This Ham and Corn Chowder is wonderful comfort food! A creamy soup broth, soft potato, juicy sweet corn and pops of golden brown ham is utterly irresistible and will warm your soul. Imagine coming home to this!
It’s Saturday 27 December, 2 days after Christmas, so I bet there are millions (billions??) of households around the world having ham for lunch. Sure, you could throw together a ham sandwich with fresh bread (yay, shops are open today!), or a frittata using other leftovers from your Christmas Day feast.
Or you could do something a little different and make this chowder. 🙂
“You could make yet another grilled ham and cheese sandwich to use up all that leftover ham…..or you could make this hearty, creamy soup!”
I’m a firm believer that for a soup to be a meal, it needs to be gutsy. And this soup is off the charts when it comes to oomph factor. It’s thick and chunky, creamy (without cream!!) and is one of those soups that is perfect for filling out even more with the addition of more vegetables (frozen diced vegetables are great!) or other leftover meats (think leftover turkey and chicken!).
I bet you thought it was bacon when you first saw the photo! Nope, not a shred of bacon in sight. Honestly, when you fry up the ham and cook it nice and crispy like you would with bacon, it will make you wonder why you don’t cook with ham more often. All the flavour but so much healthier!
To finish things off, I have a rather sad announcement to make…..I have run out of leftover Christmas ham!!! I felt a bit of a pang when I used up the last scraps for this recipe because it seems to signify the end of Christmas….and having to wait another 363 days until the next one.
Soup Dippers
Quick Cheesy Garlic Bread • Better-Than-Dominos Garlic Bread • Soft No Knead Dinner Rolls
For those of you who are lucky enough to still have a stash of Christmas Ham, here are some more suggestions for things you can make with it!
MORE THINGS TO MAKE WITH LEFTOVER HAM
Croque Madame Toastie Cups (Muffin Tin) – the best grilled ham and cheese you will ever have….
Ham and Cheese French Toastie Roll Ups – French Toast you can eat with your fingers!
No Washing Up Egg, Ham and Cheese Bread Bowls – yes, you read that right, there is no washing up at all!
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Ham and Corn Chowder with Potato
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups ham , roughly chopped (Note 1)
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- 1 small onion , diced (or half large onion) (yellow, brown or white)
- 2 potatoes , peeled and diced into 8mm / 1/3" cubes (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 cups frozen corn (or drained canned corn)
- 5 tbsp flour
- 2 cups milk (I use low fat but full fat will work too)
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 1/2 - 2 cups water
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried thyme), plus extra for garnish
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes until translucent. Do not let the onion brown.
- Add the flour and whisk until mixed through the butter. Pour 1 cup of milk in and whisk until it starts to thicken (around 1 1/2 minutes), then pour the remaining cup of milk in. Whisk until it thickens - around 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Then add the chicken stock, and 1 1/2 cups of water and whisk until combined.
- Increase heat to medium high and add the potatoes into the soup. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes (Note 3), whisking fairly regularly to ensure the soup doesn't stick to the bottom of the saucepan. The soup will thicken as it cooks. Use the remaining 1/2 cup of water if the soup gets too thick before the potato has finished cooking.
- Just before the potato has finished cooking, add the corn in (just to heat it through).
- While the potato is cooking, heat olive oil in a small fry pan over high heat. Add the ham and sauté for 1 - 2 minutes until nicely browned. Remove fry pan from the heat and set aside. (Note 4)
- When the potato is cooked (tender but still holding its shape), remove the soup from the stove and stir through most of the thyme and ham (reserve a bit for garnish).
- If the soup is too thick for your liking, use water (or milk) to get the soup to your desired consistency. Add the salt and 5 grinds of black pepper, then do a taste test and adjust the saltiness if required.
- Serve, garnished with remaining thyme leaves and ham.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This looks so delicious! I’m wondering if I can make it gluten free with corn starch instead of flour, but I’m not exactly sure how to do that?
Hi Elizabeth, you sure can, just replace the flour with 2.5 tbls corn flour – N x
Thank you!!
We love this soup so much that I make a double recipe after Christmas every year. I do have one comment. It would be helpful to have a weight given with the potatoes. I have some small Yukon golds and don’t know how many of those to use without a weight.
Love love love your recipes and this soup on a cold day! Even my picky husband went back for more 😊 will need to make more next time! Thank you for sharing!
That’s great!
i was reading a nice Cullen Skink recipe when i thought i’d like it with smoked sausage (andouille or Spanish spicy chorizo) since i have no smoked fish at hand. i need to use up milk and greenery (spinach, parsley, cilantro, celery, jalapenos, poblano, scallions), too, and frozen corn IS at hand! i’ll use a bunch of thyme sprigs tied with twine, and i’d like to use some of my Florida oranges (zest to garnish, peel for simmering, juice for mixing-in). i prefer to use chicken stock in place of water, and i have both whole milk AND heavy cream in my fridge. if i use the chorizo instead of the andouille, then instead of thyme, i’ll use smoked Spanish paprika, diced roasted red pepper, and more garlic; i’ll also omit the oil and much of the butter (making use instead of the chorizo fat already in the pan). so, thanks for the soup skeleton, Nagi — i just built my own body around it!
