Corn and Zucchini Garden Chowder

By: Amber Grangroth

Corn and Zucchini Garden Chowder is our absolute favorite soup to eat in the summertime! It’s loaded with garden veggies topped with crispy bacon and full of flavor! Slap some butter on a slice of fresh bread and you’ve got the perfect meal for one of those stormy summer evenings!

We picked the zucchini and potatoes from our own garden. I wanted to make this soup, but I didn’t have any potatoes in the house, so I decided to see if there were any potatoes under the potato plants in the garden. I was thrilled to find some big ones! I had never grown potatoes before, so this was super exciting!

I cut the corn off the cobs that were leftover from our farmers market sweet corn and stashed that in the fridge to save for Garden Chowder too. I made chicken broth in my Instant pot from some chicken thigh bones I saved after a meal recently.

And of course everything is better topped with cheese. Asiago and parmesan add a delicious layer of flavor and mozzarella gets nice and gooey and stringy. Take your pick, or try all three, you can never have too much cheese!

Corn and Zucchini Garden Chowder

• 1 lb bacon
• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3-4 cups diced zucchini
• 1/3 cup flour
• 4-5 medium potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups corn
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups half n half
• 1 tsp salt, more to taste
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp ground Sage
• 1/2 tsp dried Thyme
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp dried basil or 2 T fresh chopped basil
• Cheese for garnish: Asiago, parmesan, mozzarella
• Green onions chopped

1. Instructions:
2. In a large pot or Dutch oven fry up bacon until crispy. 
3. While the bacon is cooking, chop up onion, garlic, zucchini, and potatoes.
4. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel.
5. To the pot with the bacon grease, add chopped onion, sauté for a few minutes, stirring. Add in garlic and zucchini and stir. 
6. Add salt, pepper, and seasonings.
7. Sprinkle in flour and mix. Add in broth, potatoes, and corn. Simmer until potatoes are soft. 
8. Chop up the bacon, shred any cheese you need, and chop green onions. 
9. Pour in half n half and mix. Taste and add more salt if needed. This may be a lot or a little depending on how much salt the broth had. 
10. Serve hot with a slice of sourdough bread! Garnish with bacon, cheese, and green onion. 

Enjoy!