Creamy, thick and smoky, this vegan corn chowder spells comfort in capital letters, especially on a freezing winter's night.
A delicious bowl of a good vegan chowder is all I need to lift my spirits on a cold night. That's why I make a chowder so often every winter, including this vegan Chesapeake chowder and this vegan black-eyed peas chowder.
This rich, creamy vegan corn chowder is my new favorite, and oh, how delicious it is!
It is thick and rich and smoky and full of hearty goodness with a creamy texture you will love.
I make the chowder with fire-roasted corn and add to it some cumin and sage to make this soup even more delicious and make up for any loss of flavor from the use of traditional corn chowder ingredients like bacon.
A sprinkle of scallions and you are all set to snuggle up with a bowl and your bestie.
Table of Contents
Why you will love this vegan corn chowder recipe
- Hearty, creamy and flavorful. I am a huge fan of creamy soups (like my divine vegan cream of mushroom soup) and this chowder is not only creamy, it is also full of hearty flavor and healthfulness. The sweet, smoky corn provides a lovely contrast of flavors and textures to the smoky, silky chowder.
- Easy recipe. This is a simple, one-pot recipe that needs fewer than 10 ingredients. You will need a blender or stick blender to blend some of the chowder for more creaminess, but you can omit that step.
- Gluten-free and vegan recipe. See the section on special diets below to determine how to make this recipe nut-free, soy-free and added-oil-free.
Ingredients
- Extra virgin olive oil (see special diets section below for oil-free instructions)
- Herbs: garlic and sage. Can substitute the sage with rosemary or oregano.
- Vegetables: Onions, celery, fire-roasted corn kernels, potatoes and scallions (optional, for garnish). The fire-roasted corn, usually available in the frozen aisle at the supermarket, adds a lot of great, smoky flavor. But if you can't use this you can just use regular frozen corn.
- Spices: ground black pepper and ground cumin. These add great smoky flavor to the soup.
- Raw cashews
- Vegetable stock or mushroom stock. Can also just use water, but the stock will enhance flavor.
- Liquid aminos or soy sauce or tamari
How to make vegan corn chowder
Place olive oil in Dutch oven or large soup pot with garlic, onions and celery. Add ground black pepper and salt and saute for 2-3 minutes until the onions are soft.
Add the fire roasted corn and potatoes to the pot and mix.
Pour in the blended cashew milk and mix well. Bring to a boil, turn heat to simmer, cover the pot and let the chowder cook 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
Stir in the sage and cumin...
...followed by the liquid aminos or soy sauce. Mix well. Use an immersion blender to briefly blend the chowder. Leave in plenty of whole corn for texture. Alternatively, remove two cups of the corn chowder to a blender and blend until smooth.
Return the blended chowder to the pot and bring everything to a boil. Check seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.
Tweaks for special diets
- Soy-free: Skip the liquid aminos/soy sauce and add a teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning.
- Nut-free: After sauteing the onions, celery and garlic add two tablespoons of flour (all-purpose or gluten-free) to the pot and saute until the veggies are coated with the flour. Instead of cashew milk, add any nut-free non-dairy milk of choice, including oat milk and soy milk.
- Oil-free: To make the corn chowder oil-free, saute the vegetables in ¼ cup water or vegetable stock until soft.
Storage instructions
- Refrigerate: The corn chowder can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to five days.
- Freeze: Freeze the chowder in a freezer-safe container for up to four months.
- Reheat: Thaw and reheat in a saucepan or microwave until warmed through.
More delicious vegan soup recipes
Enjoyed this recipe? Please leave a review and star rating below. Your feedback, comments and questions are always appreciated and are helpful to me and to other readers.
Vegan Corn Chowder
Equipment
- Dutch oven or large pot
- Blender (optional)
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (or use ¼ cup water for oil-free diets)
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 4 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 3 celery ribs
- 16 oz fire-roasted corn kernels (regular corn is fine too)
- 2 medium potatoes (Yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes or russet potatoes are all fine. Cut the potatoes in ½-inch dice)
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 4 cups water (or vegetable stock or vegetable broth)
- 2 teaspoons dried sage
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon liquid aminos (or soy sauce or tamari, optional)
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 2 scallions (chopped, for garnish, optional)
Instructions
- Place the cashews in blender with water or vegetable stock, Blend into a very smooth milk. You may need to soak the cashews in the water for 30 minutes if not using a high-powered blender. Set the milk aside.
- Place olive oil in pot with garlic, onions and celery over medium heat. Season with ground black pepper and salt and saute for 2-3 minutes until the onions are soft.
- Add the fire roasted corn and potatoes to the pot and mix.
- Pour in the blended cashew milk and mix well. Bring to a boil, turn heat to simmer, cover the pot and let the chowder cook 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
- Stir in the sage, cumin and liquid aminos, if using. Use a stick blender to briefly blend the chowder. Leave in plenty of whole corn for texture. Alternatively, remove two cups of the corn chowder to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Return the blended chowder to the pot and bring everything to a gentle boil over low heat. Add more stock or water if you want to thin the chowder out. Check seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. Turn off heat.
- Garnish with scallions, if using, before you serve the chowder.
Anita
Wow, this is just the most comforting and delicious corn chowder I've ever eaten. My husband, a confirmed carnivore, was so impressed. Thank you for the recipe.
Vaishali
So happy to hear, Anita!
Peter
What are fire roasted corn kernels? Does this mean grilling fresh corn first?
Vaishali
You can usually find a bag of fire roasted corn kernels in the supermarket frozen aisle. If you can't find them use regular corn kernels. Or, if you want to, you can always grill fresh corn. 🙂
Jo
Made this last night. So yummy. Perfect bowl of comfort.
Vaishali
Yay! So happy you loved it.
Cynthia
Seems you forgot the onions in the ingredients list!
Vaishali
Oops, added.