This Chicken Corn Chowder recipe is a hearty and filling soup made with shredded chicken, potatoes, corn and bacon in a thick, creamy broth.
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Chicken Corn Chowder Recipe
Even when Spring is on the horizon, sometimes you just need a big bowl of comfort! This Chicken Corn Chowder recipe is the best creamy, hearty and filling corn chowder, and it’s simple to make, even if you’ve never made soup before.
We’ve shared so many of our favourite comforting soups with you before, like this Crock Pot French Onion Soup With White Beans, this Easy Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup, and this Beef Barley Soup with Kale. This Corn Chowder with Chicken is quickly becoming one of our faves, and we know you’re going to love it too!
What to serve with Corn Chowder
We love to enjoy this corn chowder with chicken recipe alongside our favourite Easy Dinner Rolls, our famous Buttermilk Buns, our super easy No Knead Artisan-Style Bread, and even this No Knead Jalapeno Cheese Artisan Bread.
We also love to serve it with a delicious salad, like this Crunchy Broccoli Salad, this Easy Tomato Salad, or this Chef’s Salad with Egg.
Kitchen items needed for this recipe
To make this recipe you’ll need (affiliate links):
- a large, heavy-bottom soup pot or dutch oven
- A sturdy cutting board
- a chef’s knife for chopping
- a vegetable peeler
- wooden utensils
- a soup ladle
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Ingredients for Corn Chowder with Chicken
To make this recipe you will need:
- bacon
- onion
- salt
- pepper
- dried thyme
- fresh garlic
- frozen corn
- potatoes
- chicken stock
- shredded chicken
- sour cream
- half and half cream
How to Make Corn Chowder with Chicken
Time needed: 50 minutes
Follow these steps for the perfect chicken corn chowder!
- Cook the bacon first.
Cook the bacon pieces in the pot and remove them to a paper-towel lined plate.
- Soften the onions.
Drain some of the bacon fat, if necessary, and cook the onions and spices in the bacon fat.
- Boil and corn and potatoes
Add the frozen corn and potato chunks and cook until the potatoes are soft and beginning to fall apart.
- Temper the cream so it doesn’t curdle.
Ladle some of the hot soup into the sour cream a little at a time and whisk well. Repeat this process until the sour cream becomes as hot as the soup itself. Then add it into the soup.
- Don’t boil after you’ve added the dairy.
Add the half and half cream, stir, and let the soup simmer on very low heat. Don’t let it boil or you risk the dairy you’ve added curdling and creating an unpleasant texture.
- Add the shredded chicken and bacon.
Stir in the chicken and bacon.
- Stir well.
The potatoes help make this soup extra creamy because as they begin to disintegrate they combine with the dairy to form a thick and silky chowder. You’ll be left with chunky potatoes in a thick broth.
What is corn chowder?
Corn chowder is a creamy, rich, and thick soup made with corn, potatoes, and often bacon and even chicken. It is usually thickened by added dairy, like cream and sour cream, and also by the added potato starch.
Can you freeze corn chowder?
Yes! Freeze this chowder in freezer-safe airtight containers and defrost in the fridge overnight. Reheat in a pot on the stove or in the microwave, but be careful not to let the soup reach a boil as this will cause the dairy in the soup to curdle and create an unpleasant texture.
What to serve with corn chowder
Corn chowder is best served with fresh, crusty bread, buns, or even cornbread!
How to thicken corn chowder
The best way to thicken corn chowder is by adding dairy (like sour cream and/or half and half cream), and by allowing the starch released from the potatoes to combine with the added dairy, creating a thick, rich chowder.
We hope you love this corn chowder recipe as much as we do! Let us know in the comments below, what’s your favourite comforting soup recipe? We’d love to know!
Looking for more delicious recipes like this one? You’ll LOVE these:
Watch the video below to see exactly how we make this recipe. You can find many more deliciously simple recipe videos on our YouTube channel!
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Chicken Corn Chowder
Recipe: Equipment
Recipe: Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 ounces bacon chopped
- 1 large yellow or white onion approximately 1 1/2 cups chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 30 ounces frozen corn or use canned
- 4 medium potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 3 cups shredded chicken
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup half and half cream
- parsley for garnish
Recipe: Instructions
For the soup:
- Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and add the olive oil.
- Add the chopped bacon and cook until it's crispy and it has rendered its fat. Remove the cooked bacon to a plate and set aside. Remove all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pot.
- Turn the heat down to medium and add the diced onion, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper to the pot. Sauté in the bacon fat until the onions are translucent.
- Add the corn and the cubed potatoes and sauté for a couple of minutes.
- Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cook with the lid on until the potatoes are fork tender and start to fall apart. Turn the heat to low.
- To a bowl or liquid measuring cup, add the cup of sour cream and temper it with soup – Add a ladle of soup over it and mix well with a whisk, add another ladle of hot soup and stir well. Repeat the steps until the sour cream mixture is as hot as the soup. Mix the sour cream mixture into the pot along with the half and half cream.
- Turn off the heat and return the cooked bacon and shredded chicken to the pot (saving some bacon for serving).
- To serve this soup, add a little crispy bacon and parsley on top of each serving.
Recipe: Notes
Storage instructions:
Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 days. This recipe is great for meal prep and reheats well in the microwave for school or work lunches.Freezer instructions:
This soup can be frozen in an airtight container for up to two months.Recipe: Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
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When do you add the chicken? Couldn’t find any directions. Soup is delicious and would make again.
You add it along with the bacon after you added the sour cream.
Any substitute for the sour cream? We don’t use it, we will use the half & half. We don’t use cream cheese, yogurt or anything else in that category. Thank you!