Fresh Corn Zucchini Chowder
A simple corn zucchini chowder with tons of diced potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and celery. I’m kicking it up a few notches with diced jalapeños too! This summer chowder is bomb.
Tons of pearly corn kernels and zucchini squash in this fresh corn zucchini chowder.
And let’s also talk about the potatoes, onions, celery, and carrots, garlic, and jalapeños — yes JALAPEÑOS that go into this chowder. When do we ever do boring, bland, or tasteless food around here? What you’re getting in this one bowl is veggies up the wazoo. with tons of potatoes, fresh kernels of corn. Its seriously, unbelievably good.
But before I get to the recipe, how was your weekend? Did you do anything great? Us? If you follow me on snapchat (username: littlespicejar), you know that we spent most of Saturday and a part of Sunday painting/redoing our powder room/half bathroom. I always find it so weird to call it a powder room. What the what? Anyway we painted it a beautiful shade of calming, sea foamy green, which I know probably sounds terrible but gosh! It’s alllllll over Pinterest and it makes any room in the house come instantly alive. The paint color is called “Sea Salt” by Sherwin Williams. Has anyone painted a room with that color? Tell me i’m not the only one that’s bought a 5 gallon tub of it and ready to paint the entire house with that color if it was left up to me.
Anyway back to the corn zucchini chowder. Soup is a regular affair around here minus the super hot summer months because it’s just BOILING in Houston at times. But way too often I find myself craving a warm bowl of something with tons of creaminess and chunky veggies to boot. I love that I can sneak in tons of veggies into a hearty chowder and the hubby will eat it right up. The man LOVES a good chowder.
I’m a big fan of using corn in soups so it probably goes without saying that traditional corn chowder is one of my all time favorites. This recipe is simple and comes together very quickly. Not only that, it’s also completely vegetarian friendly so #meatlessmonday is on point right now. Another thing I love about this corn zucchini chowder is that it uses all fresh, seasonal produce. The zucchini’s are a beaut right now! My local farmers market/grocery stores are bursting with fresh squash at the moment. And you already know that corn has summer written allllll over it.
The key to making a perfect corn chowder is the balance of creamed veggies and chunky bites. I like to purée about 1/2 of my soup in a food processor before adding in the half and half so that some of the veggies are whole while others blend completely to make the perfect silky chowder texture.
Last note, the jalapeños I used are completely option, for a more traditional corn zucchini chowder, just leave them out. But we love a little southern style kick so I highly urge you to give it a go with the peppers!
Enjoy!
Fresh Corn Zucchini Chowder
A simple corn zucchini chowder with tons of diced potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and celery. I'm kicking it up a few notches with a little cayenne and jalapeños too!

Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/4 cup yellow onions, diced
- 1/2 cup carrots, diced
- 1/2 cup celery, diced
- 4 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeńo, diced (remove seeds/ribs before to control spice)
- 3/4 lb. yukon gold potatoes, diced
- 4 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 large zucchini, diced
- 2 1/2 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
- 1 cup half and half or heavy cream
- fresh parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven, heat the butter over medium high heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the vegetables soften. Add the garlic, jalapenos, and potatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring so the veggies don't stick to the pot.
- Add the broth, bay leaf, and thyme, bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat and let simmer for 8-10 minutes or until the potatoes are half way cooked. Add the zucchini and corn kernels and continue to cook for an additional 5-7 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through. You can check the doneness by gently piercing with the tip of a knife.
- Remove the bay leaf, transfer 2 cups or more (see notes) into a food processor and process until smooth. Pour the blended mixture back into the pot. Heat the soup over medium high heat, add the half and half and let come to a gentle simmer. Serve topped with fresh parsley and smoked paprika if desired.
Notes
- You can blend all or none of the chowder as well. This is completely to your preference! Use more or less jalapeños to preference too!
This soup looks so tasty and comforting. Also love your photos!
I just made your soup using sweet potato instead of regular potato because it was all I had and it was the best soup ever!!!! Thank you soooooo much for sharing your recipe! It’s absolutely delicious!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks for commenting! 🙂
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I made it yesterday for lunch this week. Is it possible to freeze this soup?
You can freeze it, Dawn but I would do so before adding in the cream/half and half. There’s always a risk of it splitting if you freeze it with the dairy.
Hi Marzia – just thought I’d come back to let you know that the soup did freeze well. It was a bit grainier once thawed b/c of the potatoes, but overall tasted great and texture was fine (& I’m a texture person).
Happy holidays! Hope you and your loved ones have a safe/joyous season!
The soup is still simmering away in the crockpot. I made a double batch, and puréed about two thirds of it. I added some smoky cumin and chopped cilantro. It is fantastic!
And in my bowl I sprinkled in some “Tajin” line seasoning and extra jalepeno which really switched up the flavor… love it both ways!
Thanks for a great idea!
Your additions sound delicious, Kristen! 🙂
Hi Kristen
I’m making this soup in a crock pot today. Can you tell me when you added the heavy cream? At the end or beginning. Thanks!!
what exactly is a serving size?? How many cups?
