This recipe is adapted from the Farmhouse Chicken and Corn Chowder appearing in the America’s Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Revolution (affiliate link) cookbook.  As a side note, all the recipes in this cookbook that I’ve tried are good.  You know how you try a crockpot or slow cooker meal from the Internet and it turns out it’s a bland, textureless, blob it doesn’t really resemble the pictures or taste the way you wanted?  That never happens with the America’s Test Kitchen recipes.  Some of them are a lot of work, and every once in a while one is a dud, but they are generally not lacking in texture or flavor.

Most of the changes I made to this recipe cut out some steps, to make my life easier – who knows, it might be better as written…I also cut out some added fat.  My bacon created more than enough to cook the onions etc. in.  Oh wait, maybe that’s because I also doubled the bacon.  Scratch the part about how I eliminated fat.  Just kidding.  But I did triple the carrots, that’s healthy, right?  Also, I used 1.5 lbs of potatoes, because that’s how big the bag is…what was I going to do with a leftover 1/2 pound of red potatoes?  I’ll tell you what.  I was going to find it in the bottom of the pantry rotten, the next time something smelled funny in there.  This seemed like a better use.

This hearty soup serves at least 8 people, maybe 10.  Maybe more if they are smaller people.  I found that my chicken and potatoes were done after 5 hours on high, and the entire meal finished up in just over 6 with the other steps.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bacon, minced
• 2 onions, minced
• 2 tsp of minced garlic
• 1 TB of tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 c of all purpose or whole wheat flour
• 8 c low sodium chicken broth
• 1.5 lb of red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 in thick
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 (15 oz) can of creamed corn or, if, like me, you forget creamed corn at the store, and don’t want to go back, you can make your own!  I followed this recipe.  Except I left out the parmesan.
• 3/4  c heavy cream
• 2 tsp minced canned chipotle chile in adobo
• 4-6 TB minced fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes.  Stir in onions and cook until softened, 5 to 7 minutes.  Stir in garlic, tomato paste, and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.  Whisk in 2 cups broth, scraping up any browned bits; transfer to slow cooker.
2. Stir remaining broth, potatoes, carrot and bay leaves into slow cooker.  Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to slow cooker.  Cover and cook until chicken is tender, 4 to 6 hours on high.  [The original recipe calls for this on low.  On low, my potatoes did not cook.  Yes, I pretty much had to make this twice….]
3. Transfer chicken to cutting board, let cool slightly.
4. While chicken is cooling, discard bay leaves and add peppers and corn to the slow cooker, replace cover and cook until heated through, around 15 minutes.
5. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir.  Add heavy cream and chipotles into soup and let it sit until heated through, around 5-10 minutes.
6. Stir in cilantro, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.