problem I had with the whole recipe was that it just seemed extremely watery for a chowder. I think if I were to make this again, I might use a heavy cream but only at the end. Mine never did thicken up at all, even after properly adding the cornstarch again. That being said, my husband had 5 bowls! He loved it.
I was excited to make this recipe (hooray for slow cookers!), but this ended up being a watery mixture of overcooked veggies and undercooked potatoes. The sauce did not thicken at all (even after adding more corn starch). I noticed that several folks mentioned that they ended up using more half-and-half to make the soup creamier… Anyway, followed the recipe (no substitutions made) and it was a total mess.
Elizabeth, I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. If it was too watery on your end, more cornstarch can be added, as needed, to suit your preferences a little better. It’s an easy fix – promise! 🙂
Is it possible to use boneless skinless chicken breasts instead?
Yes, absolutely.
Hi, I’m in the process of slow cooking this soup. I doubled the recipe, do I still double the half and half and cornstarch mixture?
Yes, everything should be doubled.
Hi, I was wondering if the timing would vary if I am using a bigger crock pot? The one in your picture looks like a small crock pot, but then I noticed that you said 6 quart crock pot in your recipe. If I have a 8 quart one, do I have to adjust anything or should I be okay following the directions in all your crock pot recipes? Thank you :]
Yes, size does matter! If you are using a larger slow cooker than the one listed in the recipe, cooking time may have to be reduced as needed.
Thank you, are all your crock pot recipes 6 qt slow cookers?
They range in size depending on the recipe.
Yummeh! I made this today, the Monday before Thanksgiving. I’ll be cooking for the rest of the week until the big T-Day (duh!) and this is going to get us past dinnertimes until then. Good choice! It looks super scrumptious and I’m feeling like a big-time hero for having hearty homemade food around to eat. What a great recipe! My husband likes a little meat in his soup so he will be very happy too! Thanks for all the good food! Your recipes bail me out quite often!
Made this tonight and it was delicious! I had to add more half and half to get it creamy though, I ended up using about a cup and a half. It was a big hit at my dinner table! Would love to see more slow cooker recipes!
Everything else from your website always turns out amazing, but this soup! The milk curdled 🙁 This is so frustrating! I’m in the process of trying to fix it as to not waste it all. I wouldn’t recommend this recipe in the slow cooker. I think you’d have more control in a stock pot.
Kim, if your slow cooker’s heat source is too high, curdling can happen. You can try adding in the milk during the last 30-60 minutes of cooking.
Kim…I had no trouble whatsoever with this recipe in the crock pot. I slowly stirred in the cream and cornstarch mix in and it turned out perfectly. I even froze several containers for my husband’s lunches and they thaw a nuke fine without curdling. Hoping you are able to resolve your dilemma.
Quick question. Your directions say to go ahead and whisk the half and half mixture at the beginning of the recipe, however. it doesn’t go in until the last 30 minutes. Does this need to sit all day or is it okay to do right before adding to the soup? Thank you!
Not at all – you can whisk the half and half and cornstarch right before.
Since I only have a 4qt, I’ll halve the recipe. Would the cooking time still be the same? Planning on using chicken breasts instead of thighs. That shouldn’t make too much of a difference, correct? I just want it to be scarf-and-soup weather here in LA. Should cool down right around the last week of December…
The cooking time should not vary too much but as always, please use your best judgment.
I’m in the process of making this delicious sounding soup! Put everything (minus the bacon and half/half) in this morning on low. Now I’ve been gone all day and I came home to find my soup a bit low on liquid. I added more chicken broth and milk so I hope that helps. But I have to say mine doesn’t look as pretty as yours. As the chicken thigh pieces have cooked little bits of fat have cooked out and left my soup full of fatty clumps. I’m hoping when I mix in the cornstarch/halfandhalf mixture the soup will get creamy. Has this ever happened to you?
Yes, the cornstarch mixture is the thickener! 🙂