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 made this yesterday before I left for the afternoon and when I got home 3 hours later the house smelled so good… I couldn’t wait to try this. But when I looked in my crock pot, the milk had separated and curdled. The soup did not taste or look good at all. I had to throw the whole pot out as there was nothing I could do to save it and no one wanted to eat curdled soup. I am wondering if my crock pot is too hot for milky things, even on low heat? So disappointed…
Bummer! I’m not entirely sure what went wrong as there should be no sign of curdling. What type of slow cooker are you using?
I have I have this recipe in the crock pot now and the milk has totally curdled
Rusty, 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.
I have it set to low. I will tray that next time. Should the soup still he okay to eat? It smells great
It’s really up to you. 🙂
I had my cream break as well like another poster mentioned. Cooked on high to speed things up, which I believe was the culprit. Cream based soups may do better on lower settings or in crockpots that don’t get too hot. I think my crock is slow to heat but gets too hot after a few hours. To remedy a broken (curdled) soup you can separate the base from the solids by straining and blend which will help a little. No need to toss as it still tastes good.
Try sautéing the onions first as most onions will curdle milk when used in the raw state, especially in a slow cooker. To test this out, just put some onions in a glass of milk and leave it on the counter for an hour or so. Same thing happens when making scalloped potatoes. Chef Bosse.
Excellent tip about the onions! Thank you!
I had the exact same problem. Complete waste of groceries and time! The picture shown in the recipe was obviously not taken by someone who followed this recipe. Save yourself the disappointment and skip this recipe!!
Borrowed a 6 qt slow cooker and made this yesterday. What a wonderful smell in the kitchen! I made it totally following the recipe. We thought it was nice. The only change I would make next time is adding more cooked bacon into the pot. I found it a teensy bit bland. Not sure why. I’ll let you know the results after I try this addition. Now I’m on a hunt for a new slow cooker!
Louise, you can try adding more seasonings, to taste, to suit your preferences a little better. And as always, you can never go wrong with more bacon! 🙂
I made a big pot of this, thinking it looked good, but it didn’t taste good, and I ended up throwing it all out after we each tried a bowl of it. I’m wondering if maybe I did something wrong, but I wouldn’t risk it again. It was sort of watery, not creamy, and there was a bad taste (maybe too heavy on the garlic?). Sorry. I tried to pull out some of the ingredients to salvage them, but I gave that idea up in a short time. As you suggest, Chungah, maybe people could change the spices.
I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well.
So I must ask – did you follow the recipe exactly as written without any substitutions?
I made this tonight, it was good but not very creamy, much more watery than I was expecting. I followed the recipe exactly.
Thank you for including the nutritional information. It really helps me plan when I want to splurge on the calories and cholesterol. Can’t wait!
I only have a 4 quart crock pot. Could you please give me measurements to use for this soup.
Many thanks,
Louise
Louise, it may be best to halve the recipe to suit your 4-qt slow cooker.
I am always look for good soup recipes this time of year and this totally sounds like a winner. I think I might try this this week 🙂
(You left out the heavy cream in the ingredients list). Sounds delicious – I’ll try it out tomorrow because I have all of the ingredients 😀
There is actually no heavy cream in this recipe 🙂
Oh – the recipe changed a bit after I typed my comment, lol – please disregard the bit about the heavy cream 😀
This looks delicious. Especially on a cold, rainy day like today! Thank you for posting. I might modify a bit a replace the bacon with a spicy smoked sausage that I’ve been craving 🙂
looks great!! a few things…do i need to pre-cook the chicken? can i substitute extra virgin olive oil for the butter? also, can i freeze leftovers? thanks so much for your time! can’t wait to try this one =)
1. The chicken does not have to be pre-cooked – that’s the beauty of the slow cooker! 🙂
2. I do not recommend substituting olive oil. If you do not have butter, it may be best to omit it in its entirety.
3. Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
You can freeze but potatoes tend to be grainy and mushy when defrosted.
