This creamy, yet light Healthy Summer Zucchini Corn Chowder is exactly the meal you need to add into your dinner rotation. Seasonal summer produce including fresh zucchini squash and sweet corn make this soup a veggie packed dream.
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About this Chowder
What is chowder? Chowder is essentially a thick soup or stew, typically with a heavy cream base and thickened with crackers or a roux. This Healthy Summer Chowder, however, is thickened with its own contents. We will blend a portion of the soup (including the veggies!) to make it nice and thick.
And just because we aren’t using the more indulgent ingredients, doesn’t mean that this Summer Zucchini Corn Chowder isn’t completely satisfying. The fresh summer produce packed into this soup makes it utterly delicious.
This is great as an appetizer, a side dish to some grilled chicken or steak, alongside a seasonal salad, or all on its own with toasted bread and some cheese sprinkled on top!
And if you're looking for more veggie forward soups, also try this Vegetarian Stuffed Pepper Soup, this Dairy Free Tomato Soup (Fresh Tomatoes!), or this Spicy Butternut Squash Soup, which I'm sure you're going to love, too!
Recipe Ingredients
- Sweet Corn - Take advantage of FRESH, seasonal summer corn if you can find some near you. It is so sweet! But frozen will also work in your chowder.
- Summer Zucchini - To all the gardeners out there who complain about too many zucchinis, make this chowder!
- Dried Thyme & Sage - Adding herbs is adding freshness!
- Vegetable Broth - Along with the milk, veggie broth will be the base of our summer chowder
- Milk - I used unsweetened almond milk but half/half, whole milk, or coconut cream would make it creamier.
- Brown Rice - I used a microwavable packet of brown rice. You can cook your own too. Or use quinoa, farro, or Right Rice!
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to Make This Recipe
1. Heat a large dutch oven (soup pot) to medium heat. Wash and finely dice white onion, carrots, jalapeño, and celery. Slice zucchini into half moons.
2. Add the butter into the hot pot and then add white onion, celery, carrots, jalapeños and corn. *Optional, add 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour here for thickness and allow it to dissolve.
3. Sauté for 5-8 minutes, then add the diced zucchini. Allow vegetables to sauté for 12-15 more minutes. Sprinkle dried thyme and sage into the pot. Continue stirring to avoid burning.
4. Pour in the vegetable broth and milk and allow the soup to simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Carefully use a glass measuring cup and transfer half of the soup into a blender. Pulse on high for 30-45 seconds until ingredients are blended (you could also use an immersion blender).
6. Then, pour the blended soup back into the dutch oven and stir. Add in COOKED rice and stir again. Serve with fresh grilled garlic or cheese bread, crackers, homemade croutons, dumplings, shaved parmesan, etc. Enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
Store in a glass container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. To reheat, simply pour into a sauce pan and heat over medium heat until soup is evenly heated. This works better than the microwave so it is warm throughout.
Typically, chowder is thickened with cream and flour that forms a roux. In this Healthy Chowder, however, we use the soup itself to thicken it up by pureeing a portion and then mixing it back in. OPTIONALLY, you could add 2 tablespoons all purpose flour to the pot when you add the vegetables for additional thickening.
Nope, it’ll cook right in the pot. I used frozen corn and dumped it right in, but you could also use fresh corn and do the same.
If you’re into clams, you could definitely add a can or two to make this a Clam Corn Chowder. Drain and rinse them then add when you’re pouring in the broth. I think this chowder would also be great with shredded chicken mixed in, crumbled bacon, or a can of chickpeas.
Yes! You can absolutely make Healthy Summer Zucchini Corn Chowder by just swapping the butter for a plant based version or olive oil.
