Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder
Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder is creamy corn chowder updated with roasted poblano peppers and bacon giving it the right amount of creamy heat. Using fresh, in season corn gives this chowder a hint of sweetness that is absolutely delicious.
Our steamed corn on the cob is another way to use up season fresh corn, but you can also swap out the canned for fresh in our 7 can soup.
What is corn chowder?
Corn chowder is similar to corn soup in that they both have corn as their central ingredient. Soup can be thin and watery whereas chowder is thick, rich, and creamy.
Recipe ingredients:
- Produce —fresh corn on the cob, poblano peppers, onion, celery, carrots, garlic, Yukon gold potatoes, and green onions.
- Bacon — because everything is better with bacon. Thick cut is what we used. Reserve some renderings and a bit extra as garnish too.
- Olive oil — in case you don’t want to use the bacon renderings.
- Liquids — Chicken broth, milk, and heavy cream will give this chowder the perfect creamy texture and smoothness.
- Seasonings — salt and black pepper are all you need.
- Optional ingredients — additional bacon crumbles, crumbled queso fresco and sliced green onions.
How to make Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder
How to Roast Corn
Step 1 — Preheat the grill to high (indoor or outdoor). While heating, trim the silks sticking out from the top of the corn with kitchen sheers. Peel off the outer husk layers, exposing the lighter, tender looking husks. Cut the stalk off exposing the bottom part of the corn. Reduce the heat to medium and place the corn on the grill.
Step 2 — Rotate the corn every couple of minutes. As the husks darken, they will fall off. Remove them from the grill (take care to not let them fall through the grates of the grill or the fire will flare up.)
Step 3 — After all the husks have fallen off, using tongs, lift up the corn and pull off all remaining silks; return to the grill, charring all sides of the corn kernels. Once all sides of the corn have gotten color, remove from the grill, allow to rest long enough to handle; about 5 minutes.
How to Roast Poblano Peppers
Step 4 — Place the poblano peppers on the grill. The poblanos often makes a popping or crackling noise.
Step 5 — Rotate the peppers every couple of minutes.
Step 6 — Once the peppers are charred on all sides, remove from the grill and wrap individually in aluminum foil; set aside. 10-14 minutes.
Making the Chowder
Step 7 — Once the corn has rested, remove the corn kernels from the cob by inverting a small bowl in a larger one. Stand the cob on end and use a knife to slice off kernels. Put 6 cobs’ kernels in one bowl and reserving 2 cobs’ kernels worth in another bowl.
Step 8 — Peel the charred skin off the roasted poblanos, remove the stems and seeds. Roughly chop the roasted chiles. Set aside 4 peppers with the 6 cobs’ kernels in one bowl and 2 peppers with the 2 cobs’ kernels in the other.
Step 9 — In a heavy bottom pan, dutch oven, enameled french oven or large soup pot, fry the diced bacon over medium high heat. Once cooked, drain the renderings, reserving 2 tbsp (or if not using, add olive oil) and turn heat on to medium high. Add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic; cook for 3-4 minutes until they begin to color and soften.
Step 10 — Add potatoes, chopped poblano peppers, and corn kernels, stirring it well to fully incorporate with the other items in the dutch oven. The corn kernels may be stuck together but as they cook and the chowder is stirred, they will separate. Cook for about a minute.
Step 11 — Add the broth, salt, and pepper; bring the now soup to a high simmer. Allow to cook for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes begin to become tender.
Step 12 — While the corn poblano chowder begins to simmer, puree the reserved corn and poblano peppers in a food processor, slowing incorporating the milk. Set aside. After the potatoes have soften, reduce heat to low.
Step 13 — Add the puree to the chowder, stir in completely. Cook on low for an additional 5 minutes.
Step 14 — Allow the roasted poblano corn chowder to get to a low simmer the vegetables to finish cooking. Once desired tenderness has been reached, and if you want a smoother chowder, use an immersion blender on pulse mode until desired consistency has been reached.
Step 15 — Slowly incorporate the cream into the chowder, stirring constantly until it has fully been added. After the cream has been warmed through, taste for salt and pepper, add more if needed then remove from heat. If not immediately serving, cover or the chowder will develop a skin. Garnish with any or all of the optional ingredients then serve and enjoy.
Adaptations and variations
While there is no one right way to make a delicious corn chowder, so making it to fit your personal tastes is always best.
Corn — fresh corn, especially sweet corn is our favorite but you can use frozen corn kernels or canned corn.
