American Corn Chowder
Corn chowder is a late-summer American soup built for a glut of sweet corn, usually thickened with cream and studded with bacon and butter. This version gets its body from the corn and potatoes themselves: blend half the pot and the starch turns it thick and velvety, no cream required. Smoked paprika stands in for the bacon, carrying that whiff of smoke without the salt or the pork, and soy milk finishes it creamy with a little protein. Frozen corn is picked and frozen at its peak, so this tastes like August in any month. It thickens as it sits, so loosen leftovers with a splash of water when you reheat them.
Ingredients
- 4 cups Frozen corn
- 1 lb Potatoes, peeled and diced small
- 1 whole Yellow onions, diced
- 2 stalks Celery, diced
- 3 cloves Garlic, minced
- 4 sprigs Thyme, leaves stripped
- 2 wholes Bay leaves
- 1 tsp Smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp no-salt vegetable bouillon
- 1 cup Unsweetened soy milk
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
- 3 wholes Scallions, thinly sliced
Method
- Sweat the onion, celery, and garlic in 0.25 cup (60 ml) water in a pot over medium heat until soft, about 8 minutes, adding a splash more if it dries. This trinity of aromatics is the flavor floor, and sweating it in water rather than butter loses none of it.
- Add the potatoes, 3 cups of the corn, the thyme, bay leaves, smoked paprika, bouillon, and 4 cups (950 ml) water. Simmer until the potatoes are completely tender, about 15 minutes. The smoked paprika is doing the job the bacon usually does in a chowder, adding smoke with no salt and no meat.
- Fish out the bay leaves. Blend about half the soup smooth, either with an immersion blender pulsed in bursts or a cupful at a time in a jar blender, then stir it back in. Pureeing part of the potato and corn is what makes the chowder thick and creamy with no cream; leaving the rest whole keeps it a chowder and not a puree.
- Stir in the remaining 1 cup corn and the soy milk and warm through over low heat for 5 minutes, without boiling. Soy milk is the plant milk with enough protein to add real body here, and keeping it below a boil stops it from separating.
- Grind in the black pepper and taste. It should be sweet from the corn and smoky from the paprika, needing no salt. Serve topped with the sliced scallions.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 200 calories, 7 g protein, 6 g fiber, 120 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
