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:
Yummy!!! I made this this yesterday for lunch. It was a perfect comfort food for a crazy cold snow storm day. It almost reminded me of my Grandmas corn chowder, except she used bacon. I usually always follow your recipes exact, but I changed it a bit. My Grandma would always cut kernels off a cob, she would scrape the corn carcass with a flat ended wooden spoon into a pot releasing the remaining corn milk then break the cobs in two and put them into the pot and boiled them with the stock. A couple extra steps but it adds so much flavour!! Thank you again for a delicious recipe!
Oh my GOSH that would be incredible! I’m so glad you enjoyed this, I may need to revisit it soon using your Grandma’s method! N x
This is a keeper. I made the ham and halved red potatoes with the skins on, in the crockpot.The potatoes then absorb the ham flavor. I sautéed sweet onions and chopped celery in unsalted butter, then added flour to make the rue. I then added the liquid from the crockpot, a quart of chicken stock and 3 cans of evaporated milk and cooked until thick and creamy. I then diced the potatoes,and the ham, added 6 cans of green giant steamed tender crisp corn with the corn water which has s only about 2 tablespoons total.Added the cream soup mixture and parsley. It turned out fabulously!
Thank you Sarah! I’m so glad you enjoyed this!!
Made this tonight and it was delicious. Didn’t have chicken stock, so it was all milk and water but still delicious. Added sriracha for some added heat for my bowl and mmm, mmm, mmm delicious. Notice the repetition there? 🙂 Thank you for sharing this recipe!
BA HA HA!!! I use that word MANY times every day!!! Thank you for your wonderful message, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
It was super delicious. It made about 6 servings for us but I was a little liberal with my potato proportions. Also, I added carrots with the potatoes. And when the chowder was getting thick, I used the sweet water from the canned corn to thin it out. And I used a mix of thyme and oregano, because I didn’t have just thyme. All additions only added more flavor and depth. Thanks for the recipe, it goes in my recipe book.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Jane!Thank you! And very honoured to make it into your book 🙂 ?
I thought the chowder was good but I believe it would work better after you saute the onion and garlic add about 1/2 a cup of chicken broth to that pan and put your potatoes and any other vegetables that you want to add and simmer until tender so then you don’t have to watch them in the milk so It doesn’t scald! Worked much better for me and I also added a little cheddar cheese. Thanks for the recipe it hit the spot and was nice to have a smaller amount of chowder for just me and my husband and for his lunch at work.
Thanks for the tips Ramona! I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
This soup was a HIT with my family….I topped it off with diced ham and shredded cheddar cheese…..oh so good
WOO HOO!! SO GLAD you enjoyed it Terri, thank you for letting me know! N x
OMG Nagi! This soup was amazing! I froze some leftover Christmas ham and didn’t want to make any boring sandwiches…found this recipe and the entire family was devouring it. My husband is a picky eater and he loved this soup. Another awesome recipe! Keep it up!
YEE HAA!!! SO GLAD you enjoyed it Nicole!!! 🙂
Made this last night following exact recipe (minus having leftover ham… I just just used the pre-cooked ham steaks from our local shop), and it was awesome! Love how thick and creamy it came out. Next time I will def add in bacon, because.. well.. bacon. 🙂
Thanks for another goodie !
I’m so glad you loved it Marti!!! As for bacon? Yes. Yes yes!
I made this last night, a year after you published it. Someone on Facebook mentioned they had made ham chowder, and I thought yum! So, I Google it and liked the looks of you recipe more than any other one I saw. Most of the other ones had bacon and ham, which I think is overkill.
We loved this soup! I will make it over and over again! My husband and I both think this recipe makes 4 servings, and since doubled the recipe, we have more for later this week and 2 meals in the freezer. Yay! I served it with a spinach salad and garlic bread. Thanks, Nagi! I have signed up to receive email from you. Your blog was today’s happy discovery!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this Peggy, and that you discovered me!! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and let me know. 🙂 And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Want to make big pot of your ham potato corn chowder for about 10-12 people
What would the recipe be
Made this for wife and I and we loved it
Thanks David
Hi David! I would triple the recipe 🙂 in a VERY large pot!!
Hi, looks amazing and I really wanna make it !
Is there anything I could use instead of milk?
Thank you !
Hi Catarina! You need milk to get the creamy texture of this soup. Do you have a dietary requirement? Can you use dairy-free forms of milk? I think soy milk would work for this. I wouldn’t recommend almond – far too rich!
Hi yes dairy free would be the idea! I’ll try with the soy milk!
Thank you very much 🙂
I love your photos so much! We’re huge soup fans in our house. This looks amazing and I definitely need to take up some tips from your on these gorgeous shots.
Pinned.
Thank you Melanie, you are far too kind! I’m a huge soup fan too….I definitely have it at least once a week, EVEN in the middle of summer which is right now in Sydney! 🙂
HAM POTATO AND CORN CHOWDER. Finally, my left over ham put to good use. Added fresh garden onion. purple onion, poblano pepper, can of cream of mushrooms, 1/2 orange bell pepper, added water two cans of corn plus water, two cans milk, 1/4 t cayenne pepper, garlic 3 cloves, powder garlic. My family loves. Wonder for a snow day.
Thank you for coming back to share your thoughts! I am so glad you enjoyed it and I love the additions you made!! 🙂
What the what? I just posted a similar recipe! I see your ladle scoop shots and am envious. I’ll be learning quite a bit from you, but keeping it original. Thanks for all your help Nagi and the FBC group. Have a great weekend!
Thanks Kevin!! Popping over to check out YOUR version 🙂
AMAZING! Made this last night. I simmered my leftover Christmas ham bone that I put in the freezer and used the resulting stock in place of the chicken broth. What an awesome chowder!
Ooh, that would have been AMAZING using the ham bone for extra flavour! Thanks Jeanette, I’m so glad you enjoyed this! 🙂
Just tried this one out, and I have to say we loved it. I’ll definately be making this one again. I made it with really crispy bacon and it was lovely,. next time i’ll be using more bacon. Thanks for putting this one up. I love your site, so many great recipes
Thank you Stuart! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! And yes, bacon is brilliant with this 🙂
My husband is allergic to onions and garlic and that family. Do you know of anything that could be sauteed to substitute here? It looks so good,i want to try it
Thanks
Judi
Hi Judi! Are shallots / scallions in that family? If not, then you could just slice the white / light green part and sauté that instead. The flavour is very similar to onions + a touch of garlic. Another option is to add finely chopped garlic chives – just sauté them quickly in the butter. Garlic chives are a herb that have a garlic oniony flavour!
I am making this as we speak but have no tyme, can I use dried parsley?
Hi Raquel – parsley will be fine! The thyme adds a subtle flavour, so you can definitely replace it with any other herb you want or even leave it out 🙂
Oh yeah, I love me some chowder, especially with some potatoes! Will have to make this deliciousness this winter. 🙂
It’s summer here and I made it ANYWAY!! I love it that much! Actually, it was unusually cool on the day I made it 🙂
Okay, everything on this page is making my mouth water!! And this chowder looks amazing – my kind of comforting soup.
I sent a link to a friend of mine to the Croque Madame Toastie Cups and she made them for her whole family – they were a hit!!
Oh wow, thanks Marissa!! This is totally my kind of comfort soup too 🙂