This thick and cheesy Cheddar Corn Chowder with Bacon is made light using cauliflower to thicken it, no cream added. Stove top and Instant Pot directions.
Cheddar Corn Chowder with Bacon
Cheddar Corn Chowder with BaconIt’s soup season, if you’re looking for a new easy soup recipe to add to your dinner rotation, I think you will love this chowder! You can also browse all my soup recipes from the archives. A few favorites are the Potato Leek Soup, Dad’s Cauliflower Soup and of course, Classic Chicken Noodle Soup!
How To Make Corn Chowder
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When Ina Garten’s The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook was released many years ago, I was obsessed. The Cheddar Corn Chowder was one my favorite recipes, but with ½ stick of butter, ½ pound of cheddar cheese and bacon, and 2 cups of half and half, it was far from healthy and light (ha).
But after trying Gina’s delicious Cheeseburger Soup, thickened with blended cauliflower, I decided to try and lighten up Ina’s chowder the same way, and holy cow… this MUCH lighter version tastes just as good as the original! It’s considerably lower in calories and fat, but trust me, you’ll never notice. Enjoy!
More Soup Recipes:
- Macaroni and Cheese Soup
- Smoked Salmon Chowder
- Avocado and Chicken Soup
- Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Chowder
- French Onion Soup
Cheddar Corn Chowder with Bacon
Ingredients
- 6 strips center-cut bacon chopped
- 2 small yellow onions chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose or gluten free flour
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 ½ cups low sodium chicken broth
- 2 small Yukon gold potatoes diced
- 1 12-ounce wedge cauliflower, stem intact
- 1 pound frozen corn kernels
- 1 cup whole milk
- 4 ounces shredded white sharp cheddar cheese
Instructions
Stove top directions
- Place bacon in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot and sauté over medium heat, until cooked and crispy. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel lined plate. Set aside.
- With the pot still over medium heat, add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onions, add turmeric, thyme, salt and pepper, to taste, and cook for an additional minute, stirring constantly.
- Add the broth, potatoes and cauliflower and stir with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom of the pot (this releases the caramelized bits on the bottom). Bring the pot to a boil then decrease to simmer, cover and cook 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat 4 ounces (about 2/3 cup) of the corn with a splash of water in a small microwave safe-dish until just defrosted, about 1 minute.
- Remove the lid from pot and transfer the cauliflower, 1 cup of the soup and warmed corn to a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer puree back to the pot.
- Add the remainder of the frozen corn, the milk and cheese. Mix then simmer for 3 minutes or until the cheese is melted and soup is heated through. Taste and adjust salt, if necessary. Serve topped with reserved bacon pieces.
Instant Pot directions
- Press the sauté button on an electric pressure cooker. Add the bacon and sauté until cooked and crispy. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel lined plate. Set aside.
- In the pressure cooker (still on sauté), add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onions, add turmeric, thyme, salt and pepper, to taste, and cook for an additional minute, stirring constantly.
- Add the broth, potatoes and cauliflower and stir with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom of the pot (this releases the caramelized bits on the bottom).
- Seal and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Quick release, then open when the pressure subsides.
- Meanwhile, heat the corn with 2 tablespoons of water in microwave safe-dish until just heated through, about 3 minutes.
- Transfer the cauliflower, 1 cup of the soup and 2/3 cup warmed corn to a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer puree back to the pot and stir well.
- Add the remainder of corn, milk and cheese. Mix then cover for 3 minutes or until the cheese is melted and soup is heated through. Taste and adjust salt, if necessary. Serve topped with reserved bacon pieces.
Tasted similar to loaded baked potato soup. Too much potato and not enough corn for my liking. Also not as flavorful as I had hoped.
Feel free to add more corn, of course it’s best with fresh summer corn and since it’s not in season, it may not be as sweet.
Wow. This soup is really good. My husband loves the Chicken Corn Chowder his mother used to make. Of course she used heavy cream and lots of butter. I added some shredded chicken and chopped hard boiled eggs, just like his Mother did. He loved it! So did I.
