Healthy Chicken Corn Chowder recipe

— by Seanna Thomas

Easy, hearty, homemade soup: corn chowder is a favourite with every- one and we all know why. The classic is made with copious amounts of oil or butter, bacon, cream and sugar-loaded creamed corn. No one can deny it’s delicious. But everyone also knows how incredibly bad it is for you. Sometimes the classic recipes deserve to be tweaked so we can eat them more often, right?

My version uses no butter, bacon or cream, but you’ll love it just the same. You can easily switch up this recipe to suit your family’s needs if you’re vegan or want to add more protein. Plus it just gets better and better as it sits in the fridge, so try to keep some for leftovers.

This is easier to make than you think. The only time-consuming part is the chopping, but once that’s done, you’re good to go. It comes together in a snap, and dinner can be on the table or in the thermos, pronto.

1. Over medium-high heat, melt the coconut oil and sauté the onions, pepper and garlic until soft. Add potato, sweet potato and broth, then bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 10 minutes.
2. If you have an immersion blender, take the pot off the heat and pulse the soup a few times. This will help thicken it up. If you don’t have an immersion blender, don’t worry about it. It will still be delicious, just not as thick.
3. Place the pot back over medium-low heat and add the corn, coconut milk, salt, pepper and smoked paprika. If you don’t have smoked paprika, the flavour will not be the same. This is how I get away with not using bacon – it replaces the smokiness in this dish. (Once you buy it, you’ll never go back to using regular paprika.)
4. Let simmer for five minutes. Top with some fresh herbs and serve immediately.

Vegan option: Use vegetable broth or water.

Chicken Corn Chowder option: Stir in a breast of cooked and shredded chicken at the very end.

This will stay great (and actually improve) in the fridge, in a sealed container, for up to a week.