And it’s even more wonderful with crumbled queso fresco and chopped fresh cilantro on top. Yummmmm. OK, confession time. I just went on about fresh corn being at its peak right now but if I’m being honest… I used frozen. You caught me. And I also used jarred fire roasted chiles. What does this mean? Well, it means that I didn’t feel like shucking corn and getting kernels all over the place. And I didn’t FEEL like fire roasting my own chile peppers, even though hatch peppers are literally everywhere right now. AND, best of all, it means I can make this recipe ALL YEAR ROUND!
So, you’re welcome :-) I took a trick out of Ree Drummond’s book to thicken the soup- she uses a masa (corn flour), or corn meal, slurry stirred into her corn chowder at the end to make it thick and impart a corn flavor into the whole thing. It’s a trick I use in tortilla soup as well. It’s a great way to thicken soups without wheat flour, making it gluten-free and boosting the flavor.
I used heavy cream in this recipe, but feel free to use milk if you want a bit of a lighter soup. I also used chicken broth as the base, but for a vegetarian version, make sure to use vegetable stock. For extra credit, if you’re using fresh corn, simmer the corn cobs (after cutting the kernels off) in the broth/stock before adding it to the soup. The starches will seep into the liquid and thicken and flavor the whole thing. Recipe for mild green chile and corn chowder below!
