Made Better With Butter

Recipes / Slow cooker · Soups · Chicken

Mexican Street Corn Chicken Chowder

Chelsea's slow-cooker chowder, made meatier and hotter — triple the chicken, four times the garlic, jalapeños and Aleppo pepper.

Prep
25 min
Cook
4–6 hr low
Serves
6 bowls
Pot
6-qt slow cooker
Jump to the recipe
A slow cooker of chowder next to a filled bowl, with sour cream, diced avocado, cilantro and lime wedges laid out on the stove

What we changed

Changes from the Chelsea's Messy Apron original. Where it came from

  • Start with butter and onion. An onion softened in 4 tbsp butter, with the garlic added after, instead of a sprayed-out crock. It builds the base before anything goes in the pot.
  • Four times the garlic. 8 tsp minced instead of 2 tsp.
  • Three times the chicken. 3 lb of thighs instead of 1 lb, for a meatier chowder.
  • More heat. A can of diced jalapeños alongside the green chiles, plus 1 tbsp Aleppo pepper.
  • Heavy cream only. 2 cups heavy cream rather than half-and-half.

This started as Chelsea’s crockpot chowder, which is a great weeknight base. We wanted it meatier and with more kick, so the chicken triples, the garlic quadruples, and a can of jalapeños and some Aleppo pepper join the green chiles.

The other change is order. Softening the onion and garlic in butter first, and having the spices measured and the cans open before you start, turns it into a ten-minute assembly job.

A ladle lifting chowder with black beans and chicken out of the pot
Thick enough to coat the ladle.

Make it

Makes 6 bowls

1x is about 5 quarts. Fits a 6-quart slow cooker.

Ingredients

Base

Into the slow cooker

Spice bowl

To finish

  1. Get everything ready before the heat goes on: trim the chicken thighs and cut them into cubes, measure all the spices into one small bowl, and open every can.
  2. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and soften the onion, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until it smells good, about a minute.
  3. Scrape the onion and garlic into the slow cooker. Add the chicken and the bowl of spices and stir until the chicken is coated.
  4. Tip in the cans — cream-style corn, black beans, green chiles, jalapeños — plus the frozen corn and the stock. Stir.
  5. Cover and cook on low for 4–6 hours (or high for 3–5) until the chicken is tender.
  6. Stir in the cheddar and the heavy cream, let it warm through, then taste for salt and pepper.
  7. Ladle into bowls and let everyone add their own toppings.

Good to know

  • Cubed thighs need no shredding. Bigger pieces work too — pull them out at the end, shred with two forks, and stir them back in.
  • Rotisserie chicken works if you're short on time, but raw thighs are just as easy in a slow cooker and stay juicier.
  • At 2× this won't fit a 6-quart cooker.