I found your web site by accident, and I am so glad I did. Dear, dear Chungah, not one of the recipes you have posted has failed to delight. Easy and delicious. What more can one ask for? Thank you!!!
My husband loves corn chowder but I don’t make it very often and I have never considered making it in a slow cooker, which sounds like a great idea. Our recipe doesn’t have chicken either, which is an interesting add in.
That is why, on a he 8th day, God invented Amazon.com
is that parsley or chives?
It’s chives – thank you for pointing that out! 🙂
This looks delicious! Silly question: do you cook the chicken before adding it to the crockpot?
Allison
Nope, the chicken does not have to be cooked. The slow cooker will do all the work for you! 🙂
Looks good, but what’s with the moldy-looking corn in the photo???
Mold tends to be blue in color, not black. The corn used here is roasted corn kernels from Trader Joe’s – it’s the best!
I thought that corn looked familiar! I love Trader Joe’s!
I just tried this and the potatoes never softened. I had to take the out, cook two more in the microwave, let them cool, and then put back in the pot.
Maybe they weren’t cut small enough. Maybe next time try a smaller size then they are more likely to cook through.
This was a great recipe. I added in green chili and some Velveta cheese. The cheese was a nice way to thicken the cream sauce, and the green chilis added a nice kick to the taste buds. It fed about eight people. I complimented this recipe with crossaints and a nice fruit salad. Happy hubby, happy kids, happy parents!
why you so mean? cook give good recipe an yoo mean.
Some people just can’t be bothered to read first.. the nasty comes first ! I love this recipe !
It’s roasted corn. It says it right in the ingredients
It’s Not mold, ffs.
This looks delicious! You cant buy crockpots where I live but I’ll bet this would be great on the stove too. I love soup season!
You can’t buy a Crockpot ?? Where do you live Alaska ? I am sure Amazon has them and you can order them for anywhere on earth
^^ 😀
I live in Alaska and I brought one at Walmart ☺️
Alaska has crockpots, I’m pretty sure even the north and south poles have crockpots! Maybe Amazon doesn’t deliver to the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, that’s the only scenario that I can imagine!
Anything you can make in a crockpot you can make in a roaster and bake in your oven. I do a lot of crockpot recipes in a dutch oven pot in my gas oven in the motorhome when we are out camping. And it doesn’t take as long to cook and is just as good.
I just use cast iron pot on very low heat. It works great for all crockpot recipe
Nice excuse, Tori but this is the 21ST CENTURY for crying out loud! LOL! If you have the ability to write your post, you have the ability to order a crockpot online. Bahahaha! Gotta love the “victim mentality”!
That was unnecessarily mean… “Victim mentality”, really? Unless you know someone’s personal issues, there is no need to make derogatory remarks!
What the hell is wrong with you?? Why would you make someone feel bad over a crock pot? It’s none of your business why she doesn’t have a crock pot. What are you 16 years old or something? Talk about internet bullying.
I live in the middle east, one of the sanctioned countries. you would be surprised at what you “cannot” find in some areas. While technology wise we have almost everything and I have a nicer kitchen than most of my family in the US, I can’t find some ingredients-for example bacon, marscapone cheese, cheddar cheese, half and half, some types of flour. I have learned to substitute and to revise my cooking style. Not everyone who reads these blogs is American or living in a Western country, hence has access to Amazon-I don’t. After moving abroad I am so aware of the “stupidity” of some of my fellow humans.
I’m sorry for the rudeness of these units educated individuals. Yes living in a repressed area must be extremely difficult at times but also in some ways free as well. While here in the USA we can buy what ever we want or desire a lot of people in this country are not happy and many yearn to simply their lives.
Seriously… could you be more rude? Sarcasm and insults don’t go too far, maybe you need to find a different platform to voice your unpleasant and bitchy responses…
Just a thought Tori :/
I’ve made this on the stove top several times now. Works fine and is done in an hour or two. Just depends on how long you need to simmer it so the carrots, potatoes, other veggies and chicken are cooked through.