It’s hard to think about cold weather comfort food without considering chowder. A thick, creamy soup typically made with either corn or seafood, a good chowder is like being hugged from the inside out. This version of Chicken & Corn Chowder brings sweetcorn, chicken, cheese and crispy bacon together for the most indulgent, satisfying bowl of food.
If you have leftover chicken, especially roast chicken, it would be wonderful in this chowder! Homemade chicken stock can also be used – click here to see my chicken stock recipe. If it’s not the case that you have these things readily available, you can absolutely still make this gorgeous chowder with store-bought roast chicken breasts or even the meat pulled from a ready-made rotisserie chicken and it will be delicious!
I like to use sliced pancetta for this recipe because it’s so thinly sliced that it crisps up nicely and quickly with this sort of curly look to it, but streaky bacon will work just fine. As for the cheese, I love to buy something really nice like a vintage mature cheddar and shred it myself rather than go for the pre-grated stuff in the bag, but anything will do really. You could also try Red Leicester, Gruyere, Emmental or if you’re in the USA, a nice Monterey Jack or Pepper Jack could work really nicely in the absence of a mature cheddar. Let’s get started!
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
- 50g unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 stick of celery, ends trimmed and finely chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2x small tins of sweetcorn, drained (165g drained weight per tin)
- 600ml chicken stock
- 500ml whole milk
- Salt & pepper
- 4 roast chicken fillets (ready cooked), skins removed or 450g of cooked chicken meat of your choice, roughly chopped
- 200g pancetta slices or streaky bacon
- 250g shredded mature or sharp cheddar cheese
Method
- Heat the olive oil and butter in a large soup pot with a lid over medium heat until the butter has melted. Add the chopped onion, carrot and celery and cook until softened, stirring occasionally.
- Once the vegetables are soft add the garlic and chilli flakes. Cook while stirring for another minute.
- Add the potatoes and one of the tins of sweetcorn. Cook while stirring occasionally for another 3 to 5 minutes.
- Pour in the chicken stock and milk, season with salt & pepper and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to the boil and then reduce the heat, cover with the lid and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through, stirring occasionally.
- While the soup is simmering you can fry the pancetta or bacon by putting about an inch of water into a frying pan and adding the pancetta over high heat. Cook until the water has evaporated and reduce the heat a little. Continue cooking while pushing it around the pan with a spatula or tongs until it’s bronze and crispy. As each piece reaches the desired crispiness, remove it to a plate lined with paper towels. When all the pieces are cooked, either use your hands, a knife or a pair of scissors to roughly chop or crumble the pancetta or bacon for sprinkling over the soup later.
- When the soup has simmered long enough remove it from the heat and blend it with a stick blender or carefully transfer it to a blender and blitz it until completely smooth. Return the now liquid soup mixture to the pot over medium heat. The soup may be a little curdled when you get to this step, but that’s totally fine – the blending will smooth it out and no one will ever know.
- Add the chicken and the other tin of sweetcorn and stir. Continue heating for another 5 -10 minutes until the chicken is warmed through without letting it boil. You want to keep it just under boiling if possible.
- To serve, ladle the chowder into bowls while hot and sprinkle the top with a crack of black pepper, some shredded cheddar cheese and the pancetta or bacon crumbles. Serve hot.
Click here to see all the delicious soup & stew recipes from ashleylaurenturner.com!
