This Cajun Corn Chowder recipe is lightened-up with healthier ingredients (also vegan and gluten-free), full of protein-packed lentils, and seasoned with the best zesty Cajun flavors.
I will never be that girl who looks forward to winter. But now that we’re on the home stretch of summer, with September now just around the corner, I will say that I am extremely ready for one perk of winter to roll back around soon — hot soup season! ♡
A quick pass through the recipe index here on the blog will give away the fact that soups are my absolute faves. So much so, that there’s really no such thing as soup “season” in our house. I’ve always been the girl happily cozying up with a bowl of chicken noodle, whisking a quick batch of egg drop, and enjoying my favorite lentil soup on repeat all summer long.
But this time of year, there’s always one soup in particular that is a must — a big comforting batch of corn chowder.
As the granddaughter of Kansas corn farmers, this soup is a tradition during harvest season, and always feels like the perfect transition from summer into fall. And all the better with this new recipe I’ve been tweaking lately. It goes big on zesty Cajun flavors, which I think pair perfectly with sweet corn. Yet it also goes mercifully lighter on the usual heavy thickeners, opting for creamy coconut milk instead, which allows this soup to be naturally vegan and gluten-free. I’ve also hidden lots of lentils in there, which amp up the protein and lend some nice heartiness to the soup. And if you’re looking to do some meal prep for the start of the school year ahead, I’ve included instructions below for how to freeze this soup too.
So in honor of harvest season coming up, let’s all pick up a batch of fresh, frozen or canned sweet corn and make a big batch of soup together!
Cajun Corn Chowder Ingredients:
So what exactly is in this delicious chowder? You will need:
- The Cajun “Holy Trinity”: Onion, green bell pepper and celery = classics.
- Garlic, Cajun Seasoning and Thyme: These will serve as our three main seasonings.
- Vegetable Stock: Keeping with our vegetarian/vegan theme.
- Potatoes: You can really use any kind you’d like, but I would recommend Yukon golds.
- Corn: Fresh, frozen or canned — up to you. You will just need a little less than 1 pound (about 2.5 cups).
- Red Lentils: They can be split or whole, but you really need red lentils for this recipe. Other colors will take much longer to cook.
- Coconut milk: I used full-fat canned coconut milk for this recipe. But feel free to use low-fat coconut milk. Or you can sub in whole milk (if you eat dairy).
How To Make Corn Chowder:
This corn chowder recipe is pretty straightforward! Simply…
- Sauté your veggies. Sauté the Cajun holy trinity, plus garlic, until softened.
- Stir in your remaining ingredients. Sans coconut milk.
- Simmer, simmer, simmer. Until the lentils and potatoes are nice and tender.
- Add coconut milk. Then taste and season with extra Cajun seasoning and/or salt, if needed.
- Serve hot! Topped with any garnishes that sound good to you. :)
As I mentioned above, this recipe is also easy to freeze if you’d like. The trick is to just leave out the coconut milk if you are planning to make and freeze a batch, and then add it later when you reheat the soup (since coconut milk doesn’t freeze very well). That said, if you’d like to make a batch of this soup that’s completely freeze-able, you’re welcome to sub in cream or half and half instead (both of which freeze well).
Cheers, friends!
Cajun Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium white onion, peeled and diced
- 1 green bell pepper, cored and diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- 1 1/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 (14-ounce) bag frozen corn (or you could also use canned whole-kernel corn)
- 1 cup red lentils*, rinsed and picked over
- 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning (or more/less to taste)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
- optional toppings: chopped green onions or chives, bacon, or oyster crackers, etc.
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add bell pepper, celery and garlic, and continue sautéing for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add vegetable stock, potatoes, corn, lentils Cajun seasoning, thyme and salt. Stir to combine.
- Continue cooking until the mixture reaches a simmer. Then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 10-15 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes and lentils are tender.
- Stir in the coconut milk until combined. Taste and season with additional salt and/or Cajun seasoning if needed.
- Serve warm, garnished with your desired toppings. Or refrigerate soup in sealed containers for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
I make a lot of soup, and I don’t remember the last time I loved a recipe as much as this one–I wanted to make it the next week, I think about it a lot… My husband liked it a lot too.
I have mixed feelings about this recipe. The flavours are soo good with the coconut milk and the cajun spices, but it felt a little watery to me!
I think if I made it again I would make a roux with olive oil (or butter) and flour at the beginning!
Hi!!! Making this tonight and super excited! I don’t have dry red lentils on hand…but I do have canned! Can I use canned/precooked lentils?
Thanks!
I have been a frequent guest on this site for a while now. I’ve made tons of recipes and never had a “flop.” Ali’s cooking is truly amazing.
I made this recipe for my family recently. We loved EVERY drop of it. Even my 9 and 2 year olds. We’ve never tasted a soup so yummy. Thank you very much for all of your wonderful recipes!
Chiming in to say this is one of my husband’s favorite soups, and I make a lot of soup! For a while I was working at a restaurant that suddenly made staff purchase food, so I’d make a big batch of soup for folks to heat up if they couldn’t/didn’t want to pay $8 for dinner, and this one was of everyone’s favorites too! It’s one of the best vegan dishes (though it’s also great made with dairy) I know of that satisfies just about any taste, especially because it has pretty continental flavors and makes enough to share.
This was fantastic! I accidentally used a cartoon of creamy vegetable broth (soy milk based), which make it creamy enough to skip the coconut milk.
My grandpa used to say “if it makes your nose run, its a good soup”. My husband was running for the tissues several times while eating this :). It was excellent! I chose to make this in my instant pot, saute the onion, green pepper and celery, then add the rest and pressure cook for 8 minutes! I also chose to only put in one tablespoon of Cajun seasoning. I will definitely be making it again.
P.S. Now that I reread the recipe, I realized that I forgot to add the coconut milk. Well, it still was an A+ soup without it. Thanks, Ali
I almost never review recipes I alter substantially, but this one was so good. Hearty, flavorful, with a wonderfully creamy consistency- yum! I plan on making again and again. I also altered cooking to make it in the Instant Pot, so I didn’t have to watch the stove.
That said, I made some substantial modifications that made it even better for my family:
We’re not huge fans of cajun spices, so I used a carrot instead of a bell pepper. I used a french spice blend instead of the cajun spice mix- lots of thyme, some rosemary, etc. Sauteed aromatics on saute setting of instant pot, then added everything but the coconut milk and set it to Low Pressure for 13 minutes. The potatoes and lentils broke down and gave it a wonderful creamy consistency- I did not need the coconut milk, so I did not add it. The flavor was great and the texture was wonderful.
Delicioso! This knocked my socks off.
Made it. Loved it. Will make again. Thanks for the recipe.
The best EVER! I made this tonight and my family absolutely loved it. Thank you for the dairy-free option on your search. It has made by life so much easier! We are from the Midwest and kind of used to bland food. So, I took your advice and only added half the spice. Glad I did. Worked out perfectly.