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A simple Zucchini Corn Chowder loaded with fresh produce! Diced potatoes, zucchini, and fresh corn all together in a luxuriously creamy soup base!
Sipping on summer corn chowder.
Okay, but not really.
Though this delicious Zucchini Corn chowder has all of summers best bounties, it’s one of those recipes that you can truly make all year long. All you need is a little crusty bread to pair alongside a bowl of this and maybe an side salad. It’s honestly such a flavorful bowl.
And let’s also talk about the abundance of veggies here: potatoes, onions, celery, and carrots, garlic, and jalapeños — yes JALAPEÑOS that go into this chowder. When do we ever do boring, bland, or tasteless food around here? What you’re getting in this one bowl is veggies up the wazoo.
The key to making a perfect corn chowder is the balance of creamed veggies and chunky bites. I like to purée about half of the soup in a food processor before adding in the half and half so that some of the veggies are whole while others blend completely to make the perfect silky chowder texture.
Last note, the jalapeños I used are completely option, for a milder zucchini corn chowder, just leave them out. But we love a little southern style kick so I highly urge you to give it a go with the peppers!
This is my favorite new soup! Uses up the zucchini in my garden in a new and tasty way. I’m made it for many different people and its always a winner!
Ingredients for Zucchini Corn Chowder
- Butter: just a few tablespoons to saute the veggies in the pot.
- Yellow onions: we’ll a saute the onions and vegetables in the pot as the base.
- Carrots: you’ll need diced carrots for this
- Celery: I use finely chopped onions, carrots, and celery as the base of this recipe.
- Garlic: adds the perfect amount of flavor
- Jalapeno: give this a little southern kick!
- Gold Potatoes: Yukon gold potatoes are my favorite for this, but feel free to use russets too. We don’t need flour to make a roux, as the natural starch in the potatoes will help thicken the chowder.
- Chicken Broth:vegetable broth works equally well here to make this vegetarian-friendly!
- Fresh Zucchini:
- Herbs and seasonings: you’ll need kosher salt, as well as a bay leaf, some dried thyme, and some fresh parsley to finish the soup. I always finish my bowl with
- Fresh Corn Kernels: When in season, I’ll use fresh corn sliced off the cob, but you can also use defrosted corn here if you’re making this in the winter months!
- Half and Half: if you don’t have half and half, simply use ½ cup milk and ½ cup of heavy cream here instead.
- To finish: I always finish my bowl with a little black pepper and some crisped up turkey bacon!
How to Make Corn Zucchini Chowder recipe
- Saute the aromatics. Start by adding the butter to a large dutch oven. Once melted, add the onions, carrots and celery. Stir often and cook until the vegetables soften. Add the garlic and jalapenos with the potatoes and cook until the garlic is no longer raw.
- Simmer the soup. Pour the broth, and all the dried herbs. Then bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are half done.
- Adds veggies. Then stir in the zucchini and corn and cook until the potatoes are cooked through.
- Blend it up. Transfer half the chowder to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. If you have an immersion blender, you can also just pulse it in the soup pot to help thicken.
- Serve it up. Heat the soup then add half and half and let it simmer until it thickens bit. Serve topped with fresh parley and some black pepper!
If you like this recipe, you might also like
- Seattle Style Smoked Salmon Chowder
- Shrimp and Corn Chowder
- Blushing Tomato Crab Bisque
- Secret Ingredient Tomato Basil Soup
- Comforting Red Lentil Soup
Fresh Corn Zucchini Chowder
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1¼ cup yellow onions diced
- ½ cup carrots diced
- ½ cup celery diced
- 4 teaspoons garlic minced
- 1 jalapeńo diced, remove seeds/ribs before to control spice
- ¾ lb. yukon gold potatoes diced
- 4 cups chicken broth low sodium, vegetable broth works too
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 large zucchini diced
- 2½ cups corn kernels fresh or frozen
- 1 cup half and half or heavy cream
- fresh parsley black pepper, and bacon bits, for garnish
Instructions
- SAUTE: In a large dutch oven, heat the butter over medium high heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the vegetables soften. Add the garlic, jalapenos, and potatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring so the veggies don't stick to the pot.
- SIMMER: Add the broth, bay leaf, and thyme, bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat and let simmer for 8-10 minutes or until the potatoes are half way cooked.
- ADD: the zucchini and corn kernels and continue to cook for an additional 5-7 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through. You can check the doneness by gently piercing with the tip of a knife.
