Jalapeno Corn Chicken Chowder is a flavor-packed, sweet and spicy soup with delicious, wholesome ingredients that don’t take much preparation. It is ready in about 15 minute but no one will every know how easy it is to make.
The other day I popped into an optical shop with my son after school and as the technician looked up something on her computer, that was loading very slowly, she asked how we were enjoying summer. My kids have been in school for over three weeks so for me summer is long gone. As we left, it did cross my mind that even though it’s mid-September, we are still enduring temperature highs in the low 90’s on a particularly wicked day. For some summer still marches on.
The abrupt change to the school year schedule rigors, transitioning both kids into new schools, toiling through my post European vacation souvenir of pneumonia has all left me in a food preparation daze. I don’t know what I want to cook or eat. It feels like I should be making fall comfort food if I look at the calendar but the temperatures feel like I should be eating popsicles. It’s messing me UP!
Today I’m sharing a beautiful Jalapeno Corn Chicken Chowder. It’s sort of a seasonal hybrid recipe. Chock full of great chunky ingredients but in a light corn broth with corn kernels making it feel light enough for a hot day. It’s a lovely pale yellow hue that feels happy and the diced jalapenos give it enough heat to catch your attention without bowling you over.
The recipe uses frozen corn kernels so it may be easily made all year long. If you’d prefer to substitute fresh corn, use my favorite corn kernel removal tool, the Corn Zipper, that will make it like slicing butter (it’s cheap and one gadget I couldn’t live witout). With fresh corn, ensure that the soup simmers long enough for the kernels to cook (3-4 minutes and test them for doneness), rather than just heating it through.
The soup includes chunks of prepared chicken. Cutting up a store-bought rotisserie chicken is a fast way to prepare the chicken for the soup. My favorite homemade way to prepare chicken for this type of recipe is using boneless chicken breasts, cooking them for a few minutes on each side then covering them in the pan off the heat to allow them to cook through. They are always cooked perfectly and are moist. The specifics can be found in this Tarragon Pesto Chicken Breasts (just skip adding the pesto). You’ll love this easy shortcut!
More Recipes You’ll Love!
- Creamed Corn
- Potato Corn Chowder
- Corn Salsa
- Pickled Jalapenos
- Slow Cooker Spicy Pumpkin Chicken Corn Chowder
How to make Jalapeno Corn Chicken Chowder:
Jalapeno Corn Chicken Chowder
Ingredients
- 3 cups Frozen Corn Kernels (they do not need to thaw first)
- 2 cups Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
- 2 cups Cooked Chicken Breast chopped
- 1 cup Half & Half
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced Prepared Roasted Red Peppers (found with pickles or jarred olives at the grocery store)
- 1 fresh Jalapeno Pepper stem and seeds removed, diced
- 1/2 cup Cojita Cheese crumbled
- 1/4 cup fresh Cilantro Leaves chopped
Instructions
- In a blender combine 1 1/5 cups of the corn with the chicken broth. Process until smooth.
- In a large saucepan, combine the processed broth, remaining corn, chicken, Half and Half, red pepper strips and jalapeno. Stir and heat over medium low heat until warmed through.
- Top each serving with 2 tablespoons of the cheese and sprinkle with the cilantro leaves. NOTE: the cheese is salty and should lend enough salt to the soup however it may be salted individually to taste as well.
Susan says
Mede this for dinner last night, and it was a hit. We both enjoyed it greatly. It was especially nice to find something that good after a couple of recipes turned out to be disappointing. Thanks for a keeper recipe.
Toni Dash says
Hi Susan! Always nice to hear from you. I love this recipe too. I hope the disappointing recipes weren’t mine!