Fall season is in full swing and I love nothing more than making all kinds of soups and stews for some extra coziness. With all of the extra cooking I’ve been doing on top of my blog work due to the pandemic, it’s been a little difficult to stay within my grocery budget. Especially, since it was easy for me to do that when I was working full-time at the restaurant since I was only cooking one day out of a workweek and eating at work.

With keeping my budget in mind, I wanted to make this delicious and filling soup with common pantry and freezer items that I already had on hand. And since corn and potatoes are super cheap, you can easily make a big batch of this and freeze the leftovers for another day. More good news about this soup? It’s dairy-free and gluten-free, which is great for a variety of diets and it can easily be made vegetarian and vegan by omitting the bacon. Let’s get cooking!

Corn and Potato Chowder

Serves: 6-8

Cook time: 45 minutes

8 slices bacon, thinly sliced

2-3 sprigs fresh thyme

2 large celery stalks, thinly sliced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1lb baby yellow potatoes, halved and cut into even-sized pieces, if needed

2 32oz cartons vegetable stock (see note)

2 12oz bags frozen sweet corn (see note)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast (see note)

Kosher salt, to taste

Cracked black pepper, to taste

Sazón spice blend, to taste

Adobo spice blend, to taste

1 13.5oz can unsweetened coconut milk, as needed

2 green onions, thinly sliced, for garnish

Note: one of the cartons of vegetable stock will be used to make a corn pureé with one of the bags of corn in a high-speed blender or food processor. The other will be used for the soup itself. As for the nutritional yeast, you can usually find this in the health food section of your local grocery store or online. I buy it in bulk and always keep it in the pantry for plant-based dishes and for popcorn. It’s so good and cheesy in flavor without the actual need of cheese.

In a large pot over medium heat, add the sliced bacon and cook until crisp, about 8-10 minutes. When the bacon is almost done, add the whole thyme sprigs to flavor the bacon fat. They should pop and sizzle with the bacon itself, which is totally fine. Once the fat has been rendered from the bacon, remove everything from the pot and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain excess oil. Remove the stems from the thyme allowing the leaves to stay put with the bacon. Set aside and try not to eat all of the bacon before you use it for the soup later.

Add the sliced celery and diced onion to the pot with the bacon fat. Sauté until the onion is slightly translucent, scraping up all of the good brown bits at the bottom with the edge of your spoon or spatula. Then, add the potatoes and combine everything. Sauté for about 4 minutes and then add one carton of the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil.

While the soup is working, add one of the bags of frozen corn to a high speed blender or food processor with the nutritional yeast. Using the other carton of stock to thin out the corn, blend or process it into a purée. I used a little over half the carton for the blending. Once combined, carefully pour that into the pot of veggies and stock. While boiling, skim off any fat or crud that may be piling around the edge of the pot, this will be normal due to the puréed corn.

Adjust your seasoning with the kosher salt, black pepper, sazón, and adobo spice blend and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender, about 10 more minutes. Once the potatoes can be pierced with a fork or knife, fold in the other bag of the sweet corn to heat through. Take a ladle or two of the soup (more veggies than broth) and place it into the blender or food processor, blending it into a thick sauce situation. Pour that back into the soup and stir well.

Then, pour in some coconut milk to thicken the soup to add some creaminess to your liking. I used an entire can since I was feeding everyone and needed to stretch the soup out a bit. I’d suggest starting out with half first. You can use heavy cream if you like, but I chose coconut milk to keep it dairy-free! Let it warm through a bit to simmer and you’ll be good to go.

Serve immediately and garnish with the fried bacon and thyme mixture and the sliced green onion.

¡Buen provecho!