Recipe for Corn Chowder (without Cream)
This recipe for corn chowder without cream is everything you’re looking for in a comforting soup, without the extra calories of heavy cream or half and half.
Everyone I have served this corn chowder to has absolutely loved it.
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It’s one of the few soups/chowders that my bachelor son makes. In fact, he told me I should change the ratio of ingredients in the recipe in order to use an entire bag of Trader Joe’s corn. He means business, ha ha!
How to Make a Low Fat, Creamy Chowder
I’m sure your first question is, “how can a chowder be creamy without cream?”
This thick and creamy bowl of deliciousness doesn’t have one drop of cream in it. Truthfully, that’s rare for me, and I’m not saying you couldn’t add some cream, however, you really won’t need to. I based this on my clam chowder recipe which is also rich and creamy, without added cream. A bit of flour and potatoes and one little trick, create the magic that happens in this recipe.
Once you know this technique, you can apply it to many other soups and chowders, it’s fabulous!
How to Thicken a Soup or Chowder Without Adding Cream
- It’s really simple to thicken a chowder or soup without adding any cream or half and half. Just blend a percentage of the soup and add it back in once it’s smooth. Want a thinner soup? Don’t blend too much of the pot. If you’d like a thicker chowder, blend a larger percentage; it’s that simple!
- Another method is to add potatoes (or more potatoes).
- Last, but not least, make a roux, or just add some flour, which is another method I use in this recipe for corn chowder.
Try this Korean style corn cheese and be delighted with a new food combination!
Tip: just remember if you’re adding meat, barley or rice, for example, don’t add them until you’ve blended the rest of the ingredients. These hard grains and some ingredients, like meat, won’t purée like vegetables. This red lentil soup (with barley) is a good example.
Can You Freeze Corn Chowder?
Absolutely yes, corn chowder freezes perfectly, and reheats beautifully. You’ll never know this chowder was frozen.
Corn Chowder Recipe without Cream
Recipe created by Christina Conte Makes 5 Servings
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
Ingredients:
- good quality butter
- extra virgin olive oil
- onion
- celery stalks
- all purpose flour
- chicken or vegetable stock
- milk
- potatoes
- fresh or frozen corn, preferably organic (leftover works, too)
- Kosher or sea salt
- freshly ground pepper
Make the Base
Heat the butter and oil in a large pot. Add the onion and celery and sauté over medium high heat for about 7 minutes, before adding the flour.
Stir vigorously so that the flour cooks, but doesn’t brown, for about 4 minutes. Begin adding the stock a little at a time, while continuing to stir until all the liquid has been added.
Add the Remaining Ingredients
Next, add the milk and stir well. Add the diced potatoes and 1 teaspoon of salt, and allow to simmer for about 8 minutes, stirring often, before adding the corn.
Simmer for an additional 8 to 10 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked. Now, for the trick which thickens and improves the overall flavor of this corn chowder.
Blend Some of the Corn Chowder
Remove about a cup or so of the soup and use an immersion blender to puree it. Return it to the pot and stir well. If it’s not thick enough, puree a little more.
Taste, adding salt if necessary and some black pepper. Serve corn chowder piping hot. I love to serve it with some parsnip scones slathered in a good salted butter!
You could truly adapt this recipe for corn chowder to make any sort of creamy chowder, or you could just add your choice of ingredients to make it your own version. If you do, drop me a line below and let me know what you did and how you liked it!
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Recipe for Corn Chowder without Cream
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter (good quality)
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion (diced)
- 2 celery stalks (chopped)
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 2 potatoes (medium to large, diced into bite sized pieces)
- 2 cups corn (fresh or frozen, preferably organic-leftover works)
- ⅛ tsp Kosher salt (or sea salt)
- ⅛ tsp pepper (freshly ground)
Instructions
- Heat the butter and oil in a large pot. Add the onion and celery and sauté over medium high heat for about 7 minutes, before adding the flour.
- Stir vigorously so that the flour cooks, but doesn’t brown, for about 4 minutes. Begin adding the stock a little at a time, while continuing to stir until all the liquid has been added.
- Then add the milk and stir well. Next, add the diced potatoes and 1 teaspoon of salt, and allow to simmer for about 8 minutes, stirring often, before adding the corn.
- Simmer for an additional 8 to 10 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.
- Now for the trick to thicken and improve the overall flavor of this chowder: puree about a cup or so and return to the pot.
- Taste, adding salt if necessary and some black pepper. Serve hot.
Notes
- Nutrition info is for 4 servings.
Nutrition
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This was yummy! I didn’t have any celery ( I think the celery elf took it). So I used celery salt and a cup of chopped carrots instead. Then used low sodium chicken broth to keep the sodium down We all loved it. Thanks for a great creamy soup recipe.
Oh I’m so happy to hear this, Maggie! Thank you so much, and hope those celery elves are content with what they’ve taken! ;)
This is a delicious and very filling soup, ever since we found this recipe we have already cooked this countless times because my children loved it. Thank you for the recipe.
Thank you so much, Sheila! That means a lot to me to hear that! I’m so happy you found my recipe. If you haven’t tried my pasta and beans recipe, I bet your children will flip for that (most kids LOVE it)! Enjoy and thanks again!
We just had Corn and shrimp chowder in Florida. The flavor was good, but I didn’t like the watery texture. Do you think I could add shrimp to this?
I can’t see why not, beverly. I would suggest adding them at the very end as they won’t take long to cook and you don’t want them to get tough. Let me know how it turns out. :)
I’ve made this soup several times. I love it’s wonderful creamy taste & texture but without any cream! I’ve shared the recipe w several people & everyone loves it!
Thank you, Luanne! I appreciate you sharing and your lovely comment! :) CC
This soup sounds wonderful.
I recently purchased a Insta Pot. Could I make this using the pressure cooking setting ?
Sure! Why not? It will cook faster :)
Looks and sounds delicious. Homemade soups are my favorite meal, it doesn’t have to be winter time to enjoy them.
Very true, Nadine! Looks like I missed your comment in January! So sorry! I hate when I do that, but sometimes it’s when I’m traveling. :) Thanks so much!
Sounds perfectly creamy and delicious…healthy too!
Thanks, Cynthia!
Hi! I just wanted to add to the comments that this soup is amazing! I made it last night, and we loved it. Thanks for sharing!! :-)
Lovely to hear! Thank you, Courtney!