This vegan corn chowder recipe is lightly smokey and spicy from chipotle peppers. It’s loaded with corn and red potatoes and can be made in your pressure cooker in no time!
I can’t stop making meals in my Instant Pot! I’m also apparently a huge fan of chipotle chili peppers? Check out this recipe for chipotle vegan black bean soup if you want to see what I’m talking about. Soup knows no season at my house and now that I have a pressure cooker I’m extra soup-happy.
This soup is lightly smokey and spicy from canned chipotle chili peppers. Chipotles are one of my favorite ingredients to cook with. They’re actually just smoke-dried jalapenos canned in adobo sauce, a tangy and sweet red sauce. They’re on about the same heat level as regular raw jalapeños.
How do you make vegan corn chowder creamy?
Creamy corn chowder is usually made with a thickener, such as flour, and a high fat milk, like heavy cream. In this case, I use 2 tablespoons of flour mixed with 2 tablespoons of the hot corn chowder to form a thick paste, also known as a “slurry”.
To prevent clumping, add the slurry to the corn chowder while whisking the soup. After some time whisking and mixing, the soup should thickener. If the soup isn’t thickening to your desired level of creaminess you can repeat the slurry process.
Food science!
To make this recipe gluten free, just use corn or potato starch in place of flour in the slurry.
How to make vegan corn chowder in the Instant Pot
- To begin, press the “saute” button on your Instant Pot. Adjust to “normal” (medium heat) and add the olive oil. Saute the diced onion, celery, and carrots in the Instant Pot for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeno, sauteing for 1 more minute.
- Stir in the the remaining ingredients. Lock the Instant Pot lid in place and set the vent to “sealing” or “locked”. Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. Allow the Instant Pot to release pressure naturally for 10 minutes, then carefully release the remaining pressure.
- Carefully remove the lid and turn the Instant Pot back to “saute” on “normal”. Add in the flour and liquid slurry, whisking to combine. Continue to heat for 2-3 minutes, until the soup is sufficiently thickened. Add additional slurry and saute longer if you prefer a thicker soup. The soup will thicken further as it cools.
Serve topped with green onions and fresh cilantro. I like to enjoy my soups with a few everything bagel crackers or some whole wheat garlic knots.
Looking for more healthy homemade vegan soups? Check out this hearty lentil quinoa soup or this light and easy vegetarian chili.
Vegan Chipotle Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 16 ounces frozen sweet corn
- 1 and 1/2 pounds red potatoes, cubed (skins on)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 medium sweet yellow onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 1 jalapeno minced (optional)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 tablespoons chipotle sauce (from a can of chipotle chili pepper)
- 1 chipotle pepper, diced (from a can of chipotle chili peppers)
- 4 and 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons liquid from the cooked soup
Instructions
- Press the "saute" button on your Instant Pot. Adjust to "normal" (medium heat) and add the olive oil. Saute the diced onion, celery, and carrots in the Instant Pot for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeno, sauteing for 1 more minute.
- Stir in the the remaining ingredients, except for the flour. Lock the Instant Pot lid in place and set the pressure valve to "sealing". Set the time to 12 minutes on "high pressure". It will take ~10 minutes to come to pressure.
- Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then release remaining pressure manually.
- Carefully remove the lid. Turn the Instant Pot back to "saute" on "normal". In a small bowl, stir together the flour and hot soup liquid to make a slurry. Add the slurry to the Instant Pot, whisking to combine. Continue to heat for 4-5 minutes, until the soup is thickened.
- Top with green onions and fresh cilantro. Enjoy!
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