This creamy Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder combines roasted poblano peppers, sweet corn, potatoes, and Mexican seasonings for a dose of delicious comfort in a bowl. It’s an easy, filling, and vegetarian-friendly recipe perfect for weeknight dinners.
This Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder is one of my favorite recipes that I’ve made this year! Peppers give off so much flavor when they’re roasted and poblano peppers are no exception! The sweet and smoky taste of roasted poblano peppers is a perfect match for this corn chowder. The natural sweetness of the corn balances out the spice in the peppers so your family can enjoy a bowl.
Making this creamy corn chowder is easy. After roasting the poblanos, you’ll mix them together with corn, potatoes, cream, and Mexican seasonings. The chowder isn’t overly spicy but still has a welcome kick that helps it stand out in a crowd.
I love to top this with freshly chopped cilantro but you could also add a spritz of lime, crushed tortilla chips, and even crispy bacon pieces. Just like my Stuffed Pepper Soup, this chowder is the ultimate comfort food you can enjoy any time of year!
Ingredients you’ll need
- Poblano peppers – This mild Mexican green chile pepper is much larger in size and less spicy than jalapenos or serranos. This makes them a popular ingredient in many dishes, especially when they’re roasted!
- Corn – Sweet corn gives this chowder texture and a natural sweet flavor.
- Soup veggies – You’ll use aromatic veggies like onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and potatoes to make this chowder filling and satisfying.
- Broth – I like using chicken broth in this recipe to help deepen the flavor, but you can use vegetable or beef broth as well.
- Herbs and seasonings – Using bay leaves, cumin, coriander, Mexican oregano, salt, and pepper will give the chowder a Mexican flare while still maintaining balance.
- Heavy cream – To transform this rich and creamy soup into the ultimate comfort food.
- Cheese – A finishing touch of shredded cheddar cheese makes each bite extra creamy.
How to roast poblano peppers
Roasting poblano peppers helps bring out the natural flavors as well as sweet and spicy notes. It’s a necessary step when you want to increase the smokiness in this soup as well as many other dishes like Chile Relleno and Roasted Poblano Cream Sauce.
There are two ways to roast poblano peppers:
- Over an open flame: Using metal tongs, toast the poblanos until the skin gets black and blistered on all sides.
- Under a broiler: Place the chiles on a sheet pan under a broiler for 5 minutes, or until the skin is blackened and blistered. Make sure to flip them as needed.
After the poblanos are black and blistered, cover them with foil on a baking sheet. Letting the peppers “sweat” makes removing their burnt skin and seeds so much easier. From there, chop them up and add the roasted chiles to any recipe you like!
How to make roasted poblano corn chowder
- Saute the soup veggies: Cook the onions, celery, carrot, and garlic in a large soup pot until they are soft and the onions become translucent.
- Season and simmer: Add in the potatoes, seasonings, and chicken broth. Bring the soup to a boil before lowering the heat and letting it simmer until the potatoes are cooked through.
- Blend it up: Discard the bay leaves. Carefully scoop some of the chowder from the pot into a blender and blend until smooth. Do this in batches to avoid making a mess.
- Add the cream: When the blended chowder is back in the pot, stir in the corn and poblano pieces and bring the soup back up to a simmer. Stir in the heavy cream and shredded cheese.
- Garnish and serve: Serve each bowl of soup with a garnish of chopped cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice and enjoy!
Tips and substitutions
- Be careful when blending hot liquids! Try not to overfill your blender and hold the blender lid down with a kitchen towel to prevent splashing and spilling.
- If you don’t have frozen corn, you can use canned corn as well. Just make sure to drain and rinse it first under water.
- This chowder can vary in spice level. Poblanos peppers are typically mild but sometimes you get a spicy batch! If you’re concerned that it might be too spicy, be sure to remove all the seeds and veins from the peppers after roasting them.
- For spicier chowder, leave the seeds and veins intact when preparing the peppers.
- Top your soup with additional toppings, like cotija cheese, chopped red onion, bacon, green onion, or crushed corn tortilla chips.
