Creamy Corn Chowder with Potatoes and Ham

Learning to make Corn Chowder from scratch has been on my culinary to-do list for ages. I was finally able to accomplish that with this delicious recipe!

Corn chowder made from scratch is a must-have winter soup but don’t forget to make it during corn season.

While creating new recipes from scratch is always fun. Sometimes, making a tried and tested successful recipe is even better. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right!

This corn chowder recipe uses fresh ingredients. Did you know that you don’t have to wait until summer for Sunshine Sweet Corn? It’s available now in your grocer’s produce section! I found mine at Kroger on sale. Cooking from scratch always yields the best tasting food so let’s get cooking!

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Ingredients for Homemade Corn Chowder

• 3 ears Sunshine Sweet corn (shucked)
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 3 Cups milk
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 cups diced peeled potatoes 
• 3/4 cup diced ham (approx. 4 oz.)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. black pepper

Step 1

Begin this recipe by prepping your fresh vegetables. This corn chowder recipe uses fresh corn which means shucking corn and cutting it off the cob but don’t toss the cob! We are going to use the corn cob in this recipe.

Go ahead and peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes, and then peel and chop the onion.

Be sure to save all those peelings and put them into your compost bin.

Tip for cutting corn off the cob

Use this handy hack for cutting corn off the cob. Sit a small bowl upside down inside of a much larger bowl. Balance the corn cob on the bottom of the smaller bowl and cut.

As you cut, the corn will fall into the big bowl. It really helps to use a good sharp knife. Hang onto those cobs, we’ll be using them in this recipe! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Shirley Cumbie Wood (@intelligent_domestications) on Apr 18, 2017 at 11:00am PDT

Red potatoes are my preference for most recipes. I peeled and chopped about six medium-sized potatoes but four probably would have been fine.

Having good kitchen tools is a huge part of being a good cook. My Tupperware colander is one of the most used tools in my kitchen when cooking from scratch.

One half of a medium onion yielded 3/4 cup of chopped onions perfectly.

This corn chowder recipe is a great way to use up some leftover baked ham! I used leftovers from a  Crockpot Brown Sugar & Pineapple Ham for this scrumptious pot of Corn Chowder.

Step 2

Now that your fresh veggies are prepped, let’s load the pot.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Stir in the chopped onion and cook until tender, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes.

Step 3

In a bowl, thoroughly combine the milk with the flour. Then stir the mixture into the onion and butter. Now add potatoes, ham, and corn cobs.

Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and place the lid on the pot.  Stir frequently and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the soup is thickened.

Step 4

Remove the corn cobs.

Stir in the corn, salt, and pepper. Simmer on low for about 5 minutes. We enjoy a lot of pepper in our chowders and that’s what the black specs are in the above picture.

Serve and enjoy!

Follow our Soups and Stews Board on Pinterest for lots of delicious homemade recipes!

This recipe was a big hit at my house. We’ll see it on our dinner table many times in the future.

Boiling the corn cobs is the secret to the delicious rich flavor of this Creamy Corn Chowder. The fresh-cut corn is nice and crisp. Next time, I’ll probably add a little more ham for my hungry man but other than that, I won’t change a thing!