Chicken and Corn Chowder

Well, it's almost time to stop making the warm, rich soups and stews that we all love so much in my house. But, since it is still March, and today is the last day of winter(!!!), I am throwing out one last soup recipe for the season.

This was my first attempt as a chowder. I don't know why some words intimidate me when cooking, but chowder is definitely one of those words. Well, it wasn't hard at all.


The ingredients:

1 Tbsp. olive oil; 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces; 3 C. thawed frozen corn; 1/2 C. coarsely chopped onion (about 1 medium); 1-2 Tbsp. water; 1 C. diced carrots; 2 Tbsp. finely chopped jalapeno peppers (optional); 1/2 tsp. ried oregano; 1/4 tsp. dried thyme; 3 C. chicken broth; 1 1/2 C. milk; 1/2 tsp. salt.

Heat the oil in a pan and then cook the chicken pieces until they are browned on both sides (about 10 minutes or so).

Heat a large pot or dutch oven. Dump in the frozen corn.

Dump in the onion. Stir them together and cook them until the onion is tender (about 5-7 minutes).

While that's cooking, look at this weird, weird carrot. It is not right.

Now, chop up your carrots (I hope you do not have a fugly one like me...ew...)

Once the corn and onion mixture has cooked through, take one cup of the mixture...

and put it in the food processor. Also, this is when you add in those 2 Tbsp. of water.

You might have to stop and spatula it back down and process it again to make sure that it's all finely chopped. Leave the mooshed corn mixture in the food processor for now.

If you are opting to, add in the jalapenos.

The thyme.

And the oregano.

Stir and then let this all cook until the corn starts to brown.

Julia's new favorite thing to do while I cook? To spin until she falls down dizzy. :)

Once the corn has browned, add in the cooked chicken.

The broth.

The milk and the processed corn mixture.

And the salt.

Stir everything together and then turn up your heat to high...

until it all starts to boil.

Once it starts boiling, turn your heat back down to low, cover the pot and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

And, TA DA! You have chicken corn chowder!


We all agreed that it could have been creamier. I think next time I will use a mixture of cream and milk and also, that I will let it simmer longer so it can all break down more. I might also use canned corn instead of frozen because I think the corn didn't get soft enough.

But, it is a chowder that I will be making again. Elisabeth really liked it. She's a chowder kind of girl.