This Corn Chowder with Bacon & Smoked Paprika is here just in time for soup season! It is creamy, hearty and full of smoky flavor from the bacon and paprika. The ingredients and steps are incredibly simple and easy, so let’s get started!
I just love soup season. To be honest, I would (and do) eat soups all year round! I love the process of making soups and simmering them on the stove for a few hours, there’s just something so cozy about it and really makes it feel like autumn.
Corn Chowder happens to be one of my favorites, and so I of course needed to make my own version! This soup has so much flavor but is really simple in ingredients. With just a few tricks, it is transformed into a bowl of deliciousness!
The ingredients needed for corn chowder
The Corn Chowder of course has corn in it, and this is a great late summer/early fall meal when there seems to be an endless amount of it! I personally find that fresh corn on the cob has so much more flavor than canned corn, plus we’re going to use the cobs to really infuse flavor.
The heartiness of the corn chowder comes from the potatoes. I prefer baby golds, but you can definitely be flexible depending on what you have around. I wouldn’t recommend using russet, as they are a bit too starchy. But baby reds would be delicious and a fun pop of color in the soup!
If you are wanting to make a vegetarian version, you can definitely omit the bacon from this soup. I would just recommend adding about 1 tsp of salt to make up for it!
Wanting to keep this Corn Chowder dairy-free? I suggest using a dairy-free nut milk (unflavored) like nutpods, rather than coconut milk (which is normally what I would substitute in a soup!).
how to make this delicious corn chowder soup...
The first step in making the Corn Chowder is to bring a large pot of water to a boil, and while that’s started, shuck the corn and remove all threads. Once the water is boiling, add the corn and boil on medium/medium-low, covered, for 8 minutes. Remove and drain the water.
While the corn is boiling, I also like to prep all of the other ingredients by dicing and chopping. So for this soup, that would be the garlic, onions, potatoes and bacon!
When those steps are done and the corn is cooked, heat the pot again on medium and add the chopped bacon. Allow the bacon pieces to cook until crispy, remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined plate. You will want to be sure to remove the excess grease from the pot, we don’t particularly want all of that in our soup! Just that nice bacon flavor :).
While the bacon cooks, slice the corn off the cob (and keep both the corn and the cob!). I find it easiest to slice the corn off of the cob by laying the corn flat on a cutting board and cutting the corn off lengthwise, instead of standing the corn up and slicing down with the knife.
Once this is done, add a tablespoon of oil to the pot on medium heat and sauté the diced sweet onion and minced garlic cloves for a few minutes until soft.
Add in the diced baby gold potatoes, 4 cups of the vegetable broth, 2 tsp smoked paprika, ½ tsp black pepper, all of the corn AND the corn cobs. Simmering the cobs with the broth really imparts a delicious corn flavor into the soup, don’t skip it!
Bring the soup to a simmer and cover for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Remove the corn cobs and taste for salt (it likely won’t need any). Then, add in the heavy cream while the soup is on medium-low, and make an arrowroot (or sub cornstarch 1:1) slurry and add it to the soup. Allow the soup to simmer for about 5 minutes to thicken up!
Top the chowder with the bacon crumbles and some chopped green onions, and you’re ready to eat!
Let me know if you love this recipe!
If you tried out this recipe, I would LOVE it if you left me a comment below letting me know what you think. And give me any other soup recipes that you’d like to see come to Seasoned by Silvie!
In the mood for more soup? I gotchu! You’ll love these…
–Creamy Dairy-Free Butternut Squash Soup
–Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup
–Avgolemono (Greek Chicken Soup- one of my all-time faves!)
I also have plenty more recipe inspiration on my Pinterest, and lots of cute Ruby moments are shared on my Instagram!
Corn Chowder with Bacon & Smoked Paprika
Equipment
- cutting board
- large stockpot
Ingredients
- 1 small diced sweet onion
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 4 ears corn
- 1/5 lb bacon chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
- 3 cups baby gold potatoes
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- salt, to taste
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp arrowroot starch or substitute cornstarch
Instructions
- Shuck the corn and fill a large pot with water. Bring to a boil, and then boil the corn covered for 8 minutes.
- While the corn is boiling, be sure to dice the rest of the ingredients.
- When the corn is done, remove it and either drain the pot (or use a different one) and heat it to medium. Cook the bacon until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Drain the excess grease.
- While the bacon is cooking, slice the corn off of the cob. Keep the cobs and the corn.
- To the pot, add 1 tbsp of olive oil if needed, the 1 diced sweet onion and 4 minced garlic cloves. Sauté for a few minutes until soft.
- Add in the 3 cups diced baby gold potatoes, 4 cups broth, 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp black pepper, corn from the cob AND the actual cobs.
- Bring to a simmer and cover for about 25 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Remove the corn cobs. Taste for salt.
- Pour in the heavy cream.
- Make an arrowroot slurry by whisking the 2 tbsp arrowroot starch with 4 tbsp cold water. Add to the soup and simmer for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Top the chowder with the bacon crumbles & green onion, if desired.
I’ve made this at least 4 times now! Such a great recipe, my family loves it. Thank you Silvie 🙂
Author
So glad to hear that, Emma!
This looks so good! What a great dish to make for a weeknight or to serve to family!
such an amazing recipe! My husband and I have been looking for a corn chowder recipe for a while and this one is *chef’s kiss*!! give it a go!
Delicious!!