This vegetarian sweet potato and corn chowder recipe is nourishing and delicious with peppers, tomatoes. Corn chowder is garnished with cilantro and avocados.
Use fresh or frozen corn for sweet potato and corn chowder.
Corn and sweet potato chowder is a great standalone vegetarian recipe, but is also delicious with cooked and sliced bacon.
We had a corn field growing up. I spent plenty of summers in the garage on a bucket shucking corn husks. Sometimes, it feels like we all live about ten different lives in one...
Tips For Making Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder
All the vegetables for sweet potato and corn chowder need to be diced to around the size of the corn - perhaps just a little larger to cut down on knife time.
The reason for cutting them all the same size is so that they take around the same time to cook. Likewise, having the ingredients the same size will help them to fit on a spoon and into your mouth with all the same texture and size.
Substitution Ideas for Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder
- Use 2lb of frozen corn for chowder if you are trying to save time.
- Use regular potatoes if you don't have sweet potatoes.
- Use green or red bell peppers if you don't have poblano peppers.
- Use regular milk or almond or oat milk. I make it with all of the different milks (see video) and it's always good.
- Use diced raw pancetta instead of bacon if you're trying to save time and don't want to chop the bacon.
How To Milk Corn (How To Get The Milk Juice Out Of The Corn Cob)
Getting the corn milk out of the cob after cutting the corn off can be tricky.
Stand the corn up and use the back of your knife and remove the "milk" from the corn by carefully running it up and down the cob. (see video in recipe instructions).
The milk has some juice but it's really just pulverizing what's left of the kernels into yummy "mush".
How To Blanch Whole Tomatoes
Tomatoes can easily be peeled by making an X with a knife on the stem end and placing in boiling water for a couple minutes and thrown in an ice water bath to cool.
Don't want to blanch tomatoes? Cool. Peel it with a vegetable peeler.
Preparing The Corn For Corn Chowder
There are methods where you can microwave the corn in the husk to remove it (and also the silk).
I like to just rip through the corn husk and twist off the silk with my hands or a scrubber. If there is still silk on the corn cob then just label the sweet potato and corn chowder as rustic. 🙂
What My Man Says
"This recipe is straightforward and really flavorful. While cutting all the ingredients to the same size as the corn takes a little while (it took me about one hour), it is rewarding to see nice, even knife cuts in the finished chowder."
"We had some red onion already diced, so I used it instead of the yellow onion in the recipe. We didn't have a sweet potato, so I used a regular potato instead. And, we also didn't have Poblano and Jalapeno peppers, so I used some Cubanelle and Fresno peppers I found in the fridge."
Serving Suggestion
Serve this Corn and Sweet Potato Chowder soup with complementary recipes like:
You May Also Like
If you like this Corn Chowder recipe, you may also like these similar corn based dishes:
Things In My Kitchen:
- Serrated swivel veggie peeler - I don't think you need a ton of veggie peelers. I like this one because it's serrated and works with tomatoes (soft veggies) as well as harder veggies like carrots/sweet potatoes/etc...
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Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder
EatSimpleFood.com
This sweet potato and corn chowder recipe is nourishing and delicious with sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes. Garnish with cilantro and avocados. Add bacon if you like.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 5 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: International
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1-2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 6 ears corn, shucked & milked (or use 2 lbs frozen corn)
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled & diced
- 3 medium roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded, diced
- 1 cup onions, diced
- 1 medium poblano or green pepper, seeded & diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded & diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 2 cups milk or almond or oat milk
- 1 avocado, diced as garnish
- 1 cup cilantro leaves, as garnish
- 6 pieces of bacon (optional), cooked and sliced as garnish
Instructions
- Use 2 lbs frozen corn or shuck the corn and remove the silk. Lay the corn down and carefully slice the kernels off of one side. This will create a flat surface for you to use to cut the rest of the kernels off each side. Place kernels in large bowl.
- Stand the corn up and use the back of your knife and remove the "milk" from the corn by carefully running it up and down the cob. The milk has some juice but it's really just pulverizing what's left of the kernels into yummy "mush". Place in bowl with corn.
- Peel and dice sweet potatoes and place in corn bowl.
- Peel, dice, and seed tomatoes and place in corn bowl.
- Dice onions and peppers and set aside in a different smaller bowl.
- Bring a large stockpot to medium high heat and add enough olive oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan. Add the onions and both peppers and cook until onions are translucent (~ 5 minutes), stirring occasionally.
- Add corn, corn "milk", tomatoes, potatoes, bay leaf, chili powder, salt, and pepper.
- Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook ~ 25 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.
- Add milk, bring to a boil and remove from heat.
- Garnish with diced avocado and cilantro leaves.
- Add salt to taste. Add cooked, sliced bacon if desired. Happy Eating! Beckie
Notes
- Use 2lb of frozen, already shucked corn if you are trying to save time.
- Tomatoes can easily be peeled by making an X with a knife on the stem end and placing in boiling water for a couple minutes. Don't want to do that? Cool. Peel it with a vegetable peeler.
Josephine says
XOXO corn chowder, I love you! This is a lovely vegan meal. Skip the bacon and double the avocados. A good motto for soup and life in general!
Seriously this is very good. I ate mine with a veggie hot dog yum yum yum yum, but now I think I will eat it with a veggie BLT instead. Even better!
One wonderful thing about this is that it is the only chowder I've ever eaten that actually feels healthy. Not too healthy though. Let's not get crazy!
In other words, it's 100% healthy, but it tastes too good to hold that against it. 😉
beckie says
uh - oh. you probably think that you're gonna get this again next week. I've got news for you Robin.... haha!
Josephine says
XOXO corn chowder, I love you! This is a lovely vegan meal. Skip the bacon and double the avocados. A good motto for soup and all of life!
Seriously this is very good. I ate mine with a veggie hot dog in a croissant, yum yum yum yum, but now I think I will eat it with a veggie BLT instead. Even better!
One wonderful thing about this is that it is the only chowder I’ve ever eaten that actually feels healthy. Not too healthy though. Let’s not get crazy!
In other words, it’s 100% healthy, but it tastes too good to hold that against it.
BTW, this can fully be eaten on its own.
Josephine says
Who's this Robin character? I am Josephine!
beckie says
Woops! Sorry Miss. Josephine!!! Je suis Josephine!