Absolutely fabulous!!
Omg! I made this Saturday for my husband and I. Today I finished it and yes, I love this soup!! Sharing with coworkers and family! Sooo good!!
This recipe is fantastic. I subbed the chicken broth for homemade ham stock and was lucky enough to find frozen corn with jalapeno. I will definitely make this again!
Sounds divine Leanne!
A very tasty recipe for using up leftover ham. Definitely a keeper. Makes more than 3 servings – more like 5. When I saw how much liquid I was about to put in the pot I cut it back by losing 1/2-1 cup of water (just 4 cups of liquid total) and cutting back to 4 TBS (1/4 cup) flour, but kept everything else the same. It was a nice chunky soup. Thanks for a great recipe!
P.S. when seasoning to taste at the end I ended up adding an additional 1/2 tsp salt.
Sounds great Alison!
I added 1/2 tsp. Sweet basil, 1/2 tsp. Herbs de Provence and 3 T. Gorgonzola cheese to give it a little kick.
Can you add all these ingredients to a crockpot and make it that way?
I would cook it on low for 3 hours in a slow cooker ☺️
Is serving size 1 cup?
No – it’s at least 2 cups.
Adding the ham is interesting and it makes it a special dish. Simple and complete meal on its own.
This recipe is a keeper-Wanted to make use of my leftover ham n had the other ingredients on hand. I used less thyme n I did heat the ham w olive oil but not to a crisp..It was good n tasty n great on a rainy day, which is why it was even more perfect!
Love hearing that DifrHI! So pleased you enjoyed this so much! N xx
Loved it! Fast, easy and tasted great! I didn’t change anything but didn’t measure well and it turned out yummy. I did use cashew milk for one of the cups but I don’t think it mattered at all. Used leftover ham from Christmas. Topped with some fried onions and a little cheese. Great comfort food. Recipe keeper, will make again. Thank you!
Delicious!!!
Hi Nagi! Love your page and your recipes! Tried some of them already and fam absolutely loved them! 😉
So my question is – I have a ham bone with some meat attached frozen away from last baked. How do I go about to use the whole thing to simmer? I figured I can somehow simmer it until the meat falls off the bone into pieces?
Thanks!
YUM, YES!!! What I would do is as follows: once you add the liquids in, do NOT add potatoes or anything else. Add extra water, put ham in and simmer for 1 hour or until the meat is falling off the bone. Remove bone, add potato etc and follow recipe. You may need to adjust the water as you go to get the soup consistency right, but there’s plenty of room to move here, just don’t let the soup reduce down too much into a thick gravy 🙂 N x
Thanks Nagi! Hubby loves the soup and kept saying you poured it out of a can….Noooo…you didn’t make that! LOL
WHOOT! So great to hear that Rendy, thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
Made this for dinner last week for my “soup hating” children. Told them “its not soup, it chowder” Well, what can I say, they love chowder lol and I have been requested to make again. Thank you
Thanks for the compliment Kylie! So pleased you and the “soup hating” kids enjoyed this! 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, I’d like to make this for dinner tonight as it sounds delicious! I wanted to make it in the crock pot though because of time constraints with kids activities. Any suggestions on the best way to do that?
Thanks, Laura
Hi Laura! I would cook it for 3 hours on low in a slow cooker. 🙂 N xx
Hi Nagi!
This soup was just the ticket after the snowy/sleety/rainy days we were just had in the Adirondacks! I love your soup recipes and found this one connected to a broccoli soup recipe.
I like to add a half carrot ground into tiny flecks in the mini-chopper — it adds a slight golden color to the soup1
Thanks so much —
Nadine, Upstate New York PS — Glad you had a great skiing holiday in Japan so you could cool off — I sympathize when you are cooking in very hot weather in Australia —
Hi Nadine, thanks so much for your message! So pleased to hear you enjoyed hits 🙂 And YES skiing was just what I needed as a break from the crazy heat here in Sydney! Hope you are staying warm – though I hear it was a pretty mild winter for you? N xx
Hi again, Nagi —
This past winter wasn’t really mild, last winter was truly mild — this winter was a good one — not many days below 0 Fahrenheit, but we didn’t have very much snow. Just enough to be beautiful! I’m going to look for a chicken recipe in my Nagi file right now!! Thanks for all the goodness that you send out!!! Nadine
Hi Nagi,
I just saw this in your Fridge Forage post and wanted to tell you how much I like this soup. I’ve made it several times and think It is perfect on a cold day. I’ve tossed leftover mushrooms into it, even some sweet peppers once. I soften up all these veggies with the onions and it just works. Not once have we ever said “Well, that’s a weird flavor.”
Because I’m a lazy cook and hate extra steps I also toss my bits of diced ham in the saucepan with the onions, garlic and any other veggies I’m using, cooking them all together. The ham comes out meltingly tender in the soup and I have one less pan to wash. Win!
I’m so pleased to hear you like this recipe too Sandy! It’s my base for all creamy soups 🙂 And hey….you know I’m an utterly lazy cook at heart!!! N xx