Corn chowder with maple bacon and potatoes
- Preparation 20 min
- Refrigeration 3 to 4 days
- Cooking 40 min
- Servings 6 to 8
- Freezing Absolutely
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🌽 A chowder that follows the corn, not the thermometer
I start making this corn chowder with maple bacon and potatoes the week fresh corn shows up, and I keep making it straight through fall and into winter. It’s a window, not a date on the calendar. When the fresh ears disappear from the roadside stands, I switch to frozen corn and nobody at my table has ever noticed.
🥓 The maple bacon stays in the pot
Almost every corn chowder recipe out there crisps the bacon, pulls it out, and scatters it on top at the last second. I do the opposite. My maple bacon goes back into the pot and simmers twenty minutes with everything else. Yes, I lose the crunch. What I get instead is a broth that tastes smoky and faintly sweet all the way to the last spoonful. I’d make that trade every single time.
🥔 Bacon fat makes the roux, baby potatoes do the rest
Once the bacon is out, I pour off three quarters of the fat and keep the rest. That’s what the flour cooks in. Nothing to add, nothing to buy, the whole base of the chowder is already sitting in the bottom of the pot and it tastes like maple. For the potatoes, I use baby potatoes cut in quarters instead of diced. The skin holds each piece together through the simmer, so you still have potatoes at the end instead of mush.
🍲 This is dinner, not a starter
It makes six to eight full bowls. If you’re after a smooth, blended corn soup, this isn’t it: my chowder has chunks, it has bacon, it has potatoes you can bite into. Leftovers go into lunch containers without complaint, and honestly the second day is often better than the first.
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🥔 Quarter the baby potatoes, don’t dice them
A diced potato has six flat faces and they all break down at the same time in the broth. A quartered baby potato keeps its skin on one side, and that skin holds the piece together through twenty minutes of simmering. Ten large baby potatoes lands you around 500 to 600 g. You want something to bite into at the end, not paste at the bottom of the bowl.
🥓 The bacon simmers with everything else, on purpose
I know the fashion is to hold back the crispy bacon and sprinkle it on top. I do the opposite and I stand behind it. Maple bacon that simmers for twenty minutes gives everything it has to the broth, the smoke and the sweetness both. If you really miss the crunch, hold back two or three pieces and drop them on the bowl at serving time. The rest goes back in the pot.
🍲 Maple bacon fat is your roux
After you lift out the bacon, pour off three quarters of the fat and leave the rest behind. The flour cooks in that for a full minute before the broth arrives. This one step is the whole difference between a chowder with body and a watery corn soup. Pour the broth in all at once and whisk immediately: lumps dissolve in ten seconds if you don’t give them time to set.
🥛 Why table cream and not something else
Thicker and less fatty than regular cooking cream, and that’s exactly why I love it. It brings the silkiness without weighing the bowl down. Can’t find 15% table cream? Regular 15% cooking cream works and comes out slightly thinner, or go 35% heavy cream if you want it decadent. Plain milk is the one I’d avoid: it curdles far more easily once things start to simmer.
♨️ The 1 cm gap under the lid
When I put the lid on, I always leave about a centimetre of opening. I do it so the chowder reduces, but not too much. Lid fully closed and the steam falls right back in, leaving you with a washed-out chowder. Lid off entirely and it reduces too fast, so you end up topping it up. One centimetre is the sweet spot, and it buys you twenty hands-off minutes.
🌽 Frozen corn goes straight into the pot
No thawing, no rinsing. It goes in frozen with the rest of the ingredients and finishes cooking during the simmer. If you’ve just had a corn roast and you’re staring at leftover cobs, use them, that’s a genuinely good idea. One medium ear gives you roughly ¾ cup of kernels, so the 3 cups this recipe calls for works out to about 4 ears. Corn chowder with canned corn also works, just drain it well first.
🥬 The no-bacon version
You can absolutely make this chowder without bacon. Watch the hole it leaves, though: no bacon means no bacon fat for the roux. Swap in 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of butter or olive oil, melt it, and cook the flour in it exactly the same way. Use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth and you have a vegetarian corn chowder that stands on its own two feet.
📅 Getting ahead the night before
You can prep this a day ahead, but not cook it a day ahead. Quarter the potatoes and hold them in cold water in the fridge, slice the celery and carrots, chop the onion and garlic, measure the flour and the seasoning, and cook the bacon. Label every container. The next day the roux, the broth, the cream and the assembly take about twenty minutes on the stove while your guests are already in the house. The place smells like real cooking when the door opens, and you’re with your people instead of stuck at the stove.