Vegan — swap the cream and milk for your favorite dairy free substitute like coconut milk. Almond milk could work as well. Omit the chicken stock for vegetable broth. Water could also be substituted for the chicken broth, but veggie broth will increase the overall flavor of the poblano corn chowder over water. Omit the bacon.
Meaty — add some cooked chicken or even crumbled chorizo.
Spices — use freshly ground black pepper, chili powder, ground cayenne or chipotle to increase the level of heat. Adding your other favorite Mexican seasonings to this creamy soup makes tastes amazing.
Toppings — fresh lime juice or lime wedges and fresh cilantro are wonderful too.
Recipe FAQs
Before roasting, no. However after they have been roasted and sweated but before cooking the chowder, yes. The skins become waxy and basically inedible.
They are not hot or spicy as a jalapeño or habanero pepper. They range from having mild to medium heat. They really can vary.
Store leftovers in an airtight container, it will last for 3-4 days. It may begin to separate, but once warmed and stirred through, everything will be completely reincorporated.
Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder
Equipment
- 7 quart Dutch Oven or larger
Ingredients
- 8 ears corn on the cob divided 6:2
- 6 poblano peppers divided 4:2
- 2/3 lb thick cut bacon diced
- 2 tbsp bacon renderings or olive oil
- 1/4 cup yellow onion diced
- 2 celery ribs diced
- 3 carrots diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced/grated
- 1 lb Yukon gold potatoes cubed
- 32 oz low sodium chicken broth
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
Optional toppings
- chopped bacon
- queso fresco
- green onions
Instructions
Roasting the Corn and Peppers
- Preheat the grill to high (indoor or outdoor).
- While heating, trim the silks sticking out from the top of the corn with kitchen sheers. Peel off the outer husk layers, exposing the lighter, tender looking husks. Cut the stalk off exposing the bottom part of the corn.
- Reduce the heat to medium and place the corn and the poblanos on the grill.
- Rotate the corn and peppers every couple of minutes.
- As the husks darken, they will fall off. Remove them from the grill (take care to not let them fall through the grates of the grill or the fire will flare up.) The poblanos often makes a popping or crackling noise.
- After all the corn husks have fallen off, using tongs, lift up the corn and pull off all remaining silks; return to the grill, charring all sides of the corn kernels. Once all sides of the corn have gotten color, remove from the grill, allow to rest long enough to handle; about 5 minutes.
- Once the peppers are charred on all sides, remove from the grill and wrap individually in foil; set aside. 10-14 minutes allowing them to sweat.
Making the Chowder
- Once the corn has rested, remove the corn kernels from the cob by inverting a small bowl in a larger one. Stand the cob on end and use a knife to slice off kernels. Put 6 cobs’ kernels in one bowl and reserving 2 cobs’ kernels worth in another bowl.
- Peel the charred skin off the peppers, remove the stems and seeds; dice. Set aside 4 peppers with the 6 cobs’ kernels in one bowl and 2 peppers with the 2 cobs’ kernels in the other.
- In a heavy bottom pan, dutch oven, or enameled french oven, fry the diced bacon over medium high heat.
- Once cooked, drain the renderings, reserving 2 tbsp (or if not using, add olive oil) and turn heat on to medium high.
- Add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic; cook for 3-4 minutes until they begin to color and soften.
- Add the diced potatoes, chopped poblano peppers, and corn kernels, stirring it well to fully incorporate with the other items in the dutch oven. The corn kernels may be stuck together but as they cook and the chowder is stirred, they will separate. Cook for about a minute.
- Add the broth, salt, and pepper; bring to a high simmer. Allow to cook for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes begin to become tender.
- While the chowder begins to simmer, puree the reserved corn and poblano peppers in a food processor, slowing incorporating the milk. Set aside. After the potatoes have soften, reduce heat to low.
- Add the puree to the chowder, stir in completely. Cook on low for an additional 5 minutes, allowing the chowder to get to a low simmer the vegetables to finish cooking.
- Once desired tenderness has been reached, and if you want a smoother chowder, use an immersion blender on pulse mode until desired consistency has been reached.
- Slowly incorporate the cream into the chowder, stirring constantly until it has fully been added. After the cream has been warmed through, taste for salt and pepper, add more if needed then remove from heat.
- If not immediately serving, cover or the chowder will develop a skin. Garnish with any or all of the optional ingredients then serve and enjoy.
Nutrition
Dutch Oven Daddy is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
Excellent! have made this for two times already and always a hit in our house! Thank you
This corn chowder was absolutely perfect! We used a combo of Hatch and Poblano’s and fresh corn! So good! Thank you Ned!
