Slow Cooker Corn Chowder
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The easiest crockpot soup ever! Fresh corn kernels, bacon, potato, stock, garlic, thyme. Topped with crisp bacon bits and chives. THE BEST.
This is legit my favorite year-long soup.
Perfect for those super hot summer days where you’re out by the beach all day, coming home to this hearty fresh corn soup where you can get 8 ears of corn for just a $1 at your local grocery store.
An added bonus is that you don’t even have to turn on the stovetop or oven (especially if you have the nifty saute function in your slow cooker!), keeping the house nice and cool.
Then there’s the Chiberia days – you know, the -50 windchill winter Chicago nights where nothing in the world could beat this cozy cozy soup. And if fresh corn on the cob is not readily available, frozen corn kernels will work just fine.
I just don’t recommend skimping on that bacon though. The bacon slices give off so much goodness, cooking low and slow for 8 hours. And the extra crisp bacon bit toppings don’t hurt either!
Slow Cooker Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 6 ears yellow corn, kernels removed (about 5-6 cups)
- 1 russet potato, peeled and diced
- 2 slices bacon
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 6 cups chicken stock
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add diced bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Drain excess fat; transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside.
- Place corn, potato, bacon slices, onion, garlic and thyme into a 6-qt slow cooker. Stir in chicken stock; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours. Remove thyme sprigs and bacon.
- Puree with an immersion blender until desired consistency is reached. Stir in heavy cream; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately, sprinkled with bacon and garnished with chives, if desired.
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Perfectly delicious!
A few changes: I used smoked beef sausage instead of bacon.
I didn’t have thyme so I went with oregano.
To thicken the soup I used potato starch and half a baked potato.
Thanks.
SO GOOD but had I had to add a few extra spices. I don’t know why, but every soup recipe I have ever tried ends up coming out a little bland to me, so I always end up adding a bunch. This was truly amazing (my boyfriend said this was his favorite soup he has ever tried), but along with the salt and pepper at the end, I did add oregano, paprika, parsley, garlic, and onion powder. I also added some chicken to make it more filling (I don’t have an immersion blender, just a hand blender, and it shredded the chicken up easily after slow cooking, no extra effort). Used extra bacon as well for topping – the original 4 diced strips were enough for night #1, but not all of the leftovers!
Really yummy but I was expecting it to be creamier. I agree with the other review that suggests using a bit less chicken stock.
Soooo easy and delicious! I followed the recipe almost exactly (I added some red pepper flakes toward the end), and it turned out soooo perfect! Thank you for putting this recipe together!!
This tastes really delicious but it didn’t come out as thick as I would like for a “chowder.” Next time I will use 1 less cup of chicken broth.
Please please please add a metric unit converter…
I added boiled potato cubes, avocado, bacon, mexican cheese blend and chives as toppings to make this super yummy!
Can you use a cake mixer or a regular blender if you don’t have a immersion blender?
Is there something to add instead of the bacon to make it vegetarian?
You can simply omit the bacon or substitute veggie bacon strips, Gisele. 🙂
This looks great! Can’t wait to try it; wondering if you’ve attempted this in the instant pot? If yes, do you have recommendations on timing? Your recipes are always a hit in my house, thank you!
Hi Melissa! You can try this recipe instead! 🙂
https://damndelicious.net/2018/02/17/instant-pot-potato-corn-chowder/
CORN CHOWDER SOUNDS GREAT, LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING MORE RECIPES
I’m so glad I saw one of your recipes on Facebook – now I visit often to find new things to try. Would it be possible to include nutrition information on the recipes? Most recipes sites have that, and I find it very helpful.
Hi Mary! We’re so glad you found us! 🙂
Nutritional information is provided only for select recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”). Hope that helps!
This was not great but I think I know why. Here are the changes I made. I used frozen corn and real bacon bits instead of raw bacon pan fried. I pureed it when finished but not long enough. Was still chunky and really bland probably from the substitutions I shouldn’t have made. Hopefully this will save someone else from making similar mistakes that this tired mama made. Haha. I follow a lot of your recipes and they are always phenomenal so I’m sure I made some big errors here for it to turn out this way.
I’m so sorry to hear this didn’t turn out the way you had imagined! I really hope you get to try this again without any substitutions. It’s one of my favorite summer crockpot soups! 🙂
I was looking for a soup recipe for the whole family and I stumbled on this article. I read and followed the instructions carefully and I made it deliciously! Every member of my family is so happy! Thanks for this!
Hi, can this be made ahead by a day & rewarmed? I don’t have a slow cooker, so I wanted to make it in the Dutch oven. Do you think that would be okay?
Thanks for your help!
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
I love the name of your blog. I came across Damned Delicious in a link from the NYTimes. Your corn chowder looks delicious ;I’ll
make it as soon as we have native corn here in NH.
Would adding a roasted poblano pepper or two be out of the question?
Not at all! That sounds amazing, Jennifer!
Quick question on the two bacon slices that go into the chowder..are those just put in raw without cooking first? Looks delicious but could you clarify for me? Live your website!!
Yes, the bacon slices are added raw (without crisping) to flavor the chowder. The crispy bacon is for serving. 🙂
Looks great! I can’t wait to try it! Can I use frozen or canned corn kernels instead of fresh? It’s not easy to get corn on the cob out of season.
Absolutely!
5 star rating is for making this look and read damn delicioud.
Can i substitute sour cream instead of heavy cream? I ask because I have all the ingredients except the heavy cream and I don’t want to go to the grocery store for one item when i know I’ll end up buying 13-20 items – lol.
I totally get it – I do the same thing, Diane! 🙂 I recommend substituting half and half (maybe even whole milk?) but not sour cream.