Easy Corn Chowder – Mexican Style!
Turn a bag of frozen corn into a meal with this easy Corn Chowder recipe – jazzed up with sweet peppers and Mexican flair. Of course, you can use fresh corn if it’s seasonally available. It’ll be delicious too!
Corn Chowder is often a gloppy, fat filled mess.
This is not that Corn Chowder. There is some Half and Half in it to make it creamy and delightful, but it’s mostly thickened up with a combination of a light roux and the addition of corn meal near the end of cooking. If you want to lighten it up even more, substitute evaporated milk for the Half and Half. Evaporated milk won’t break like regular milk can, but it will still taste yummy.
What’s a roux? It’s a pretty fancy french term for a mixture of oil (or butter) and flour that’s cooked until the flour looses that raw flavor.
Roux (/ˈruː/) is flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces.[1] Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight.[2] The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cooked to the desired level of brownness. Butter, bacon drippings or lard are commonly used fats.
Wikipedia
Our roux will be made by adding the flour to the veggies after they’ve cooked out a bit in a combo of oil and butter.
Let’s cook Corn Chowder!
Melt butter and oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven. (Affiliate links follow – see disclaimer page for details.) Add in the onions and sweet peppers. (Add the jalapeno too, if you’re into a little bit of spice.) Saute over medium to medium high heat until the veggies start to loosen up a bit and become translucent.
Once the veggies have cooked for 5 – 7 minutes, sprinkle on the flour and mix well. I’m a big fan of wooden spoons while making soup – you can make sure to get all the bits off the bottom of the pot. Mix the flour with the fat in the bottom of the pot and stir occasionally for a couple of minutes, letting the flour cook.
Sprinkle in the chili powder and cook for another 30 seconds or so.
Add in the water and soup base, and mix well. Add in the frozen corn ~ don’t bother thawing the corn before using. If you’re using fresh corn, take it off the cob before cooking it. Toss in the cobs themselves to flavor the broth. (Remember to remove them before you serve!) This batch was made with my favorite vegetarian base, but chicken soup base would be tasty too.
Let it cook for about 15 minutes, so all the veggies can flavor the broth. Then sprinkle in the corn meal while whisking, and add the Half & Half. We like it with a bit of cheese melted over the top, and some cheesy toast soldiers for dipping.
Mix it up ~
If you want to add protein, add it with the Half and Half. Shredded Rotisserie or leftover (cooked) chicken chunks would be delightful. Add raw shrimp to the hot soup and let it cook until pink and firm – it should take less than 5 minutes. Or, toss in some chunks of ham. All will add great flavor and make the soup even tastier!
Corn Chowder – Mexican Style!
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Butter
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 large Onion, chopped into 1/4 inch dice
- 1 large Sweet Bell Pepper chopped into 1/4 inch dice (we used a combo of red and yellow peppers)
- 1 medium Jalapeno Pepper, seeded, chopped into fine dice
- 4 tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 1 tbsp Chili Powder
- 6 cups Water
- 2 tbsp Vegetable Soup Base
- 1 pound Bag of Frozen Corn
- 1/4 cup Corn Meal
- 1 cup Half & Half
Instructions
- Melt butter and oil in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven. Add onions, sweet peppers and jalapenos. Saute veggies over medium to medium high heat until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle flour over vegetables. Continue to stir over medium heat for a few minutes to cook the flour.
- Sprinkle in chili powder and let cook for thirty seconds or so.
- Add water, soup base and corn to pot. Allow soup to come to a low boil, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Sprinkle in corn meal while whisking (to prevent it from clumping). Add Half & Half and bring back to heat. Allow to cook for a few minutes to thicken up.
- Serve immediately. If desired, add grated cheese, hot sauce or sour cream to top~
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