- BLEND: Remove the bay leaf, transfer 2 cups or more (see notes) into a food processor and process until smooth. Pour the blended mixture back into the pot. Alternately, you can use an immersion blender and pulse it in the soup pot until it reaches your desired consistency.
- SERVE: Heat the soup over medium high heat, add the half and half and let come to a gentle simmer. Serve topped with fresh parsley, black pepper bacon bits, and smoked paprika if desired.
Notes
- You can blend all or none of the chowder as well. This is completely to your preference! Use more or less jalapeños to preference too!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
What size dutch oven did you use, how many quarts?
a 3-quart or larger should do the trick!
This soup is soooo delicious! I added about 2 cup so multi colored peppers and about 3 cups broccoli, upped the broth by 2 cups and added summer squash too! Added salt and pepper and cumin and turmeric. Hubby even said it was good! Shhhh don’t tell him about the whole onion in it!!
Do you have to add the jalapeno pepper ( I don’t have one) or can you just add cayenne to it?
The jalapeno does add a nice flavor, but cayenne would work in a pinch!
This was very good. We have a lot of frozen squash, zucchini, potatoes, carrots and corn from our summer garden. This was a perfect recipe for using those items. Used a lot more squash than recipe called for and used an immersion blender for a finer chop. Served with toasted, buttered baguette slices.
I love this. I added salt, and I think I used a way big bay leaf because it was a little over powering, but we will definitely make this again!
This is my favorite new soup! Uses up the zucchini in my garden in a new and tasty way. I’m made it for many different people and its always a winner!
I know I’m late to the party. Full disclosure: I needed to use up a zucchini and found this recipe via Pinterest and happened to have the rest of the ingredients. I wasn’t expecting much to be honest. How wrong I was. This was delicious on so many levels I was convinced a little leprachaun snuck into my kitchen and added a bunch of ingredients I was unaware of. Truly delicious and now being add to our family favourite lists. Look forward to sifting through some of your other recipes!
It was absolutely delicious! Friends raved about it, added chopped kale and a red pepper
What would you consider a “large” zucchini? Like a garden large or a store large?
I’d say store-bought large.
Haha! That honestly made me laugh out loud because it’s such a great question. There’s potentially a HUGE difference between the two!
I’m late to the party here, but I believe a large zucchini is about 7-10 oz, with a medium being about 5 oz.
It’s a soup, so you can add some extra (or less) zucchini without ruining any chemistry.
I was looking to do this recipe in the crockpot, what kind of adjustments do the recipe do you suggest I make in regards to the order of the items being added? Thank you in advance!
Hi Jenna, unfortunately, I haven’t tested this recipe in the crockpot so it’s difficult for me to say how you’d go about doing that. I’d suggest doing an online search for a similar recipe that’s been tested in the slow cooker and using that as a guideline.
This came out great!
A few small tweaks here and there to accommodate for what I had on hand, but honestly delicious! It was devoured very quickly!
Thanks for the share, and I’ve given you credit on my blog!
Can u eat this cold? I’m always looking for dinner ideas for Shabbat.
Sure, if you’d like!
You gave the Nutrition Facts without listing the size of serving. We diabetics would appreciate knowing… it looks sooooo good!
This was so yummy.
This chowder was delicious!
Made a double batch for a supper club soup night that required vegetarian. It was a huge hit! Thank you. I will be making it again.
what exactly is a serving size?? How many cups?
I’d say a serving size was in the ballpark of 1- 1 ¼ cups.
The soup is still simmering away in the crockpot. I made a double batch, and puréed about two thirds of it. I added some smoky cumin and chopped cilantro. It is fantastic!
And in my bowl I sprinkled in some “Tajin” line seasoning and extra jalepeno which really switched up the flavor… love it both ways!
Thanks for a great idea!
Your additions sound delicious, Kristen! 🙂
Hi Kristen
I’m making this soup in a crock pot today. Can you tell me when you added the heavy cream? At the end or beginning. Thanks!!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I made it yesterday for lunch this week. Is it possible to freeze this soup?
You can freeze it, Dawn but I would do so before adding in the cream/half and half. There’s always a risk of it splitting if you freeze it with the dairy.
Hi Marzia – just thought I’d come back to let you know that the soup did freeze well. It was a bit grainier once thawed b/c of the potatoes, but overall tasted great and texture was fine (& I’m a texture person).
Happy holidays! Hope you and your loved ones have a safe/joyous season!
I just made your soup using sweet potato instead of regular potato because it was all I had and it was the best soup ever!!!! Thank you soooooo much for sharing your recipe! It’s absolutely delicious!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks for commenting! 🙂
This soup looks so tasty and comforting. Also love your photos!