I love chowder in the winter – the smokiness of the fish with soft, fluffy potatoes and a hint of paprika. This crab and sweetcorn chowder is a lighter but no less comforting dish.
Here, I used crab instead of smoked fish, added extra veg instead of the potatoes and swapped heavy cream for creme fraiche. If you like Chinese style crab and sweetcorn soup, you’re sure to like the flavours here!
Serve this with crunchy cream crackers rather than bread. Break them up and sprinkle them over the soup to add a new texture.
Ingredients, Substitutions and Variations
- Olive oil – or you could use vegetable oil.
- Onion, carrots, leek – you could also add some celery.
- Plain flour – to thicken the chowder. Or use cornflour.
- Vegetable stock – or use 1 litre water and a good vegetable stock cube.
- Sweetcorn – I prefer tinned sweetcorn to frozen sweetcorn in this dish, but you can use frozen. Just make sure to simmer the chowder until it’s warmed through.
- White crab meat – you can use either lump crab meat, which is chunkier, or shredded crab meat. Lump crab meat is better, but shredded is cheaper, so take your pick!
- Crème fraiche – to add creaminess. You could substitute with 100ml single cream.
- Chives – optional but delicious. Sliced spring onions would work well instead.
Top Tips
- Incorporate the flour well
The trickiest bit of this recipe is thickening the chowder, but it’s not hard. Make sure you stir the flour evenly through the vegetables before adding the stock.
- Add the stock a little at a time
When the flour is fully incorporated, add your stock just a little at a time, stirring well in between until it thickens. This way, you’ll avoid lumps.
- Don’t overcook the crab!
Crab meat is precious – treat it that way. It literally just needs warming through, don’t overcook it.
Crab and Sweetcorn Chowder
Save This RecipeIngredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 2 carrots
- 1 large leek
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 325 g tin of sweetcorn
- 200 g white crab meat
- 150 ml creme fraiche
- Large handful chives
Instructions
- Dice the onion, carrots and leek and add to a large casserole dish with the olive oil. Soften for 6-7 minutes, then stir in the flour. Gradually add the stock, then bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until the carrots have softened.
- Stir in the sweetcorn, crab meat and creme fraiche. Bring back to a simmer, taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Chop the chives and stir them in. Voila!
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