Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder

This Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder is like autumn in a bowl.  A hearty chowder that’s a bit earthy, has a little spice and, of course, all the best garnishes!

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When you have four children and those four children have after school activities the slow cooker becomes a mama’s best friend.  At least twice a week it’s sitting on the kitchen counter awaiting our arrival home and making our house smell all kinds of delicious.

This Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder was my most recent success and one we’ll be enjoying often, especially as the weather turns colder.

What is Corn Chowder?

If you’re not familiar with corn chowder, let’s go over the basics.  Corn chowder is a type of soup prepared using corn as a main ingredient.  A basic corn chowder recipe’s ingredients consist of corn, onion, celery, milk or cream and butter.

Additional ingredients sometimes include potatoes, pork, fish, seafood and chicken.  My Potato Corn Chowder has been a long time favorite but I love how this Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder is even easier, yet has more layers of flavor.

Ready to make my not so traditional Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder?  Let’s get started!  I’m betting most ingredients you’ll already have on hand or are easily available at your grocery store.

I do use frozen fire roasted corn in this corn chowder recipe but if you aren’t able to find it, you could substitute your favorite frozen corn instead.  I love that the fire roasted corn gives another layer of flavor to this easy chowder.

The addition of canned pumpkin puree lends an earthy flavor to this corn chowder recipe.  It also helps to balance the spicy notes from the chipotle peppers in adobo.

This is where I’d be remiss to say that because this is simply pumpkin puree, there is nothing sweet about this soup.  The pumpkin flavor is also not overpowering.  If I didn’t tell you that it was an ingredient in this chowder or you weren’t curious about the gorgeous orange color, you’d likely never know it was present.

How to Make Corn Chowder in a Crock Pot

This Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder recipe requires minimal prep work.  You’ll need a knife and cutting board to dice and mince the garlic, onion, chipotle peppers and potatoes.  All other ingredients are simply added to the slow cooker insert and stirred together.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to the garnishes of my Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder being my favorite part!  First up?  Bacon.

Specifically 12 strips of my Oven Roasted Bacon, the easiest, no mess way to prepare bacon.  Fresh cilantro and chopped green onion as well as additional frozen fire roasted corn complete this quartet of garnishes.

My children also love that they have the ability to “decorate” their soup bowls in any way that they’d like.  I believe that giving them this control of their meal allows my two pickiest eaters to overlook any heat that the chipotle peppers might lend to this chowder.

What to Serve with Corn Chowder

Honestly, this Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder is more than enough by itself, but I also happen to have a weakness for a bread of some sort served alongside soup.  I’ve served this corn chowder with both Parmesan Garlic Bread and my Pumpkin Cream Cheese Skillet Corn Bread and enjoyed both so much I couldn’t pick a favorite!

Can You Freeze Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder?

Don’t have a large family of six that you’re feeding for dinner?  I still recommend making all six quarts of this Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder as you can easily freeze any leftovers for a future meal.

Leftover chowder can be stored in an airtight container for three months.  This corn chowder would also be an easy way to meal prep and then freeze in single serve containers for an easy meal option.

Print Recipe

5 from 8 votes

Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time6 hrs

Total Time6 hrs 15 mins

Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8

Calories: 451kcal

Author: Melanie Bauer | Melanie Makes

Ingredients

• 1 onion diced
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 6 cups frozen fire roasted corn
• 3 Yukon gold potatoes diced
• 1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
• 2 chipotles in adobe finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cup milk
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 12 strips Oven Roasted Bacon
• fresh cilantro, green onions and additional frozen corn to garnish, if desired

Instructions

• In an insert of a 6-quart slow cooker, add onion, garlic, corn, potatoes, pumpkin puree, chipotles, salt and pepper.
• Add chicken broth and milk and gently stir to combine.
• Cook on LOW 6-8 hours or HIGH 3-4 hours.
• Remove half of the soup to a blender and puree until mostly smooth.  (If you have an immersion blender, you can simply use it within the slow cooker insert to puree half of the soup.)
• Stir in cheddar cheese until melted.
• Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with bacon, fresh cilantro, chopped green onions and additional corn.

Nutrition

Calories: 451kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 57mg | Sodium: 1502mg | Potassium: 815mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 15.6% | Vitamin C: 28.7% | Calcium: 31% | Iron: 18.3%

After trying this Slow Cooker Chipotle Pumpkin Corn Chowder you might want to add this Smoked Salmon Chowder, Manhattan Clam Chowder or Gluten-Free Quinoa and Cauliflower Chowder to your next menu plan.