It’s finally fall, and I feel alive again! Time to get back into cooking, so I’ve decided to test out a hearty corn chowder recipe.

If you’re vegan (and even if you’re not), I’d highly recommend checking out Crazy Vegan Kitchen. I love her attitude, and her recipes are fantastic! Since our family isn’t vegan, we made some modifications to the recipe to use up what we have in our kitchen. I’m recording our adjustments below so that we can make this again in the future and remember what we did. Super happy with the results. Tastes so delicious, has a variety of veggies in it, and feels very fall-themed with the apple cider vinegar.

Hearty Corn Chowder
Makes 4 Servings

1 Tbsp. canola oil (or olive oil)
1 medium sweet onion (I used Vidalia), diced
1 red pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 or 3 small red potatoes, diced (or 1 medium russet, peeled and diced)
3 Tbsp. flour
1 cup whole milk
2 cups chicken broth (I used Better Than Bouillon)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. paprika (or smoked paprika if you have it)
1 tsp. dried parsley
16 oz. frozen whole kernel sweet corn (or 4 ears of fresh corn)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
additional pepper to taste

 

STEPS

1. Dice up the onion, red pepper, celery, and potatoes, keeping the potatoes separated from the other diced veggies.
2. In a Dutch oven or large pot, add oil and set to medium heat. Once oil is hot, sauté the onion, red pepper, and celery for 10 minutes or until soft.
3. While the veggies cook, this is when we make the chicken broth from the Better Than Bouillon in small sauce pan.
4. Add the diced potatoes and mix well. Then add flour and stir to coat the veggies. Cook and stir for one to two minutes until flour is lightly browned, then add in the milk and chicken broth and stir together.
5. Next, add in the salt, pepper, paprika, and dried parsley. Stir well and bring to a boil while mixing constantly. Then cover and reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. Make sure to check on it ever few minutes and give it a stir to prevent sticking or burning.
6. Either heat the frozen corn using packaging instructions, or pour the frozen corn into a bowl of cold water to thaw, then strain. Mix into the soup and wait until the corn is heated up.
7. For a creamy soup, you can use an immersion blender or pour some of the soup into a blender (just be careful to vent the top and blend slowly at first). Blend as much as you like to get to the consistency you prefer. We do a little blending with our immersion blender, but leave at least half untouched. If using a blender, pour everything back into the pot.
8. Stir well, then add in the apple cider vinegar. Feel free to top with some freshly ground black pepper or any other toppings you’d like.

 

NUTRITIONAL INFO

4 serving | 354 cal | total fat 7g | sat fat 2g | cholesterol 9mg | sodium 849mg | total carb 64g | fiber 7g | sugars 8g | protein 10g

 

This soup made me so happy. I’ll be making this often during the fall season. My love for this soup even overruled the embarrassment over my photo-taking skills. Can’t wait to make this again in the future.