I made a gourmet wild rice meal with a Cajun influence. It may also be prepared quickly and easily in a rice cooker while you’re not watching!
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 50 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 2 (15 ounce) cans chicken broth
- ½ cup sliced carrots
- 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
- 3 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried marjoram
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup peeled and diced potatoes
- ½ cup chopped onion
- ½ cup sliced celery
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1 (15 ounce) can cream-style corn
- 1 (8 ounce) package shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
- 1 cup diced cooked ham
Instructions
- Stir chicken broth, carrots, chicken bouillon, bay leaves, sea salt, pepper, thyme, marjoram, and garlic powder together in a Dutch oven. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 10 minutes. Add potatoes and onion; cook for 10 minutes more. Add celery; cook until all vegetables are fork tender, about 10 minutes more.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and whisk flour into butter until smooth. Return saucepan to medium heat; gradually add milk to butter mixture, whisking constantly, and cook until mixture thickens, 6 to 7 minutes.
- Stir milk mixture into vegetable mixture. Add corn, Cheddar cheese, and ham, reduce heat to low, and simmer until ham is heated through and cheese melts, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Start the white sauce right after adding celery to the other vegetables; this will cut 10 minutes off the original cooking time.
- For a quicker version, use canned diced potatoes, canned carrots, frozen onions, and eliminate the celery. Combine the broth, potatoes, carrot, onions and seasonings in 5-quart pot; bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Prepare white sauce while vegetables are cooking. Combine sauce, vegetables, corn, ham and cheese; reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. This will reduce the total recipe time to 40 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 408 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 30 g |
| Cholesterol | 76 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 19 g |
| Saturated Fat | 14 g |
| Sodium | 2034 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 25 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Great recipe! Was looking for something to use leftover ham and this fit the bill. Everyone in the family liked it and came back for seconds. I followed the recipe except used oregano (didn’t have marjoram) and added a cup of frozen corn (I had corn from the summer I had cut from the cob). Will definitely make this again.
This turned out amazing without celery and thyme. I added 1.2 stick of butter. Plenty of milk and potatoes too
Excellent! We liked it so much I made a 2nd pot. Only things I changed slightly…I had some heavy cream to use up (instead of the milk) and I added a can of regular corn in addition to the creamed corn. Everything else exactly the same! Will definitely be adding this to the rotation.
I was looking for something to make to use up the leftover ham and corn from Christmas dinner and this fit the bill nicely. It’s simple and tasty! I didn’t have any chicken bouillon, celery, marjoram, or even creamed corn (I just tossed in about a 1/3 cup of half and half to make it a little creamy). I doubled the recipe and realized I only had about a cup of cheddar cheese… so monterey jack was a good stand-in. I don’t have a dutch oven, so I just whipped it up in my stock pot. I really appreciate a “base” recipe and this one proves versatile enough to switch up the players. I’m looking forward to trying it again with whatever else I have leftover in my fridge! 🙂
It really is very creamy delicious. Very nicely spiced.
I followed the recipe as written, but family wasn’t overly enthusiastic about it. I liked it but I think the problem may have been that I used leftover ham which had a cinnamon flavored glaze on it. Cinnamon was not a good addition to this chowder. May try it again with a plain ham steak in future.
Oh my goodness it was so good! Variations I made: I didn’t have the celery, I added a half a can of regular corn and 1/2 cup sour cream. I also used fresh thyme instead of ground (makes all the difference to me). 10/10 will make this again.
Very straightforward! Slightly modified the recipe to make more, turned out great.
Used half heavy cream, half milk for the rue and turned out amazing. Would definitely make again!
ok, 1st time I made it, exactly as the receipes called. We loved it, felt it was a little thin, but the taste was great. But then I started to play … and now it is the most requested dish from my family. Changes? 1. double the carrots and celery and potatoes 2. heavy cream instead of milk 3. Ham is always home baked with a lot of cloves 3. Most important (in addition to the creamed corn) – I add 3-4 ears of fresh corn right off the cob. When cooking the vegatables/potatoes – I include the corn cobs for even more corn flavor. Sometimes I will need to add additional stock – I play it by ear
I only changed the herbs a little. According to my tastes. A delicious soup. I will definitely make it again
Sauteed onions, celery and garlic in bacon fat. Used some leftover grilled charred corn. Turmeric, sour cream…
This is delicious. I made it as directed except for leaving out the bay leaves.
Baseline recipe was good, but recommend some of the following changes. I used ham that I sliced myself but browned slightly. This is important because you want that texture/taste. I melted the flour mixture and milk as mentioned, but added cheese to it so it created an actual cheese sauce. Adding the cheese to soup mixture will distribute unevenly. Good recipe!
I will make this again! So good.
Made it exactly as directed and the family loved it!
Delicious!!! The taste is great, I did add about another 1/2 cup of milk because it was a little too thick for me. I also added another cup of diced ham just because I had leftovers from Christmas dinner and I thought it could use a little more. I will definitly make again.
Yum! Substituted celery for red bell peppers.
I made it exactly as recipe is written. We loved it and I will make it again.
This was delicious! Of course I made some changes: First, I doubled the recipe and… *I sauteed all the veggies together in olive oil and when tender removed from heat *Substituted half of the milk with heavy cream *Used 2 tsp “Better than Boullion” chicken stock dissolved in 2c. boiling water instead of the water and granules and chicken stock *Only added 1c. cheddar cheese for the doubled recipe *Omitted the marjoram, thyme, and salt *It was super delicious!! Will make again and again!
The family really liked it!