Soup is one of the quickest and easiest, yet most satisfying dishes to prepare. Whether you’re looking for a hearty soup to serve as a meal or a lighter soup to have handy as a snack, with a few basic ingredients you’re never far from a satisfying and nutritious meal.
Corn chowder is a versatile soup, packed with flavour, and being thick and creamy, the perfect comfort food for a chilly winter day. Having said that though, this delicious soup can be high in calories with cream and butter forming two common ingredients. Below is a lighter, low fat recipe that is still full on flavour, but lighter in calories.
Low Fat Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 potatoes, diced into 1 centimeter cubes
- 2 cups of fresh corn, cut off the cob (you can use tinned or frozen corn if you can’t get fresh)
- 2 cups of chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you’re making a vegetarian version)
- 3 cups of fat free milk
- ¼ cup of flour
- ¼ cup of fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Handful of fresh chives, finely sliced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Grilled back bacon (optional)
Putting it together
- Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottom pot and add the onion. Gently cook the onion over a medium heat until the onion has softened and is translucent. Don’t let the onion brown.
- Add the flour and cook it for around a minute, stirring continuously.
- Add the potatoes and corn and stir for about 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken stock and half of the milk and stir.
- Gently simmer the soup for about 15 minutes until the potatoes have begun to soften.
- After simmering the soup for about 15 minutes, the soup will be quite thick – at this point add in the remaining milk. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Leave to simmer for a further 10 minutes.
- When you’re ready to serve the corn chowder, stir in the parsley and chives together with the pre-grilled bacon if you’re using it (make sure that any fat has been removed before grilling it).
Serving and storing
This corn chowder is delicious served on its own, but to make it into a complete meal, try serving it with fresh whole wheat or rye bread. The thick and creamy soup is great for dunking slices of these breads in and the bread is good for mopping up the last spoonful!
If you’re going to be storing the corn chowder, it will keep in the fridge for around 2 days, although it freezes very well. If you’re freezing a batch of the soup, put it into individual serving size containers and freeze right after you’ve made it. Defrost completely before you heat it up again.
Louise Campion - Louise Campion is an avid traveller who loves the idea that writing about a destination might just inspire someone else to travel. Other ...
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