Usually I am not big on soups during the summer, but the flavors happening in this chowder are so summer! 🙂 Wish I had a bowl in front of me right now.
I love the corn chowder. It’s creamy, thick and delicious. Perfect to serve this with bread.
I am loving the addition of poblano peppers and bacon in this corn chowder. It looks so hearty, creamy and delicious.
Every bite does indeed look amazing! All of the flavors are incredible. And I love these vibrant colors.
Wow what a delicious summer chowder – so satisfying!! That bacon really puts it over the top!
This recipe looks so good!!
I love the sweet heat combo of the corn and peppers! Definitely will make again with all the local fresh sweet corn arriving soon!
This poblano corn chowder looks delicious and so hearty! Definite a great recipe for coming fall.
Sounds wonderful. I assume I could use coconut milk (full fat) instead of double cream?
This corn chowder was rich, creamy, and so flavorful!! We paired it with some crusty bread for an easy dinner for our family tonight – yum!
Thank you for sharing this incredible recipe that has become a favorite in my household. The Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder has brought a new level of excitement to our dinner table, and I can’t wait to make it again and again.
Wow! This looks incredible. I love that the corn and poblano’s are roasted. It adds such a great flavor to this chowder.
This corn chowder was fantastic! This is a great recipe for a chillier day.
I love this sort of Tex-Mex twist on an old classic. The flavors work so well together. It’s one of my new favorites.
I love corn chowder but the addition of poblano peppers is amazing!
This chowder was absolutely incredible! Comforting and so full of flavor!
Enjoyed this for dinner last night and it was a savory success! Easy, hearty and packed with flavor; definitely a new favorite chowder recipe!
I am in love with this corn chowder with poblanos! Thank you for the great recipe. It really tasted great and we loved the texture.
Delicious chowder recipe. thanks for sharing.
Oh yum! Such a fantastic corn chowder. I absolutely love the combination of the roasted poblano peppers and bacon.
This is my new favorite corn chowder! Loved all the flavors in it.
Mmmmnnn, such a great chowder. Corn is in season in NJ and I also found poblanos at my farmers market to make this!
Oh the flavor in this is SO good! Love the roasted poblanos in it, a delicious recipe!
This is absolutely off the charts! Such a delicious bowl of soup. Cozy but refreshing and summery!
This soup turned out amazing! Thank you for the recipe!
This soup was full of flavor!! We used fresh corn and it was amazing!!
This chowder hit the spot! We don’t eat a lot of soup in the summer but it was a great one for summer corn!
I love the added heat to the recipe that the peppers provide. It takes a normal corn chowder up a notch. This is such a filling dish and bacon just makes everything better!
I need to make this happen in my kitchen asap! Loving all of the flavors happening here- especially the roasted poblanos. 🙂
Great corn chowder recipe!! This is definitely one of my favorites for fall!
The smoky depth of flavor from the roasted poblanos, combined with the sweetness of the corn, creates a harmony of tastes that’s both comforting and exciting. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe.
LOve the combination of ingredients in this recipe. Thanks for sharing
This is some amazing chowder. I love the extra flavor and kick of heat from the roasted poblanos. I’ll be making this again.
This was total comfort food. Definitely one that I will be making over and over again in the autumn.
This chowder was so good! Perfect way to use some summer corn! We loved it.
so comforting, so flavorful and so easy to make. Loved it for our dinner last night and my family wants this chowder on regular basis 🙂
This is the perfect end-of-summer soup. I wish I could can it to enjoy all year long!
Love the wonderful flavor of the poblano in this dish! And love the step-by-step help for how to roast them. What a hearty and tasty dish!
This was a perfect midweek meal. I love the corn!
Wow – the depth of flavor in this is intoxicatingly delicious! Definitely gonna be on my winter meal prep rotation!
This poblano corn chowder looks so hearty, comforting and flavorful. I really appreciate your photos and precise directions for making this delicious chowder.
This looks amazing and such a treat! Thank you!
Your Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder was a delightful treat! The flavors melded together perfectly, and it was just the comforting dish I needed. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe!
This chowder was so flavorful! Such a good summer recipe. Will make again.
This looks fabulous! I like that you made a purée.
A great recipe! I have a bunch of roasted hatch chile peppers, just waiting for this recipe!
I love the idea of using fresh corn in this. It’s abundant at farmstands right now, and so frugal. I usually buy and freeze, but this is a great way to use it up!
This was incredibly flavorful. Roasting the peppers ahead of time makes all the difference. I’ll be making this one again soon.
I love that so many fresh ingredients are used in this chowder. It really levels up the flavor. Perfect fall and winter soup to warm you from the inside out.