Crockpot Chicken Corn Chowder

Ok so here's what you need to make this week. 

And next week. 

And every week until it gets warm again because 1. it's easy, 2. it's delicious, and 3. cheese.  

This was actually inspired by my friend Nathan, who sent me a message one morning and was all "do you have a recipe for chicken chowder?" and I was all "I didn't know that was a thing."  And then I proceeded to rattle off what I WOULD do if I was making chicken chowder in a slow cooker, had I known that was a thing.  

And then I thought about it all week and MADE IT and it turned out way better than I ever could have expected.  I just kind of went with a standard broth-based-but-with-dairy version of chowder with chicken instead of any kind of seafood.  I used SUPER simple ingredients because this time of year I feel like the fancy stuff has to be reserved for parties and gifts and holidays, and the rest of the time you really need simple things that are balanced and comforting and EASY.  

Enter the slow cooker.  And cheese.  

Ingredients

You need onion, garlic, potato, carrot, chicken, thyme, cayenne pepper, chicken broth, frozen corn, heavy cream, green onions, and grated cheddar.  If you have celery you could toss some in there too because it's totally normal to do that in a soup like this BUT I didn't have any and the soup was still delicious.  Moving on.  

Step By Step Instructions

To prep the veggies, dice the carrot, onion, and potato.  I like to make everything pretty small, just slightly larger than the corn kernels.  Then, mince the garlic.  

Sprinkle all the veggies in the bottom of a slow cooker.  

Add the chicken to the veggies and sprinkle with the spices, then pour the stock over everything.  You should have enough stock to come to the top of the veggies and barely touch the chicken; use less or more stock than the recipe states if needed.  

Now we're ready to cook!  This cooks in 3 stages, so it's a teensy bit high maintenance for a slow cooker recipe.  

We cook the veggies and chicken for 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.  

Then, use 2 forks to shred the chicken into chunks and sprinkle the corn in the slow cooker.  Put the lid back on and cook on high for 20 minutes.  

THEN, add half the cheese and half the scallions with the cream to the mixture.  Put the lid back on and cook on high for another 20 minutes.  

Now this is a chowder.  Stir it around to finish melting the cheese, then taste it and add salt if you think it needs it.  

Is drippy a gross word to describe food?  I say no, but you're in charge.  I think that drippy soup is a great thing in this case:  the liquid isn't too thick or thin, and the chicken is EVERYWHERE.  So hearty without being heavy.  

Then serve!  Extra cheese, extra scallions, crackers.  You could do bread if you're feeling fancy, but this isn't exactly fancy food.

This isn't fancy, but by golly it's delicious.  Potato soup meets chicken noodle sans noodles plus chowder, and the thyme is SUPER delicious.  I made this on Saturday and we had people in and out all day for various things, and the house smelled incredible.  Then people just kind of started....sampling...this, and suddenly it was gone.  

Which is exactly what you want in an easy Crockpot meal.  Make this soon!  

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