- Customize this corn chowder with mix-ins, such as cooked bacon, smoked gouda cheese, fresh tomatoes, green onions, or black beans.
Storing and reheating
To store, place the leftover soup in an airtight container or jar with a lid. Keep it in the fridge for up to 1 week.
To reheat, heat the leftover poblano corn chowder in the microwave for a few minutes. Alternatively, heat it on the stovetop in a saucepan over medium heat until it’s warmed through.
More Mexican soup recipes
Ingredients
- 6 large poblano peppers
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (16-oz) bag frozen corn (about 3 1/2 cups)
- 1 lb yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and diced into ½-¾ inch chunks
- 4 1/4 cups vegetable broth, divided (or chicken broth)
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
- fresh lime wedges, for serving
- chopped cilantro for serving
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place poblano peppers on top. Set your oven rack directly underneath the broiler and turn the broiler on high.
- Broil poblanos in the oven for 5 minutes, or until the skin is blackened and blistered. Carefully flip them over and broil for another 5 minutes, or until the skin is blackened and blistered on all sides.
- Remove them from the oven, loosely cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil or plastic wrap to keep in some of the heat to help them steam, and let them sit for 5 minutes.
- Pull and rub off as much of the loose skin on the peppers as possible. It doesn’t have to be perfect. (View some step-by-step photos on how to roast poblano peppers.)
- Transfer poblanos to a cutting board, slice open, and discard the stems and seeds. Dice into small chunks and set aside.
- Melt butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions, celery, and carrot. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the carrot has begun to soften.
- Add garlic and cook for one minute.
- Add potatoes, 4 cups of broth, salt, bay leaves, salt, cumin, coriander, Mexican oregano, and black pepper. Raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes until the potatoes are tender and cooked through.
- Discard the bay leaves, then carefully scoop out 4 cups of chowder from the pot and transfer to a blender. Cover and pulse a few times until mostly smooth.
- Pour the blended chowder back into the pot and stir in the corn and chopped poblanos to the pot. Bring to a simmer.
- Add heavy cream and shredded cheese. Stir until the cheese has completely melted.
- Bring pot back to a simmer and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Serve and garnish with chopped cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice in each bowl
Isabel’s Tips:
- Oregano: If you don’t have Mexican oregano, you can use regular oregano.
- Be careful when blending hot liquids! Try not to overfill your blender and hold the blender lid down with a kitchen towel to prevent splashing and spilling.
- If you don’t have frozen corn, you can use canned corn as well. Just make sure to drain and rinse it first under water.
- This chowder can vary in spice level. Poblanos peppers are typically mild but sometimes you get a spicy batch! If you’re concerned that it might be too spicy, be sure to remove all the seeds and veins from the peppers after roasting them.
- For spicier chowder, leave the seeds and veins intact when preparing the peppers.
Nutrition Information
Delicious soup that we have just added to our Top 5 list. Do yourself a favor and prep the pablanos the day before. Will be making this again and again.
Delish! Love this soup and I made a vegan version by subbing non-dairy cheese shreds and vegan cream cheese for the heavy cream. I love it
Hello Isabel! I found a premade version at my local grocery store but thought it was a little thin. With my recent allergy to gluten, I’m learning to do a lot of “from scratch” cooking. While researching CHICKEN POBLANO CORN CHOWDER (like the grocery store), I found your recipe. I liked the idea of adding lime at the end too!
My question is this: Have you ever added cooked chicken to your Poblano Corn Chowder? If so, how much and at which step?
Thank You!
~ Kimberly (from Texas)
Hi Kimberly! We haven’t tried adding chicken tot this recipe, but that sounds delicious! To save time, you can use shredded rotisserie chicken on step 11-12 when you add the cheese and heavy cream and let is simmer. If you want to make your own chicken, I recommend cooking your chicken ahead of time and then adding it during that step. I hope this helps!
I love this recipe so much I’ve made it like 6 times in the last cooler months and making it again, I’ve substituted Anaheim peppers in the place of the Poblano because they didn’t have them at the grocery store and some random stranger recommend the Anaheim peppers and it turned out Great!