I love this warm and comforting Easy Chicken Corn Chowder soup recipe. It’s super easy to make quickly in about 15 minutes on the stovetop in just one pot.
Some of my other chowder recipes utilize corn too. Try my Slow Cooker Fresh Corn Chowder, Corn and Shrimp Chowder and Corn and Crab Chowder.
I came upon this recipe from Cooking Light about 15 years ago, and I’ve been making it ever since. It’s a nice, “lighter” chowder recipe. The creaminess of this Easy Chicken Corn Chowder is appealing, along with the sweetness of the corn. There is a little bit of chopped jalapeño in the soup, which gives it a slightly spicy flavor too. It’s a good bowl of comfort to enjoy for lunch or dinner. And it can be served year-round.
Ingredients Needed:
- Butter: You’re only using a tablespoon, so it doesn’t matter if you use salted or unsalted.
- Onion: Finely chopped sweet onion is perfect for this recipe.
- Celery: Finely chop your celery so you won’t have big chunks.
- Jalapeno: A fresh jalapeno pepper is what you’ll need. As long as you scrape out the seeds and mince it finely, it won’t be crazy spicy.
- Flour: Use all purpose flour as the thickener.
- Milk: We use 2% milk, but you can certainly use whole milk or half and half.
- Chicken: There are instructions in the post below for how to pre-cook the chicken for this recipe. Alternately, you can use shredded roasted chicken.
- Creamed Corn: Yep, you’ll be using one can of creamed corn in this soup!
- Corn Kernels: Use frozen or fresh. They’ll be better tasting than canned corn.
- Fresh Thyme: Don’t substitute dried thyme. Fresh thyme is amazing!
- Salt: To taste!
- Ground Red Pepper: This will just add another element of flavor to the easy chicken corn chowder. It won’t be spicy unless you go crazy with your addition.
How to make Easy Chicken Corn Chowder:
Onion, celery and jalapeño are sautéed in a little bit of butter. Flour is then mixed in… then milk, cooked chicken, creamed corn, corn kernels, fresh thyme, salt and red pepper. It’s all brought to a boil and will be thickened and ready to eat in a matter of minutes. The whole recipe will take you less than 30 minutes to make. It’s an easy one!
How to make easy cooked chicken breast:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Drizzle your boneless skinless chicken breasts with a little olive oil, and sprinkle them generously with salt and pepper. Put the chicken in a baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until they reach a safe temperature of 165 degrees F. You will need two cups of chopped, cooked chicken breast for this Easy Chicken Corn Chowder recipe.
Easy substitutions and additions:
- To make preparation even easier for this Easy Chicken Corn Chowder, use a roasted chicken instead of cooking the chicken yourself. Grab a freshly roasted chicken from your market, and pull the chicken off the carcass as soon as you get home (it’s easier to do when the chicken is warm).
- Use shrimp in place of the chicken to create an easy shrimp corn chowder.
- Add bacon to the recipe. Saute the bacon in a pan, and use the bacon grease to saute the onion, celery and jalapeno. Crumble cooked bacon on top of individual servings.
- Substitute a can of chopped green chiles for the jalapeño, if you’d like.
- Add chopped carrots and/or chopped red bell peppers to the soup, along with the vegetables.
- If you want to add cream to the recipe, I’d suggest going with half milk and half cream. Since you are using 3 cups, all cream in the soup may be a bit too rich.
This recipe makes 6 servings of Easy Chicken Corn Chowder. The serving size is one cup. You may wish to double the recipe after you make it for the first time because it will disappear quickly! Heating up leftovers for lunch a day or two after is a good idea. Leftovers are delicious!
What to serve with Easy Chicken Corn Chowder:
This is such a wonderful, creamy soup that would pair nicely with garlic bread, sourdough bread or cornbread. Add your favorite salad too, if you’d like.
Easy Chicken Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- ½ cup finely chopped celery
- 1 medium jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 3 cups 2% milk
- 2 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- One 14.75-ounce can cream style corn
- 1½ cups frozen corn kernels (or 3 ears of fresh corn)
- 1½ teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground red pepper
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and jalapeño; cook for 3 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently.
- Add in the flour; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the milk and remaining ingredients.
- Bring to a boil, and cook until thickened (about 5 minutes.)
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious Chicken Corn Chowder, very filling. As others have stated, I used chilies instead of jalapeno pepper. We like the bacon bits for the top. Going in my recipe book. Thank you.
“If you are counting Weight Watchers points, there is a link to the WW Points for Easy Chicken Corn Chowder in the recipe card below.”
Not seeing this anywhere in the recipe card..
I’m so sorry- I have stopped providing the links to WW since they keep changing their program! I need to update.
2nd time making – this time made my own cream corn – super simple and much more flavor (and corn isn’t mush or overly sweet) – added diced carrot to onion saute, skipped the jalapeño and added the fire roasted chili’s – served in bread bowls and couldn’t get any better! except – forgot! used a rotisserie chicken, dark & white meat and so much more flavor!
left out the fresh jalapeño but added some pickled japapenos on top of each serving; also added some chopped fire roasted chili’s (that the grocery was roasting this summer and i froze) – i think maybe add some chunks of potato next time (and there will be a next time!) per another review… and to make it even better – served it in bread soup bowls!! (and thank you thank you for not including bacon on top of the soup or in the ingredients – so tired of bacon in everything!)
Great recipe! Curious when you triple recipe the creamed corn remains the same. Help please! Hoping to make shortly! Thanks!
That’s because the program that triples it does not recognize “one” can of corn. If tripling, you can add three cans.
I make this recipe often! I love it and have shared with several friends. Also I have put it in the freezer with great success! I also substitute green Chile for the jalapeño!
This recipe is AMAZING!!! Adding it to my cookbook as we speak. Quick question though- have you tried it with any other types of milk? Trying to find a lower point milk. TIA
I made this evening with unsweetened almond milk and it was great!
What a great recipe for a rainy day in Oregon! Truly a comfort food and I love that you can whip it up in no time! I left out the jalapeños (I’m not a fan) but I did add red pepper flakes for a little kick. I took your suggestion and added red bell pepper. I also added a tad of rosemary, dill and garlic powder, and finished it off with grated cheddar cheese. This is a keeper!
So delicious! Very quick and easy to make! My whole family loved it!
How many WW points is this? I can’t find it anywhere on the recipe.
Hi There,
I just added a button on the recipe card, so you can click over to the WW site to see how many points for your plan. You have to have a WW account to view it, I believe.
I can’t see then end of the recipe. Only the steps on making the roux
The whole recipe is there!