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This Mexican street corn soup recipe brings all the flavor of Mexican-style corn on the cob (Elote) in a rich, creamy soup — perfect for dinnertime! The soup is perfectly sweet, creamy and tangy, with a touch of spice and lots of delicious Mexican-inspired flavor. It’s one of my favorite ways to use fresh summer corn, or to turn a bagful of frozen into an easy meal!
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
Why This Recipe is So Good
- There are so many reasons why this Mexican corn soup has quickly become my go-to as we head into the summer months. It’s a Mexican spin on a classic corn chowder: thickened with potato and made rich with heavy cream all of the ingredients that go into the pot are perfectly balanced to really help the natural sweetness of corn shine!
- With toppings like Mexican crema, crumbled cotija and a generous sprinkling of TajÃn it is basically your favorite Mexican street corn recipe — but in soup form!
- This creamy corn soup recipe works with either fresh, frozen or even canned corn, perfect for enjoying at any time of the year!
- A portion of this soup is pureed to become silky smooth before being returned to the pot to make a rich, creamy soup that still has plenty of texture.
What You Need to Know Before You Start
- Fridge-cold cream can sometimes split when it is added to a pot of hot soup, so measure it out and leave it out on the counter before you start assembling the rest of the ingredients to help it come up to room temperature.
- Be careful when seasoning the soup and taste as you go along — the cotija will add significant saltiness when you stir it into the soup. Remember, you can always add more soup, but all of those online hacks for fixing a soup that is too salty? Unless they’re telling you to double the volume of soup in your pot, they don’t really work..!
Recipe Variations
Change up the toppings: As this corn soup leans into classic Mexican-inspired flavors you can use pretty much anything that would work in other Mexican soup recipes or to top bowls of chili like crumbled tortilla chips, tortilla strips, spoonfuls of salsa, shredded cheese or quick pickled onions instead of the street corn-inspired combination I’ve used here.
Upgrade with charred corn: You might have noticed in the pictures I’ve topped this soup with kernels of charred corn. This is totally not a necessary step and to be honest an extra step too far for a busy weeknight. But, if you do want to go the extra mile and you’re trying to impress simply char the corn directly on the grill before cutting it off the cob with a sharp knife, or cut the corn first then char it in a hot skillet with a splash of oil. Carrying on in this direction, if you’ve chosen frozen corn for this soup using the fire-roasted variety will further help amp up those charred corn flavors!
Make it vegetarian: Simply switch out the chicken broth for vegetable and check the package of your cotija, as some preparations include animal rennet.
Up the protein: When you add the blended portion of the soup back into the pot add a handful per-person of pre-cooked shredded chicken to make this soup a more substantial meal with an extra layer of protein.
Frequently Asked Questions
Slightly, as even though we’ve only used one poblano pepper and you control how much TajÃn you add with the garnish, I’ve also included cayenne pepper and chili powder. To dial things down, omit the cayenne. If you want to take things up a notch, add another poblano, and serve each bowl topped with sliced jalapeños.
For the crumbled cotija, sub in feta but use slightly less as feta tends to be slightly saltier and less creamy. For the crema, simply use sour cream thinned with a little water (or lime juice for extra tang!)
More Delicious Soup Recipes
- Mexican Chicken Soup with Jalapeños
- Leftover Turkey Tortilla Soup
- Old Fashioned Potato Soup Recipe
- Whole30 Broccoli Cheddar Soup Recipe
- Gluten-free Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
- Easy Homemade Tomato Bisque Recipe
- Old Fashioned Cream of Celery Soup
- Cream of Mushroom Soup Recipe
- Cold Avocado Soup Recipe
- Creamy Zucchini Soup Recipe
- Vegan Potato Soup
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Mexican Corn Soup
Equipment
- Large cooking pot
- standard blender
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup chopped onion white or yellow
- 1 medium poblano pepper seeded, stemmed, and finely chopped; approx. ½ cup
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- cayenne to taste, optional
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 large yellow potato peeled and diced; approximately 9-10 ounces whole or 1 ½ cups diced
- 6 cups corn kernels divided 2 bags frozen, or use fresh or canned
- 1 cup heavy cream at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon sweetner of choice like sugar, maple, honey or swerve, plus ½-1 tablespoon more to taste
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice juice from approximately 1 medium lime
- ½ cup crumbled cotija
- ¼ cup cilantro
- ½ cup mexican crema
- 1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
Garnish
- TajÃn
- cilantro
- lime wedges
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and poblano. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens, about 7-8 minutes.
- Add the garlic, chile powder, and cayenne, and saute for about 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Add the chicken broth, and potatoes. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in the corn, cream and sweetened. Cook for five minutes, until warmed through.
- Transfer 1 ½ cups of the soup to a blender and purée until smooth. Stir the puréed soup back into the pot of remaining soup.
- Add stir in the cotija cheese, cilantro, and lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper, and more sweetener if needed.
- Serve garnished with additional cilantro, cotija, TajÃn and crema. Serve with lime wedges.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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