A hearty and delicious Slow Cooker Chicken Corn Chowder is an easy and nutritious dinner to warm you from the inside out!
It’s January in Virginia, which means that we’re past the excitement of the holidays and we’re waffling in that in-between period.
Spring isn’t yet on the horizon, and so we’re hunkered down indoors — as close to the wood stoves as possible — staying cozy with a warm bowl of soup. I can’t think of a better meal to come home to at the end of a cold, gray day than a steaming pot of Chicken Corn Chowder.
Oh my goodness, it’s tasty!
This dinner is easy-peasy, but it does have multiple steps…so it requires a tiny bit of your attention (unlike most of the dump-and-go recipes that I share). Again, it’s definitely not difficult, and the extra effort is so worth it.
I mean, you brown the chicken in bacon fat before putting it in the soup. How could that not taste AMAZING?!?!
And if you can get your hands on a multi-use slow cooker like this new one that I recently purchased, it makes the whole process so fast! You can sautee the bacon and brown the chicken right in your slow cooker, so you don’t even have to dirty an extra skillet! I’m seriously loving this handy appliance…
Towards the end of the cooking time, you’ll puree the Chicken Corn Chowder with a hand-held stick blender (like this one), or in batches in a regular blender, giving it a thick, rich, taste. This only takes about 4 or 5 minutes of your time, and the pureed corn, potatoes, and other vegetables add a velvety texture to the soup — which means that you only need a small amount of heavy cream at the end.
You won’t believe how creamy-dreamy this chowder really is!
I know that you’re going to LOVE coming home to this simple one-pot meal — and your family will love it, too!
For quicker weeknight dinners, you can even prepare a batch of the Chicken Corn Chowder on the weekend and keep it in jars in your refrigerator to reheat when you need it.
I even microwave bowls of the soup for lunch when I’m busy, as well. Trust me: it’s the cozy cure for those late January blues!
SLOW COOKER CHICKEN CORN CHOWDER
Slow Cooker Chicken Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon chopped
- 1 ½ lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels thawed
- ½ cup diced celery
- ½ cup diced carrots
- 1 russet potato peeled and cubed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 14.75 oz. can cream-style corn
- Fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Fry bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside to use later as a garnish. Reserve bacon drippings in the skillet.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Add chicken breasts to the bacon drippings in the skillet and cook over medium-high heat, just until browned on both sides (about 3 minutes per side). The chicken does not need to be completely cooked through – it just needs to be browned on each side for flavor, since it will continue cooking in the slow cooker.
- Meanwhile, place onions, corn, celery, carrots, potatoes and thyme in a slow cooker. Add browned chicken to the slow cooker. Pour chicken broth over top, cover, and cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours or on LOW for about 6-7 hours.
- Remove chicken from slow cooker and place on a cutting board.
- Using a handheld stick blender, puree the soup in the slow cooker until it reaches desired consistency. I like my soup pretty smooth, but with still a few small chunks of veggies. If you don’t have a stick blender, you can carefully transfer the soup to a regular blender or food processor and blend until it reaches desired consistency. You might have to do this in batches, depending on how large your blender is.
- Once the soup is pureed, chop or shred the chicken and return it to the soup in the slow cooker.
- Stir in heavy cream, cream-style corn, and ¾ teaspoon salt. Continue cooking for about 5 more minutes, or until heated through.
- Divide chowder among individual bowls and garnish with reserved cooked bacon and chopped fresh parsley.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website.
Now this is my kind of January meal! I know what you mean about the after-holiday excitement, but not yet ready for the warmer weather. It’s the in between, grey period, and all I want is comfort food! This looks perfect to make in the slow cooker, Blair!
Thank you, Gayle! This is definitely comfort food! 🙂
Can you skip the heavy cream or use a skim milk instead? Or will it ruin the taste? Looks delicious and i really want to try it!!
Hi, Karli! I prefer the thicker, smoother, creamier texture that the heavy cream provides, and it’s such a small amount in the larger pot of soup, that I would encourage you to use it.
That said, I do think that you could go with a whole milk or a fat-free half-and-half with good luck, too. I wouldn’t use something like skim milk, because I worry that would make it too watery and the texture just wouldn’t be the same. Hope that helps!
We do not eat pork, so the bacon is an issue. I don’t think that most turkey bacon’s hold up well in soups either. Do you have any other suggestions?
Hey, Meg! That’s not a problem. The bacon is basically just used as a garnish on the top of the soup when serving. I use the bacon drippings in the skillet to brown the chicken (because it offers some good flavor), but you can easily just substitute some butter or oil in the skillet for browning the chicken instead! And obviously skip the bacon garnish at the end (or use turkey bacon on the top if you still want that crispy flavor). There’s no bacon actually in the soup, so you won’t need to change anything else. Enjoy!