❄️ Freezing and storing, honestly
It keeps three to four days in the fridge in a sealed container. And yes, it freezes. The texture will change, I won’t pretend otherwise: the potatoes won’t be at their best and the cream can separate a little on thawing. That is not a reason to throw good chowder in the garbage if you made too much. Serve it to your kids and they won’t say a word about the texture. Reheat gently, stir, and loosen it with a splash of water or chicken broth if it has thickened too much.
✅ What to serve with my corn chowder with maple bacon and potatoes?
You need something to mop the bowl with, that part isn’t optional. My parmesan croutons do the job on top and bring back the crunch the simmered bacon gave up. A classic Caesar salad on the side cuts straight through the cream. And if you have people over and want to show off, cut a grilled-cheese with chicken, brie and apples in half and lean it on the rim of the bowl. Staying in corn season all the way, grilled corn on the barbecue with bacon and cheddar makes a great starter while the chowder finishes.
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Ingredients
- 375 g (about ¾ lb) maple bacon, cut into large pieces
- Olive oil
- ½ yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 celery stalks, sliced
- 2 peeled carrots, sliced
- ¼ cup (60 ml) flour
- 5 cups (1.25 L) chicken broth
- 3 cups (750 ml) frozen corn
- 1 cup (250 ml) 15% table cream
- 10 large baby potatoes (about 500 to 600 g), quartered
- ½ tablespoon (7.5 ml) Italian seasoning
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
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Preparation
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, add the bacon and a thin drizzle of olive oil and cook, stirring occasionally, 7 to 8 minutes, until the bacon is crispy. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon and set aside in a bowl. Pour off ¾ of the fat in the pan.
- Add the onion and garlic and drizzle with a thin stream of olive oil. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring.
- Add the celery and carrots and drizzle with a thin stream of olive oil. Cook 7 to 8 minutes, stirring.
- Add the flour, stir and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Pour in the chicken broth and whisk to break up any lumps.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and the bacon, season with salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover, leaving 1 cm (½ inch) uncovered. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally!
A chowder is a thick, hearty soup built on a fat, a starch and a creamy liquid. There are almost always potatoes in it, usually salt pork or bacon, and chunks you actually chew. The line between a chowder and a regular soup is texture: a chowder holds on the spoon, it doesn’t run off it. My corn chowder with maple bacon and potatoes follows that logic all the way, with a roux built in bacon fat rather than butter.
The three big families come from the American east coast and they’re separated by the liquid. New England is the white one, built on milk or cream, and the thickest of the three. Manhattan is red, tomato-based, with no dairy at all, and usually carries celery and carrots. Rhode Island is the bare-bones version: a clear broth with no milk, no butter and no tomatoes, just clams, potatoes and aromatics. My corn chowder sits squarely in the New England camp.
Three of them, and I’ve made all three. Throwing out every drop of bacon fat and starting the roux with neutral butter, which costs you half the flavour before you begin. Not cooking the flour long enough, so the chowder tastes pasty. And boiling it hard after the cream goes in, which is the fastest way to split it. Low heat, twenty minutes, an occasional stir. A fourth one worth naming: dicing the potatoes instead of quartering them, so they dissolve.
The roux, not the cream. A full minute of flour cooking in the reserved bacon fat gives the chowder its body, and the cream only rounds it out at the end. Use 15% table cream rather than milk, keep the pot below a boil once it’s in, and leave a centimetre of the lid open so it reduces gently. If you want it even silkier, blend half the pot and stir it back in. You’ll still have the chunks and you’ll gain the velvet.
Yes, and it’s a real recipe rather than a consolation prize. The catch is the fat: no bacon means no bacon fat to build the roux in. Use 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of butter or olive oil instead, cook the flour in it the same way, and swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth. Add a pinch of smoked paprika if you miss the smoke. That’s an easy corn chowder recipe with no bacon that a vegetarian can eat without noticing anything is missing.
Three to four days in the fridge in a sealed container. It freezes too, as long as you know what you’re signing up for: the potatoes lose their best texture and the cream can separate slightly as it thaws. That’s still no reason to throw out a good pot of chowder because you made too much. Reheat it slowly, stir it back together, and thin it with a splash of water or chicken broth if it has tightened up.
Bread, always bread. My parmesan croutons land on top and make the whole bowl more interesting. A classic Caesar salad alongside cuts the richness. If you’re feeding a crowd, a grilled-cheese with chicken, brie and apples sliced in half is impossible to beat next to a bowl of chowder. And to stay in corn season from start to finish, put out grilled corn on the barbecue with bacon and cheddar while the pot simmers.
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