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Recipe
Healthy Summer Zucchini Corn Chowder
Equipment
- Cutting Board
- Knife
- dutch oven (soup pot)
- Measuring cups and spoons
- blender or immersion blender
- large stirring spoon or spatula
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp sweet butter
- 2 cups sweet corn
- 2 medium summer zucchinis
- 4 large carrots
- 4 stalks celery
- 1 small white onion
- 1 small jalapeño
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried sage
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 pack 90-second rice, 8 oz
Instructions
- Heat a large dutch oven (soup pot) to medium heat.
- Wash and finely dice white onion, carrots, jalapeño, and celery. Slice zucchini into half moons.
- Add the butter into the hot pot and then add white onion, celery, carrots, and jalapeños.
- Sauté for 5-8 minutes, then add the sweet corn and diced zucchini.
- Allow vegetables to sauté for 12-15 more minutes. Sprinkle dried thyme and sage into the pot. Continue stirring to avoid burning.
- Pour in the vegetable broth and milk and allow the soup to simmer for 15 minutes.
- Carefully use a glass measuring cup and transfer half of the soup into a blender. Pulse on high for 30-45 seconds until ingredients are blended (you could also use an immersion blender).
- Pour the blended soup back into the dutch oven and stir. Add in COOKED rice and stir again.
- Serve with fresh grilled garlic or cheese bread, crackers, croutons, dumplings, shaved parmesan, etc.
Nutrition
Notes
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If you're using MyFitnessPal, search 'A Paige Of Positivity' and find SUMMER ZUCCHINI CORN CHOWDER calories and nutrition facts. Disclaimer: for most accurate macronutrients and caloric breakdown, it is recommended that you input each ingredient into your MyFitnessPal food diary.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. It’s my passion to create dishes that can be shared with others. Tell me something you loved or just say hi!
Courtney Paige says
I didn't think I crave a summer soup - but this one is GOOD! Light and refreshing.
Sydney says
A super tasty way to use summer veggies that isn’t salad! Very much into this soup. I added a can of chickpeas to make it a little heartier and it turned out amazing!!!!
Charlotte says
When my sister made this soup I didn’t crave it at all- I mean who likes soup in the summer? Apparently I do! This summer soup is amazing and a family favorite.
Lily says
I loveddd this soup, both warm and cold! This is so delicious that I had it cold for breakfast right before school, and it was just as enjoyable as it was warm. Great recipe!!
Sydney says
Made this last night for dinner and it was absolutely delicious! Especially with a little parmesan cheese on top. Perfect summer recipe and definitely will be making it again in the future!
Deb says
Love this soup! Question….I see celery in the directions, but not the ingredients list. How much celery do you recommend?
Courtney Paige says
Hi Deb! Thanks so much for that catch. I just updated the ingredients to reflect celery in it 🙂 4 stalks is great.
Deb says
Thank you! That’s the exact amount I used! I added some chicken andouille sausage sliced up and ended up using one quarter cup Arborio rice since I didn’t have the rice product you mentioned. Added a little pink Himalayan salt and a dash of red pepper flakes. This is one of our new favorite soups!
Katrina says
LOVED IT! The only thing missing was protein so we added meat in! But it was so easy to modify to dairy free and gluten free
Bennett says
This soup was great for meal prep for the week. I wanted to add a protein source so I added pulled chicken. I even tried this soup cold and it was delicious.
Nathan says
This soup was a fan favorite. I served it up with some toasted garlic bread and everyone loved it!
Ashton says
Light and tasty soup. I did add some salted crackers as I tend to do with most soups. Will make again.
Samantha says
I made this soup for a friend who had surgery and decided to make a double batch so we could enjoy too. It was a fan favorite for everyone. Because I was in a hurry, I used frozen corn, but I can only imagine how good it would be with grilled corn! I am going to give it a try next time. We added Parmesan and served with sourdough bread. The perfect sweet/savory combo!
Bennet says
I’m craving a healthy hearty meal, so naturally I turn to apops corn chowder recipe. I had this soup earlier this year and I was craving it the other day so I made it again. It’s was even better than I remember! Highly recommend this soup.