Gordon Ramsay Corn Chowder Recipe

Gordon Ramsay’s corn chowder is a smoky, chunky bowl of sweetcorn, potatoes and bacon simmered in stock and milk, ready in about 30 minutes. He uses both creamed corn and whole kernels together so you get richness and texture in the same spoonful.

This recipe appears as “Smoky Bacon, Sweetcorn and Potato Soup” in Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Home Cooking, where he writes, “You can make a tasty and nourishing soup out of the humblest ingredients, as this sweetcorn chowder shows.” He suggests serving it with his American-style cheese biscuits to make it a meal in its own right.

The technique that makes this work: using tinned creamed corn alongside whole kernels. The creamed corn dissolves into the broth and thickens it naturally, so you get a silky base without needing to blend anything or add cream. The whole kernels then give you pops of sweetness and bite in every spoonful.

FAQs

Why does Ramsay use both creamed corn and whole kernel corn?

Each one does a different job. The creamed corn dissolves into the broth during the simmer, which thickens the liquid and gives it a sweet, silky body without needing flour or heavy cream (double cream). It’s what makes this taste like chowder rather than a thin soup.

The whole kernels hold their shape and add texture. You get bursts of sweetness and crunch against the smooth base, which keeps every spoonful interesting. Using only one or the other would leave you with either a flat puree or a watery broth with corn floating in it.

Why use milk instead of cream in a chowder?

Most chowder recipes reach for heavy cream (double cream), but Ramsay uses whole milk here instead. Milk gives the broth enough richness to feel satisfying without making it heavy, and the creamed corn is already doing the thickening work.

This keeps the soup light enough to eat as a weeknight dinner rather than a special occasion starter. If you want something richer, his California-style sweetcorn chowder in Ramsay in 10 goes the opposite direction with cream, goat’s cheese and chipotle.

Why does he add leek as well as onion?

The onion provides a savoury base that gets cooked down with the bacon, while the leek adds a softer, sweeter layer that comes through in the finished soup. They do different things at different stages.

Leeks also have a silky texture when they soften, which blends into the chowder rather than sitting as distinct pieces. If you enjoy how leeks work in soup, Ramsay uses them as the main ingredient in his leek and potato soup, where they carry the whole dish.

Why smoked bacon specifically and not regular bacon?

Smoked streaky bacon does two things that unsmoked can’t. First, the smokiness infuses the oil as the bacon renders, which flavours every other ingredient that goes into the pot after it. Second, streaky bacon has more fat than back bacon, so it crisps better and releases more flavour into the base.

Ramsay doesn’t add any other smoky ingredients here, so the bacon is carrying that entire layer of the chowder. Swap it for unsmoked and the soup will taste flat and one-dimensional.

How is this different from his curry-spiced sweetcorn soup?

The Ultimate Cookery Course version takes sweetcorn in a completely different direction. Instead of bacon and milk, Ramsay builds a homemade Madras curry paste with toasted coriander seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric and ginger, then blends the whole thing smooth.

That soup is spiced, vibrant and fully pureed. This chowder is smoky, chunky and mild. They share the same creamed-corn-plus-whole-kernel base, but the flavour profiles don’t overlap at all. The curry version works better as a starter while this one is hearty enough for a full meal with bread.

Can frozen corn work instead of tinned?

Frozen corn kernels work fine as a swap for the tinned whole sweetcorn. Defrost them first and add them at the same stage. They tend to be slightly sweeter than tinned because they’re frozen closer to harvest.

The creamed corn is harder to replace because it provides the thick, starchy liquid that gives the chowder its body. If you can’t find it, blend half the whole kernels with a cup of the stock until smooth and stir that in instead. It’s not identical, but it gets close to the same effect.