Corn Chowder with Cornmeal Dumplings is hearty and creamy. Ready in about 40 minutes, you’ll love the addition of dumplings in this classic!
This recipe takes a classic, hearty Corn Chowder Recipe and adds tender dumplings for an even more flavorful and comforting dish that’s a perfect Soup Recipe to serve on a cold night. Give my Chicken Corn Chowder a try too!
Sabrina’s Corn Chowder with Cornmeal Dumplings Recipe
The creamy corn chowder and simple dumplings make the perfect hearty, warming dish. You can serve the soup recipe as a side dish with your favorite Sandwich for a soup and sandwich combo like you could get at a café. Or, enjoy a big bowl of Corn Chowder with Cornmeal Dumplings as your main dish with Crusty Bread for dipping in.
Why You’ll Love This Chowder?
- Simple recipe to follow that is ready in just 40 minutes and easily customizable!
- Make it in the Slow Cooker to make your life even easier!
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Corn Chowder:
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 onion , chopped
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3 cups sweet corn , frozen or fresh
- 2 russet potatoes , peeled and diced (Yukon okay too)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Cornmeal Dumplings:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup green onions , minced
- 2/3 cup cheddar cheese , shredded
Instructions
- Add butter to a large, heavy-bottomed pot.
- On medium-high heat, add in the onions, cooking them until they are translucent (about 4-5 minutes).
- Add chicken broth, corn, potatoes, heavy cream, hot sauce, chili powder, and salt.
- Stir well and bring to a simmer, uncovered, for 4-5 minutes.
- While soup is simmering, make the cornmeal dumplings: In a large bowl whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and garlic salt until well mixed.
- Add in the milk and whisk.
- Stir in the green onions and cheddar cheese.
- Drop dumpling dough in small heaping tablespoons onto the soup.
- Cover the pot and let it simmer on medium-low for 20 minutes (no peeking).
- Test dumplings with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, they are ready.
Nutrition
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Note from Sabrina
Look for cobs of corn that have bright green husks and do not look black or dried out around the tops. Keep in a plastic bag in the refrigerator with the husks on until you’re ready to use. Frozen corn also works wonderfully in corn chowder.
Table of Contents
About this Recipe
Corn Chowder with Cornmeal Dumplings is a simple recipe that’s packed with wonderful flavors from amazing ingredients like sweet corn, hot sauce, potatoes, and chili powder. The chowder soup recipe is finished off with heavy cream to give it a rich, thick, creamy consistency. This flavorful corn chowder is delicious enough just with that, but this recipe also adds an amazing fluffy dumplings recipe. The homemade cornbread dumplings are easy to whisk together with milk, flour, cornmeal, and baking powder for the batter. Cheddar cheese and green onions are then added in for an amazing, bold savory dumplings recipe. Thanks to the cornmeal, the cheddar cornmeal dumplings have a similar consistency to Classic Cornbread.
Ingredients
- Corn: When corn is fresh in season, it is a wonderful option for this soup recipe.
- Cornmeal: Cornmeal is made from ground dried corn kernels. It is more coarse than flour and has a nice, chewy texture when used in breads, tortillas, or in this case dumplings.
- Heavy Cream: Use full fat heavy cream to give your corn chowder a silky, creamy consistency with lots of flavor.
- Butter: Using butter to sauté the onions infuses another layer of flavor in the rich, hearty soup.
- Vegetables: Onions provide an aromatic flavor to corn chowder that complements the sweetness of the corn kernels. The cubed potatoes help make this soup even heartier. They absorb the flavors from the rest of the soup and the starch helps to thicken it.
- Cheddar Cheese: Adding shredded cheddar to the cornmeal dumplings adds a slightly sharp contrast to the sweet corn. Use a good quality cheese for the best flavor.
How to Store
- Serve: Don’t keep your chowder at room temperature for more than 2 hours. If you want to keep the dish out longer, pour the chowder in a crockpot at low heat.
- Store: Transfer the chowder to an airtight container to store in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Freeze: You can also freeze the chowder for up to 4 months. Reheat it in a large pot on the stovetop before serving.
Ideas to Serve
Serve the chowder at the table directly from the pot to keep it warm, or from a slow cooker on the warm setting. In addition to the green onions, have a variety of fun toppings like extra shredded cheese, sour cream, sliced jalapeños, or crumbled bacon for everyone to personalize their bowl of corn chowder.
Slow Cooker Method
- Start by cooking the onions in a skillet until translucent.
- Then add the chicken broth, corn, potatoes, heavy cream, hot sauce, chili powder, salt, and onions to the slow cooker.
- Stir, cover, and cook on high for 7-8 hours.
- Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and garlic salt. Then whisk in the milk.
- Stir in the green onions and cheddar cheese.
- Drop spoonfuls of the dumpling batter into the corn chowder.
- Cover and cook for an additional 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the dumplings comes out clean.
Frequent Questions
Sweet corn on the cob is in season during the summer, which makes it perfect for fresh summer side dish recipes. However, you can make this delicious hearty corn chowder recipe all year round using frozen corn kernels. Frozen corn is picked and flash frozen at the peak of freshness, which makes it a perfect option to enjoy corn recipes all year long.
No. For a vegetarian option, use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth for this corn chowder recipe.
While some chowder recipes do call for thickening the soup with a roux, which is a mixture of fat and flour cooked together, you do not need to take that extra step here. This corn chowder will naturally thicken from the starch in the potatoes and the flour in the dumplings that both cook in the broth.
Variations
- Chicken: If you want to add some more protein into your recipe, try mixing in some chicken. You can either brown ground chicken with the onion before adding the other soup ingredients or use already-cooked chicken. Slice Rotisserie Chicken or another leftover chicken recipe into bite-sized pieces. Then add the chicken to the soup pot and heat it through before serving.
- Beans: Another way to add some protein is by mixing beans into the chowder recipe. Northern beans, navy beans, or black beans would make delicious and filling ingredients.
- Gluten-free: To make the dumplings recipe gluten-free, you’ll need to use a gluten-free alternative in the flour mixture. Buckwheat, almond flour, or rice flour would all work well in the dumpling batter. Cornmeal is already gluten-free, so you shouldn’t have to change the rest of the recipe.
- Seasonings: For extra flavor try adding fresh flat-leaf parsley, ground black pepper, bay leaf, paprika, red pepper flakes, or cumin.
- Bacon: Lots of people like corn chowder with bits of bacon. You can cook up bacon before starting the recipe and slice it into small pieces to add to the soup.
- Vegetables: Try adding bell pepper, green beans, and carrots. If you like hot peppers mix in chipotle pepper, jalapeños, or green chilies.
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Photos used in previous posts:
This is the definition of comfort food in a bowl. The chowder is rich, creamy, and packed with sweet corn flavor, but those cornmeal dumplings completely steal the show!
Thanks Ava, I think so too! So happy you enjoyed this, and thank you for the positive review!