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Harvest Corn & White Bean Chowder with Beer

5 from 10 reader reviews
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 6
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Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves minced
  • 1 lb potatoes, scrubbed and diced into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 ¾ cups cooked white beans, drained and rinsed
  • sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1 hot pepper/chili of choice, minced (see notes)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • ½ cup beer (I used Muskoka Brewery Harvest Ale)
  • 5 cups vegetable stock (See notes!)
  • 5 cups corn kernels, scraped from about 5-6 cobs of corn
  • ¼ cup fresh lime juice
  • ½ cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

  • Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the paprika and thyme and stir. Add the potatoes and stir to coat in the spices. Add the white beans, season everything with lots of salt and pepper, and stir.
  • Add the chili and garlic to the pot and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Slowly pour in the beer. Let it froth up and then gently stir. Bring the beer and vegetables to a boil. Then, add the vegetable stock to the pot and give it another stir.
  • Cover the pot and bring the chowder to a boil. Reduce the heat to a strong simmer and let the soup cook, covered, until the potatoes are completely tender, about 15-17 minutes.
  • Once the potatoes are tender, add the corn and continue to simmer the chowder until the kernels are cooked and slightly soft, about 5 minutes. Then carefully ladle half of the hot chowder into an upright, vented blender (like a Vitamix). Turn the blender on and slowly bring the speed up to high. Blend the harvest corn chowder until creamy and smooth, about 40 seconds.
  • Return the blended portion of the chowder to the pot and stir to combine. Stir in the lime juice as well. Check for seasoning at this point and adjust if necessary. Serve the harvest corn chowder hot with chopped cilantro on top and extra black pepper.

Equipment

Recipe Notes

  • I blend half of this chowder to give it a creamy texture, but if you’d like yours to be SUPER creamy, throw a handful of soaked cashews into the blender as well.
  • I used a freakishly hot banana pepper from my garden here. A jalapeńo would be amazing too.
  • If I know that I’m making corn chowder, I like to simmer some really good homemade vegetable stock with scraped corn cobs beforehand. If you only have time for boxed stock, just give it a boil with the scraped cobs for 20 minutes or so. It will still make a difference!
  • If you avoid alcohol, just use more stock and add a touch more lime at the end.
  • Corn and potatoes are starchy and need lots of salt and acidity to come alive. Season liberally!
Vegan harvest corn and white bean chowder is made flavourful with beer, lime, hot peppers, and cilantro. So cozy and delicious.