Chicken Corn Chowder

The corn base give the chowder a lovely sweet flavor.  The chowder itself is thick enough to be a stew and wonderfully filling.


Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

½ cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion

¼ cup green bell pepper

¼ cup red bell pepper

2 (16-ounce) packages frozen baby white corn, thawed and divided

2 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup (3 ounces) reduced-fat shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese

1 ½ tsp hot sauce (such as Cholula)

1 ½ cup pre-cooked shredded chicken

Preparation

Veggies sauteeing

1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp.  Add chopped vegetables and 1 package corn to pan; sauté 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

2. Place remaining thawed corn (1 cup) and 1 cup of milk in a blender.  Process until smooth. Add pureed mixture to pan; stir in remaining milk (1 cup), salt, black pepper, cheese and hot sauce. Cook over medium heat (do not boil), stirring constantly, until cheese melts.  Add shredded chicken.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until hot.

3. Ladle chowder into bowls.

Note 1:  Substitute bacon drip for vegetable oil for additional flavor.

Note 2:  Use store-bought rotisseries chicken or leftover Thanksgiving turkey to save time.

Note 3:  This recipe doesn’t freeze particularly well.  It tastes great, but the corn separates from the milk and it doesn’t look as appealing.