A creamy vegetarian corn and potato soup with squash: onion, celery, potato, chili and garlic simmered in vegetable broth, then corn and squash, half-blended and finished with crème fraîche. It serves 4 to 6 and takes about 40 minutes.
Last updated
Recipe
Corn soup with potatoes and squash
Ingredients
Method
- Chop onion and celery fine and simmer for 2-3 minutes in melted butter at medium heat.
- Peel the potatoes and cut into smaller pieces. Add them together with chopped chili and garlic. Let them roast for a few more minutes – remember to stir regularly so that the vegetables do not get caught in the bottom.
- Add the vegetable broth and simmer for 8-10 minutes until potatoes are half cooked.
- Add chopped squash, corn, oregano, peppers, pepper and salt and cook for the last 10 minutes until potatoes and squash pieces are tender.
- Choose if you want to serve the soup as it is or if you want to blend it – I mixed the soup halfway, so there were still some bites left.
- Add while stirring 2 tablespoons of creme fraiche into the soup and season with salt and pepper. Serve with extra chili and paprika, a good slice of bread and of course a really good company.
Step by step, in pictures
Everything happens in one pot, so the method is mostly a matter of adding things in the right order. These six drawings follow the card.
Soften the onion and celery in butter.- Add the potatoes, chili and garlic.
- Pour in the broth and simmer.
- Add the squash, corn and spices.
- Blend the soup halfway.
- Stir in the crème fraîche.
Which squash to use in corn soup
A courgette (zucchini) or a small winter squash such as butternut both work; the recipe asks for one squash and does not say which kind. A courgette needs no peeling and should be tender within the last 10 minutes of simmering. Peel and seed a winter squash and cut it into pieces no bigger than the potatoes, so it softens in the same time. Test a piece with a knife before you blend.
Can you put raw corn in soup?
Yes. Raw kernels cut from the cob go in with the squash and cook through in that same final simmer. Frozen kernels can go into the pot straight from the freezer, and canned corn should be drained before you weigh out the 330 grams.
Which potatoes work best in corn and potato soup?
The recipe does not name a variety, so an ordinary potato will do. An all-purpose potato such as Yukon Gold is a common choice in US recipes for this kind of soup. Cut the pieces to roughly the same size, so they are all half cooked after the 8 to 10 minutes in the broth and tender by the end.
Smooth or chunky: how much to blend
That is a matter of taste. This recipe blends the soup only halfway, so it is creamy but still has bites of corn, potato and squash. Blend all of it for a smooth soup, or skip the blender for a brothy, chunky one. Stir in the crème fraîche after blending, then taste for salt and pepper.
Is this corn soup vegetarian?
Yes, as written. It is made with vegetable broth and has no bacon, unlike many corn and potato chowders, and no flour or milk to thicken it; the blended potatoes give it body. It is not vegan: the butter and the crème fraîche or cream are dairy, and they are the only two ingredients to swap for a dairy-free version, for example oil for softening the vegetables and a plant-based cream at the end.
A soup for the first cold days
With this soup you can bring a little spring into an autumn day. It is what I usually make at this time of year. The first faded leaves on the ground do not make me sad that summer is over; instead I start dreaming about all the autumn food I will make over the next few months. Do I have to say it? Soup. Masses of soup.
Soup is brilliant because it is quick when you do not have time for a long simmer, and it still has plenty of flavour and body: the right meal when it is cold outside and all you want is a big pot of something steaming hot without too much work.
More vegetable soups
If you like this one, try the carrot soup, the asparagus soup or a minestrone soup.
