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This creamy corn soup is one of my favorite summer recipes because you can actually enjoy it all year round! It’s made with fresh, frozen, or even canned corn puréed with potatoes and onions until thick and smooth. A little heavy cream and a squeeze of lime juice finish things off, for a deliciously rich, creamy, and satisfying meal.
🥣 What Makes This Recipe So Good
- A simple recipe made with simple ingredients – what’s not to like? This corn soup is wonderfully filling since it’s mostly a super smooth blend of corn, potatoes, onions, and heavy cream. It’s easy on the wallet, which is super great if you’re on a tight grocery budget, and you can use fresh, frozen, or even canned corn, so it’s a fairly accessible recipe, too.
- This is a great recipe if you need to use up a bunch of veggies, fresh herbs, leftover bacon, etc. Feel free to toss in celery, carrots, bell peppers, or sweet potatoes. Add fresh thyme, basil, or parsley. Garnish with a sprinkle of cooked and crumbled bacon. There’s a decent amount of wiggle room here!
- Since you can use any type of corn for corn soup, you can make this recipe any time of year. Summer is peak corn season, but corn freezes really well – just check out our post about freezing corn below! That means you can whip up a hearty stockpot full of creamy corn soup in the dead of winter if you’re so inclined. Doesn’t a bowl of rich, summery flavor sound extra divine in mid-January?
👩🏼🍳 Chef’s Tips
- I recommend puréeing the majority of the corn kernels until they’re smooth and fully combined, then adding in the last cup of corn whole, to give the soup a little texture. You are more than welcome to purée all of the corn if you don’t want any whole kernels in your soup! Just add the entire 5 cups to the pot at the same time and then purée until you’ve got your ideal texture.
- The lime juice is a small but highly effective touch! It brings out the natural sweetness of the corn without making the corn soup taste like a Latin-inspired dish. I highly, highly recommend you don’t skip it!
- If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a traditional blender to purée the soup. There are a few things you’ll want to do in order to safely blend the hot liquid – we’ve outlined them on the recipe card below. Do not cut corners, or you may end up with a huge (and dangerous) mess to clean up when you should be enjoying dinner.
🥄 Other Amazing Soup Recipes
- Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta Soup
- Wonton Egg Drop Soup
- Oyster Brie Soup (from Hollywood Brown Derby)
- Healthy Zuppa Toscana (Whole30, Paleo, Dairy Free)
- Whole30 Lasagna Soup
- Cream of Onion Soup
- Tomato Florentine Soup
- Creamy Popcorn Soup
- Chickarina Soup
Creamy Corn Soup
Equipment
- Large pot
- Large wooden spoon
- immersion blender or traditional blender, see Notes
Ingredients
For the Corn Soup
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 large yellow potato peeled. diced; approximately 9-10 ounces whole or 1 ½ cups diced
- ½ cup chopped onion white or yellow
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 5 cups corn kernels divided, see Notes
- 1 cup heavy cream at room temperature
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice juice from approximately 1 medium lime
- salt to taste
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Serving Suggestions (All Optional)
- chopped fresh chives or chopped fresh cilantro
- lime wedges
Instructions
- Heat large pot over medium heat. When pot is warm, add butter and let melt, swirling pot occasionally to distribute butter across surface.
- When butter is melted but not yet browned or bubbling, add diced potatoes, chopped onions, and minced garlic. Stir to incorporate, then simmer vegetables 5 to 6 minutes or until onions are very soft and potatoes begin to soften. Stir vegetables occasionally to prevent sticking.
- Once onions have softened, add chicken broth and 4 cups corn kernels (see Notes). Stir to incorporate, making sure to scrape up any bits of onion or garlic that may be stuck to bottom of pot.
- Increase heat to medium-high and bring liquid to boil. Once liquid begins to boil, immediately reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, 10 to 12 minutes or until potatoes and corn are tender.
- When corn and potatoes are ready, carefully remove pot from heat and let mixture cool slightly. Insert immersion blender into pot and purée ingredients until mixture is completely smooth. See Notes below if using traditional blender.
- When soup is smooth, add heavy cream and stir until fully incorporated.
- Return pot to medium-low heat and stir in remaining 1 cup corn kernels and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 5 minutes or until corn kernels are tender.
- Divide soup into preferred portions. Top with chopped chives or cilantro if desired and serve warm with lime wedges (optional).
- Corn Kernels: I prefer to use fresh or frozen-then-defrosted corn kernels for this soup. Canned corn will work, but you’ll want to be sure to rinse it well and drain it completely to remove excess sodium.
- Heavy Cream: Half n half can be used instead for a lower fat option.
- Texture: If you prefer not to have any whole corn kernels in your soup, add all 5 cups of corn to the pot in Step 3, rather than only adding in 4 cups.
- Keep it Gluten Free: This soup is naturally gluten-free, but you’ll want to double check the chicken broth (and the corn if you’re using canned) to make sure gluten doesn’t sneak in.
- Make it Vegetarian: Use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
- Make it Vegan/Dairy Free: Use vegan butter, vegetable broth, and dairy-free heavy cream.
Tips for Blending Hot Liquids in a Traditional Blender
- Fill blender no more than halfway. Work in batches as needed.
- Let mixture cool slightly before blending.
- Always blend hot liquids with center cap of blender lid removed. Cover with dish towel and hold down tightly to keep lid on blender and keep mixture from splashing out.
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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This was very nice…definately a keeper!
So glad you enjoyed it, Barb! 😊
If I wanted to add ham to recipe, when would I insert it?
That would depend on a few different factors, David. If it’s uncooked, I’d add it as early as possible – probably when you add the diced potatoes. If it’s already cooked and you’re just needing to heat it through, I’d add it after puréeing the soup, and simmer until the ham is heated through. Let us know if you try it!
So I could add cooked chicken?
Sure!
Delicious. I added home made bacon bits but otherwise followed the recipe. Wondering if it can be frozen
Ooh, homemade bacon bits sound delicious! We haven’t tried freezing this soup, as the consistency and texture of it may change slightly from the freezing and thawing process.
Delicious
So glad you enjoyed it, Marcie! 😊
This was so good! 6 ears of corn gave me a little more than the 5 cups of corn in case anyone wants to know. I topped with some crumbled bacon and chopped parsley. Tasty!
So happy you enjoyed it, Kristine! Thank you so much!