Jalapeno Chicken and Corn Chowder

Oh my gosh, you guys! You have to make this chow­der! I may, or may not, have already con­sumed an embar­rass­ing quan­ti­ty of Jalapeno Chick­en and Corn Chow­der, myself. I can­not wait for you to taste it! It’s mak­ing my mouth water, just writ­ing to you about it. lol 

That first crazy-good spoon­ful begins with the savory chick­en and smoky bacon, plus chunks of pota­to, all nes­tled into the creamy tex­ture of the cheesy chow­der. Then a new fla­vor bursts on the scene as you get a pop of sweet­ness from the corn. And just as you sit back to savor it all, that fab­u­lous jalapeno heat begins on the back of your tongue. It’s all over. Seri­ous­ly. Don’t even try to stop eat­ing, now. It’s use­less. Jalapeno Chick­en and Corn Chow­der, it’s what SHOULD be for din­ner, my friends. I’ll show you how to make it.

How to Make Jalapeno Chicken & Corn Chowder

Begin by prep­ping your ingre­di­ents. You can use left­over chick­en, or rotis­serie chick­en, if you have them on hand. That will def­i­nite­ly cut down on your prep time. If not, I like to use the stock pot or dutch oven I’ll be mak­ing the chow­der in, to sear and cook two chick­en breasts. 

Cook the Chicken

Add a cou­ple tea­spoons of oil in the bot­tom of the stock pot and heat it over medi­um high heat. Salt and pep­per the chick­en on both sides, then add it to the hot oil in the stock pot. The oil should be hot enough that you get that siz­zle, the sec­ond the chick­en hits the pan. 

Con­tin­ue brown­ing the chick­en on both sides and then reduce the heat to medi­um. After that, add a lid to the stock pot and cook until juices run clear and the chick­en reg­is­ters an inter­nal tem­per­a­ture of 160°. 

While the chick­en con­tin­ues cook­ing, you can start the bacon and dice up the veggies.

How to Cook the Bacon

I haven’t cooked bacon on my stove top, in years. Cook the bacon on a parch­ment paper lined bak­ing sheet in a 400° oven for 18–23 min­utes, depend­ing on the thick­ness of your bacon. Allow the bacon to cook while you start prep­ping the veggies.

Now, the Veggies

Start by peel­ing enough pota­toes to get 3 cups of diced cubes (prob­a­bly 3–4 large pota­toes or 6–7 small ones). (If you have left­over baked pota­toes, def­i­nite­ly cube them up and use them. It’s just one more time saver.) 

Next, mince the onion, bell pep­per, jalapenos, and parsley.

Handle Jalapenos Safely

Be sure to take the nec­es­sary pre­cau­tions for han­dling the jalapenos, as some peo­ple can have a severe skin reac­tion to the oils in the pep­pers. Wear plas­tic or sil­i­cone kitchen gloves to pro­tect your hands and nev­er touch your face or eyes when han­dling hot pep­pers. When you have com­plet­ed chop­ping, wash your hands, cut­ting board and any uten­sils the jalapenos came in con­tact with.

From there, grate the extra sharp ched­dar cheese, cut a block of cream cheese into 1‑inch cubes, grab the corn from the freez­er and then, dice your cooled chick­en and bacon. 

From here on out, it’s sim­ple assem­bly work — 30 min­utes or less to deli­cious chow­der sat­is­fac­tion! Let’s put this soup, together.

Assemble the Jalapeno Chicken and Corn Chowder

Using the same pot you cooked the chick­en in, saute the onions, jalapenos and bell pep­per in the oil left in the bot­tom of the pan. 

After five min­utes, add the pota­toes and six cups of chick­en stock, along with the bouil­lon. I total­ly get it, if you want to avoid the extra sodi­um and not use bouil­lon. From my per­spec­tive, I haven’t found a chick­en stock that could stand on its own, (even the best home­made ones) with­out a lit­tle extra oomph. Bouil­lon will add the rich­ness that puts your soup, over-the-top. 

Cook the chow­der until the pota­toes are fork ten­der (about 15 min­utes, give or take). 

Next, toss in the chick­en, cream cheese, ched­dar, corn, bacon and pars­ley. Con­tin­ue cook­ing the chow­der, and stir­ring, over low heat until all the cheese has melted. 

Add 1 cup of heavy cream and heat through with­out boil­ing. (Boil­ing cream soups tends to cause them to cur­dle and sep­a­rate. Keep the heat low and prac­tice patience, while you allow it to come up to temperature.)

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How to Serve Jalapeno Chicken and Corn Chowder

A bowl of this hearty chow­der is lit­er­al­ly a whole meal-in-one, whether it’s for a fam­i­ly meal at home or a fun gath­er­ing with friends. Choose sides or accom­pa­ni­ments that suit your fam­i­ly best. I pre­fer serv­ing it with some crusty bread, but that’s just me. I like to serve ALL soup with crusty bread. Actu­al­ly, I like to serve almost ANYTHING with crusty bread. lol Who’s to say if that’s a problem?

It’s up to you. Serve it on it’s own or with your favorite bread, crack­ers or bis­cuits. You won’t get it wrong, either way. It’s just too good! Be ready to dish up sec­onds for your hun­gry guests.

Creamy, chunky and out-of-this-world deli­cious! Jalapeno Chick­en and Corn Chow­der will sat­is­fy your com­fort-food crav­ings and answer every ques­tion about how to make soup an inter­est­ing, taste-sen­sa­tion of a meal! Enjoy every bite, my friend! May it warm you all the way down to your toes and sat­is­fy every savory, spicy, chow­dery taste bud!

If You’re Feeling all Jalapeno-Inspired, now, try my Jalapeno Popper Dip, too.

It only takes about 5 min­utes to mix it up. After that, just pop it in the oven until it’s a bub­bly, cheesy, dip sensation! 

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