I’d say a serving size was in the ballpark of 1- 1 ¼ cups.
Made a double batch for a supper club soup night that required vegetarian. It was a huge hit! Thank you. I will be making it again.
This chowder was delicious!
This was so yummy.
You gave the Nutrition Facts without listing the size of serving. We diabetics would appreciate knowing… it looks sooooo good!
My apologies, Scott. The nutritional facts are for 1/10th of the recipe. A serving is approximately 1 cup. Hope you enjoy the soup!
Can u eat this cold? I’m always looking for dinner ideas for Shabbat.
Sure, if you’d like!
This came out great!
A few small tweaks here and there to accommodate for what I had on hand, but honestly delicious! It was devoured very quickly!
Thanks for the share, and I’ve given you credit on my blog!
I was looking to do this recipe in the crockpot, what kind of adjustments do the recipe do you suggest I make in regards to the order of the items being added? Thank you in advance!
Hi Jenna, unfortunately, I haven’t tested this recipe in the crockpot so it’s difficult for me to say how you’d go about doing that. I’d suggest doing an online search for a similar recipe that’s been tested in the slow cooker and using that as a guideline.
What would you consider a “large” zucchini? Like a garden large or a store large?
I’d say store-bought large.
Haha! That honestly made me laugh out loud because it’s such a great question. There’s potentially a HUGE difference between the two!
I’m late to the party here, but I believe a large zucchini is about 7-10 oz, with a medium being about 5 oz.
It’s a soup, so you can add some extra (or less) zucchini without ruining any chemistry.
It was absolutely delicious! Friends raved about it, added chopped kale and a red pepper
I know I’m late to the party. Full disclosure: I needed to use up a zucchini and found this recipe via Pinterest and happened to have the rest of the ingredients. I wasn’t expecting much to be honest. How wrong I was. This was delicious on so many levels I was convinced a little leprachaun snuck into my kitchen and added a bunch of ingredients I was unaware of. Truly delicious and now being add to our family favourite lists. Look forward to sifting through some of your other recipes!
This is my favorite new soup! Uses up the zucchini in my garden in a new and tasty way. I’m made it for many different people and its always a winner!
I love this. I added salt, and I think I used a way big bay leaf because it was a little over powering, but we will definitely make this again!
Do you have to add the jalapeno pepper ( I don’t have one) or can you just add cayenne to it?
The jalapeno does add a nice flavor, but cayenne would work in a pinch!
This soup is soooo delicious! I added about 2 cup so multi colored peppers and about 3 cups broccoli, upped the broth by 2 cups and added summer squash too! Added salt and pepper and cumin and turmeric. Hubby even said it was good! Shhhh don’t tell him about the whole onion in it!!
What size dutch oven did you use, how many quarts?
a 3-quart or larger should do the trick!
AMAZING – – I only had canned corn and it was still BOMB!!
I made this tonight – it is amazing! I put 3 soup ladles into my blender to thicken and it was perfect. Thank you!
This looks so good! What a great way to use up a bunch of good summer veggies!
Thanks for sharing! Does it freeze well?
Made this recipe for a cold a rainy Sunday today and it was delicious. Veganized the recipe using vegan butter and substituting the half & half with an unsweetened almond creamer. I used an immersion tool to blend the whole pot and this soup turned out to be a winner at the dinner table. In fact my son served himself seconds! Thanks for sharing your recipe?
Added a couple extra jalapenos and some cayenne for flavor. We used canned corn and increased the amount of each veggie just because we wanted a chunkier chowder. It was decent soup but after letting it warm an extra hour in the hot dutch oven it was delicious! It was even better the second day (even cold)! I would recommend letting it hang out for an extra 1-2 hours to let it thicken and allow the flavors to come together even more.
Really this is a great base recipe to play around with! It would be good with kale, cauliflower, parsnip, winter squashes, asparagus, whatever veg you’re feeling!
Hi Marzia,
I was wondering if you peeled the potatoes and carrots before adding to the soup?
Thanks
Yolanda
I made this for my kids and I. It was delicious and super tasty. I didn’t blend it this but next time I make it I will.
I’m so glad it was enjoyed, Nessa! Appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave a comment 🙂
Hi thanks for this recipe. This is my third summer making it. I tweaked it a bit used sweet potatoes after my second try and only make it that way now. The taste is amazing. I did not use the half and half, just blended half of the soup which is so creamy it didn’t need it. I freeze it in individual containers and eat it for lunch at work. This time I used a scotch bonnet pepper because I didn’t have jalapeños but made a double batch. I’m hoping it’s not too spicy.
Yum! Thanks for sharing!
Oh my goodness. I love this chowder. Have given recipe to so many people and everyone raves about it.
I put in purple garlic, so good. Be careful 1 – toe is plenty. I put in 3 and had to add 10 more cup of broth/milk which wasn’t terrible ..gave me more yummy soup.
So happy to hear you enjoyed it, Sharon! Appreciate you sharing the recipe with friends and family! 🙂