Excellent flavor, so yummy. 😋
Delicious! I doubled the cheese (do not do this if you want a skinny meal) and used an immersion blender to purée the potatoes, 2/3 c corn, onion and cauliflower in the main pot before adding the rest of the corn, milk and cheese. Add another punch of salt and yum!
Can I use fresh corn in this recipe? Would I have to do anything different?
I just made this but put the bacon, onions, garlic, pepper (no salt bc I used regular not low sodium chicken broth, no turmeric or thyme bc hubs doesn’t love those), potato flour for gluten free in at the same time and left the bacon in. I didn’t put cauliflower in with the other stuff. Instead, I cooked TJ’s frozen cauliflower rice in the microwave for 3 mins, then added the corn. Instead of adding 1 cup of soup, I pureed the cauliflower and corn with the 1 cup of milk. I didn’t add cheese because it taste rich without it.
It’s really good! It tastes so rich for such a healthy soup.
Just made this today, first time I every tasted Corn Chowder, but loved it, it seems so sinful to be eating a cup and 1/2 of corn, but it tasted so rich and good. I will make again. I used my home frozen corn from last summer, and next time will use the 12 oz of frozen cauliflower to make the pureeing easier. I pureed mine in a food processor since I don;t have a blender. Thanks for a great receipe may try to add some smoked paprika or a little hot sauce to it.
I absolutely love this recipe. I’ll admit, I add extra potatoes and go to town on it with my immersion blender to make it smoother. I’m not a fan of soup, but this is the one I’ll happily make and eat time and time again. Normally I’ll use fresh off the cob corn and the flavor can’t be beat, but frozen corn is great, too. It’s great with roasted garlic cheddar.
made this wih canned coconut milk and it was amazing
I hate to leave a bad review especially when everyone gave such great reviews, so it must be something I did wrong! I used canned corn instead of frozen corn since that is what I had on hand.
Canned corn will def alter the taste of this soup which relies on fresh, sweet corn.
Delicious ! I’m having to stop myself from eating more lol. The loaded baked potato soup is amazing too.
can you sub coconut milk (canned) for the whole milk?
I haven’t tried
We love this soup at our house, I make it once a week!
So delicious! Thank you!
Looks delicious I am making this for tonight and can’t wait to try it.
Just a question though, what is the added value of mixing the cauliflower with soup on the side, adding it back in with the milk and cheese? Why not mix everything at the end? Just a lazy question I guess… 😉
Wanting to get into the spirit of fall, I made this today! Too bad it ended up being 80 degrees! But wow!! It’s amazing!! Another Skinnytaste WINNER! 5 minute prep time though?? Shew it took me 5 minutes just to get all my ingredients out, and another 30+ minutes to cut, chop, mince and measure everything! ! All in all, took me about an hour and fifteen minutesI don’t know why?! Maybe I’m just slow!
Glad you enjoyed it and I will check the prep time!
I agree Kristi. LOVED the soup and will definitely make it again but the prep time is long. A lot of chopping and I like to get my dry ingredients measured out so I can just add them when it’s time. I went ahead and used 4 cups of broth since I had one of those big boxes so adjusted S&P accordingly. My husband had no idea I didn’t use cream. He loved it. A definitely do again recipe.
This soup is AMAZING, DELICIOUS, FILLING, and such s HUGE SERVING (I’m all about that! 😉). My husband and I loved it! Skinnytaste never disappoints!! Thanks for another great recipe! I make Skinnytaste recipes every single week!
This soup is out of this world. I made it exactly as the recipe is written. Can’t wait for leftovers throughout the week.
Any reason not to use riced cauliflower instead of an intact head?
The cauliflower gets blended partway through the recipe. It would be difficult to pick out all the rice bits to blend, vs just a couple of chunks of cauliflower.
You can easily used riced cauliflower – there’s no need to go to the extra effort of cooking a head of fresh cauliflower, taking it out, blending it, and putting it back in. I just follow the recipe as written but microwave the cauliflower separately. Then when it comes time to purée, I put the steamed cauliflower in with everything else. So much easier. It also works with frozen cauliflower florets, especially since they’re already sold in 12 oz bags.
Has anyone tried freezing this after cooking? Wonder how it will hold up texture wise
Did you try freezing by chance?