Slow Cooker Corn Chowder

Slower cooker corn chowder is an easy, filling dinner. Serve with some crusty bread and you can’t go wrong!

It’s the time of year when I crave hearty soups and stews—it’s also the time of year when I feel like I can’t get warm! And while standing over my stove might do the trick, there’s something comforting about letting my slow cooker do all the work as the darkness creeps in early in the evening.

I have two slow cookers. The first is a 5 quart slow cooker, which just barely holds my chili recipe. It was a wedding gift from, ahem, 20-odd years ago and is still going strong. The other is a 7 quart slow cooker my mother gave me when they sold their condo and moved to their fully furnished cottage (she had too many slow cookers!), which is what I use when I make this recipe. I don’t think it would quite fit into the 5 quart slow cooker.

Corn, Corn, Corn!

Of course, you can use frozen corn from the store. However, Mr. Alexander and I are lucky enough to live near a family farm that grows the most incredible sweet corn. Every summer we buy ears of corn by the dozen, boil them, cut the corn from the cob, and freeze it.

I freeze the cooked corn in various amounts to add to soups such as this one, to make succotash, or just to reheat and eat as a side dish with butter, salt, and fresh ground pepper. It’s like a burst of summer in the middle of winter!

Easy Prep For This Corn Chowder

The point of using a slow cooker is to minimize the amount of time actually spent in the kitchen and allowing the flavors to meld over time. As with many slow cooker recipes, this corn chowder requires very little prep time.

As always, I will sing the praises of my trusty vegetable chopper. It really does make chopping onions, peppers, yellow beets, and other vegetables quick and easy. I don’t love using it for celery, but if I’m in a hurry I will. Also, because it comes with multiple sizes of—I don’t know you call them. Grates?—you can use the smaller set to mince the pepper. Just remember not to touch your eyes after working with hot peppers! Even if you wash your hands with soap, it can still sting.

Substitutions

There are lots of ways to play with this corn chowder recipe, if you choose to. For example, if you want the chowder to be richer, you can use half and half or even heavy cream instead of milk. Just remember it’s not a one-to-one ratio to milk. Be stingy with the half and half or cream until you decide the chowder has the consistency you prefer.

The hominy can also be substituted with cream-style corn, which will thicken the chowder and change the consistency.

Last up, if you can’t find or don’t like Canadian bacon, you can always use ham as they have a very similar texture. I wouldn’t substitute regular bacon, however, though if you try it, let me know how it works out!

A Few Notes

When you first mix the ingredients together it won’t seem particularly appetizing. It will be thin and watery. But as it cooks, the ingredient come together. Then once you add the milk and let it thicken, it will look like a chowder!

I highly recommend serving this corn chowder with fresh crusty bread slathered in butter, such as My Mother’s No Knead Peasant Bread by Alexandria Cooks. I’ve made it dozens of times and it always turns out perfect!

Let me know if you try this recipe. I promise you’ll go back for seconds and it heats up beautifully for lunch the next day!