Hatch Chile Corn Chowder

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Table of Contents

• 🗝️ Key takeaways
• 📖 Variations
• 🥫 How to store leftovers
• 💭 Things to know
• 👩‍🍳 FAQs
• 📚 Related recipes
• 🍽️ Serve with...
• 📞 The last word
• 📖 Recipe
• ✍🏻 A note from Marye...
• 💬 Comments

🗝️ Key takeaways

• This is an easy recipe that takes just 15 minutes to make. It's easy on the budget, too.
• Creamy chile corn chowder is a hearty, filling meal on chilly fall evenings. It's perfect for busy weeknights or lazy weekends.
• Make this vegetarian or spice it up with a couple of easy swaps - be sure to check the Variations and FAQs sections.

As soup season approaches, this quick hatch chile corn chowder is one recipe you're likely to have on repeat.

The silky cumin broth has a robust, delicious flavor. Sweet corn perfectly balances the mild heat of the hatch green chiles.

These not-too-hot peppers add just enough spice that'll leave the whole family begging for more!

📖 Variations

• If you can't find fresh hatch chiles, poblano peppers will work, too!
• For more heat, feel free to add some chipotles in adobo sauce.
• Stir in leftover shredded chicken to make the creamy soup heartier.
• Finish the chowder off with some freshly-grated Pepper Jack or Monterey Jack cheese, if you like.
• Have some leftover fresh corn from the summer's harvest? Go ahead and use it. Otherwise, canned or frozen corn kernels work just fine, too.

🥫 How to store leftovers

No one will complain about eating leftovers with this recipe. In fact, hatch chile corn chowder tastes even better the second time around!

Let the chowder cool a little before portioning it into an airtight container. Keep it in the fridge for up to five days.

Reheat the chowder in a large soup pot on the stove, or pop it in the microwave for quicker results.

From a food safety standpoint, you can freeze hatch chile corn chowder. However, the cream cheese tends to thaw with a very grainy texture, so I don't recommend storing leftovers in the freezer.

💭 Things to know

Expert Tip: For smooth corn chowder, don't add the cream cheese cold—and don't let it boil. Use just a little heat to keep the soup simmering.

• Have a few extra minutes? Roast (broil) the fresh chiles in your oven until the skin gets blackened and blistery. This will deepen their flavor and give the chowder an extra smoky taste.
• Use pre-diced onion to speed up prep! You can usually find it near the produce section in your local grocery store.
• Does everyone in your family prefer a different spice level? Use canned green chilies instead of hatch. Then, add cayenne or hot sauce when serving for those who want more heat.
• Don't use reduced-fat or low-fat dairy—it'll make your hatch chile corn chowder taste a little watery.

👩‍🍳 FAQs

📚 Related recipes

• Simmered in the slow cooker all day long, Crockpot Chicken Corn Chowder is so creamy and tastes like homestyle comfort food.
• Spicy, tangy, and full of Tex-Mex flavor, Mexican Street Corn Soup takes a street-food favorite and transforms it into your new favorite dinner.
• This Stuffed Pepper Soup is the easiest way to enjoy the classic flavors you love—but in an easy, hearty, comforting soup!

🍽️ Serve with...

Hatch chile corn chowder pairs perfectly with buttery chicken cream cheese crescent rolls. We make the meal stretch by serving it with a fun side, like these easy homemade tater tots.

Finish things off with key lime pie margaritas or some key lime hatch chile gelato—it's a totally unique dessert that'll have you hooked from the very first bite!

📞 The last word

Sometimes I add a can of creamed corn for even more corn flavor. You don't need to adjust anything else in the recipe.

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!

If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Recipe

First published  Sep 13, 2015. Last updated July 18, 2023 for more helpful tips and information and editorial improvements.

✍🏻 A note from Marye...

I know y'all don't always like the stories bloggers tell so when I have one I try to put it at the very bottom so you can read or skip as you like.

You might also like another of my favorites - Mexican Street Corn Soup!

Hatch Chile Corn Chowder is creamy, rich, and just a little spicy. It's perfect for the chilly, drizzly autumn days ahead. It's quick and easy to make and it honestly gets better the next day.

I love soup.

When I was little we had the canned kind and we had it often. My  mom was a wonderful woman but cook she was not. When Dad was on one of his many business trips out of town dinner was soup and sandwiches more likely than not. She did make a homemade potato soup that was amazing - I still use the recipe - but anything else?

Campbells.

Oh, I am not complaining. I loved soup then and I love it now. It's just that I really had no idea that you could make soup without the use of a can opener until I was in my own home and in my own kitchen. It was an eye-opening experience.

Since that time I have made a lot of soup and experimented with a lot of recipes... even turning one of my favorite casseroles into stuffed pepper soup.

This easy Hatch Chile Corn Chowder recipe is one of my favorites. My oldest daughter's favorite soup is corn chowder but I think she likes this version even better than the original. Hatch chiles have a distinctive flavor but if they are unavailable poblanos work just fine. If you like a little extra heat you can even pop some canned chipotle in adobo in there but be careful!

I love serving this with chicken cream cheese crescent rolls!