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Fantastic recipe. Made it for the whole family – kids and adults liked it alike! Really good having bacon, basil and chilli flakes as toppings.
Lexi
This recipe is sponsored by Almond Breeze
The thing is, I try not to be TOO basic with my blog recipes, but then I remember the truth: I am basic. I LOVE basic.
And veg-friendly soups that are basic and flexible? They are in my zone.
So today I introduce you to my current favorite summer soup, the massive bowl of highly decorated Chipotle Corn Chowder. Let’s start things off right with a close-up.
Even though this recipe is gluten free and vegan, it’s bomb-diggity creamy. We have three, maybe four, things to thank for that:
- olive oil
- potatoes
- sweet corn
- almondmilk
Something magical happens when you take these four ingredients (and maybe just a few more vegetables that you happened to throw in because it’s GARDEN SEASON, HELLO BOSS!) and whiz them together in your blender. Scientifically it’s maybe called an emulsion, plus the starches of the potatoes and carrots? Here – we’re basic, remember? – it’s called miraculous glory. That something magical is a creamy, velvety, feels-like-it-should-be-cream-based soup that is everything my summer corn-chowder loving self could ever want. That Almond Breeze is gifting us something special right here: the combo of creamy and nutty and just a teeny tiny percent naturally sweet-tasting is the perfect friend for corn, potatoes, olive oil, vegetable stock, and the garden vegetable gang.
HOW TO MAKE OUR CHIPOTLE CORN CHOWDER:
Hmm? You want to throw a chipotle in there? Two chipotles? And some fresh basil?
You would. You so totally would.
(And so would I, which is why we’re friends.)
So far my favorite addition to this soup has been zucchini, and my favorite toppings list would be a mile long but I will condense so that you don’t unsubscribe: ribboned basil, runny pesto, infused olive oils, hemp hearts. I KNOW. I cannot not make this fake-fancy. It’s a disorder.
Not that you guys know anything about this, but I’ve found this soup to be a good remedy to the I-Don’t-Want-To-Make-Food-In-The-Summer blues.
It says: goodbye, depressing desk lunch eaten while looking wistfully outside at the nice weather. It says: goodbye, chips and Magic Green Sauce for dinner because I cannot be bothered to cook. It says: hello, summer lover. 💛
Let’s eat and be merry.
Summery Chipotle Corn Chowder
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
This Chipotle Corn Chowder is creamy, just a little spicy, and chock-full of summer vegetables, including corn, zucchini, and basil. Vegan / Gluten Free.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cups red potatoes, diced
- half an onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups sweet corn kernels
- 1 large zucchini, diced
- 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup Almond Breeze Original Almondmilk
- 1–2 individual chipotle peppers
- 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, for serving
- seeds, nuts, oils, etc. for topping
Instructions
- Sauté: Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add all vegetables + salt and sauté until tender-crisp. Add the broth and simmer until potatoes are soft.
- Blend: Transfer 3 cups of soup to a high-powered blender. Add the almondmilk and chipotles. Blend until desired smoothness (I go for super smooth with this one).
- Finish: Stir the blended mixture into the large pot to combine with remaining soup. Serve into bowls and top with lots of fresh basil, pesto, olive oil, hot sauce (!), and maybe some seeds or nuts to be fancy.
Notes
My favorite toppings are ribboned basil, pesto, and hemp hearts.
Go garden-wild! You can kinda use any summer vegetables you like. Spinach is good, if you’re that kind of healthy person.
Be sure to season very generously with salt and pepper – the combo of corn and almondmilk makes this one surprisingly sweet.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: summer corn chowder, corn chowder recipe, chipotle corn chowder
Thank you to Almond Breeze for making this corn chowder a reality!
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of best healthy soups. Check it out!
Can cows milk be used instead of the almond milk ?
Yes!
This chowder was SO GOOD! I tried to make it exactly how you showed, but I forgot the almond milk and used 1% milk instead. Otherwise, everything as is. I will say, the next day it was twice as good. Something changed and it thickened up and the flavors really melded together. This one’s a keeper for sure!
Absolutely brilliant autumn soup when corn is aplenty in the market.
I used leeks, not onion and I did not have any chipotle peppers (not very common in Australia), so I used a mix of El Yucateco chipotle chilli sauce and some gochugaru chilli flakes.
I have ordered some chipotle peppers online though and will be making this again to see how the flavour changes.
The soup is creamy without having an ounce of cream in it. I added a knob of butter when sauteing the leeks (couldn’t help myself), but the flavour would be amazing without it too.
Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe. It will be a recurring one in our household.
One of the best soup recipe out there. My 3 years old loves it. Thank you 🙏
Wonderful! I meant to add basil when serving, but forgot. So we had homemade bread dipped in pesto, plus more pesto stirred into the soup. What amazed me was how flavorful the soup was with only salt and pepper as spices. It didn’t really need the pesto, or anything else. The chipotle is everything! I used dairy milk. Delicious and easy (well, except for all the chopping and dicing and cutting corn off the cob, but I like that kind of tedium).
Hi I’m looking forward to making this recipe. Do you think I could freeze leftovers?
We haven’t tried, but we think it’d work okay!
Really delicious! I added miso instead of salt and I might add some smoked paprika next time. Will definitely be making this regularly!
My husband and I had never had corn chowder before. We recently moved to MN and have been trying to build our soup list. This was AMAZING!! Rated very highly by both of us and will be a dinner staple! The chipotle addition was the best touch of spice and smokiness (we used chipotle in adobo sauce). Also for those split households out there, I’m a vegetarian and my partner is a major meat eater, this satisfied us both!
This is delicious and so easy! I made it exactly as written, including the Almond Breeze :). Definitely a hit in my house and going down as a regular summer recipe for us. Thank you!
Yay! So happy to hear this, Madeline!
Fantastic recipe. Made it for the whole family – kids and adults liked it alike! Really good having bacon, basil and chilli flakes as toppings.
Sounds so delicious, Lexi! Thanks for sharing!
Made this yesterday and loved it! I doubled it, tossed in the whole can of peppers because I love spicy food, and I love how this is so customizable with whatever veggies you have on hand (I had carrots and celery as well, they blended in seamlessly). Thanks and will definitely make this again and again!
YUM! Sounds delicious, Diane!
I made this last Sunday for my weekly meal prep. It is fantastic! I couldn’t find plain chipotle peppers so I bought a can of them in adobo sauce and wham! Packs quite a punch – and I only used 1! I have eaten this soup every day for breakfast (yes, odd, I know) and it starts my day with minimal sugar, is filling and not too heavy. Make this soup!
Hi! Love all of your recipes- can this one be made in the instant pot? Please let me know. Thanks!
Hey there, Esha! We haven’t tried this in the Instant Pot, but I’m sure it’d work well.
So yummy! looking so delicious and mouthwatering. I want to make this recipe…. Can’t wait for this recipe..
Thank you so much
This is one of the best soups I’ve ever had, including restaurant soups. I am amazed that every ingredient is healthy and nutritious and will be making this as often as I can.
Can I make this in the instant pot?
We haven’t tried, but I’m sure it would work well!
I made this last night, and it was so tasty! Served it with warm crusty bread. The only change I might make was only to add one chipotle pepper instead of two. : ) Thanks for this one! I’ll definitely use it again!
I made this last night – SO good!! Thank you! your recipes never fail 🙂
What did you use to decorate this dish? looks amazing. Important for those that want to impress the family by making something simple look gourmet!
It’s pesto, basil, and hemp hearts! 🙂
I would love to make this tomorrow, can you tell me if you are using Chipotle Peppers in Adobo? Its really hard to tell in the video and other that that, difficult to find in the store if it’s something other that that….:) I appreciate it! Love your recipes!
Yes, it’s canned chipotle peppers in adobo!
Does anyone know if this freezes/thaws well? I love making soups for lunch, but I usually freeze half to eat a few weeks later.
We’ve never frozen this so can’t really say, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work!
I have made this recipe approximately 900 times since you first posted – it’s the bomb.com. I even left a quick review, but I wanted to come back with 5 stars.
Thank you so much for all the delicious recipes Lindsay. I can’t express in words how helpful it is to have easy-to-make, yummy, and healthy meal ideas. I hope you know what a positive impact you’re having on working/parenting/trying-to-survive people in this world 🙂
What a sweet note! Glad you’ve enjoyed the recipe!
This looks delicious do you know how many servings this is and the nutritional value by chance?
would this be OK with coconut milk instead of almond?
Hi Jennifer! It might work, but the flavor might be a little off. If you’re going to go with a non-dairy milk, we’d just recommend it not have too strong of a flavor.
Any thoughts on how this would be without the potatoes? I am trying to use ingredients on hand abd I have everything but those.
Hi Kelly! You could give it a try, but it won’t be quite as thick/creamy when it gets blended. I’d probably recommend reducing the liquid to keep it a little thicker.