Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken & Corn Soup

This creamy chicken & corn soup is lightened up, yet still wonderfully rich and hearty thanks to its thyme-infused broth and generous mix of root vegetables, chicken, and sweet corn. A little prep happens on the stove, then everything finishes together in the slow cooker, making this one of those low-effort, high-reward meals you’ll want to repeat all season long.

I originally published this recipe in 2016 and have since added new photos and helpful success tips.

---

With smoky bacon, sweet potatoes, cream-style corn, and a velvety broth, every spoonful is comforting, filling, and deeply satisfying.

Creamy Chicken & Corn Soup Details

• Texture: This creamy chicken soup has plenty of hearty, satisfying texture from chunks of chicken, sweet potatoes, and vegetables, plus lots of corn in every bite. Everything cooks in a light, creamy broth made from chicken broth, whole milk, and cornstarch.
• Flavor: Lots to love here! Smoky bacon, sweet corn, earthy thyme, tender vegetables, and plenty of black pepper build layers of flavor as the soup slow-cooks. It’s sweet, savory, creamy, and finished with a fresh pop of herbs.
• Ease: The soup begins with cooking bacon and then moves on to soup-starter basics like onions, garlic, carrots, and celery. These are cooked on the stove, but that’s the only “work” you’ll have to do. You then throw everything else right into the slow cooker except for the milk and cornstarch (see recipe directions below). Are you cooking this during the day while you’re at work? You can prep the veggies on the stove the night before.
• Time: This is a low-and-slow-style soup. About 8 hours total, with only about 20 minutes of active prep.

This is a soup recipe that requires little effort, yet delivers so much flavor. If this appeals to you (little prep, big results!), you’ll also appreciate my minestrone soup, creamy cauliflower potato soup, slow cooker chicken chili, and sweet potato turkey chili recipes.

A Few Key Ingredients

• Bacon: Optional, but highly recommended for flavor depth.
• Celery, carrots, onion, and sweet potatoes: These vegetables add flavor, bulk, and texture.
• Corn & Creamed Corn: Using both whole-kernel corn and cream-style corn gives this soup the best of both worlds. How? The whole kernels provide texture and those sweet little pops of corn, while the cream-style corn adds a creamy richness that ties everything together. You can use frozen or fresh corn in place of the regular canned corn, but I do not recommend skipping the can of cream-style corn.
• Thyme: With its subtle hints of earthy, floral notes, thyme is an essential flavor enhancer in this soup.
• Whole milk: To keep things on the lighter side, we use and recommend 1 and 1/2 cups of whole milk, but you could easily replace it with half-and-half for a thicker soup. You could also combine 1 cup whole milk with 1/2 cup heavy cream.
• Cornstarch: Essential for thickening—do not skip.

---

How the Creamy Chicken & Corn Soup Comes Together:

Cook the bacon in a large skillet. Let cool and then crumble. Sauté vegetables & garlic in some of the bacon grease until tender. If you are skipping the bacon, sauté it all in a little butter or olive oil.

Combine everything (except for the milk & cornstarch) in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6–7 hours.

Whisk in the warmed milk & cornstarch mixture, and then cook for 1 more hour. If desired, finish with extra parsley and/or thyme.

You can serve the soup plain, with crackers, in bread bowls or with various breads such as: artisan bread, biscuits, dinner rolls, breadsticks, or asiago-crusted skillet bread.

It pairs beautifully with these oatmeal molasses dinner rolls, too!

For more dinner inspiration, see my list of 30 delicious fall dinner recipe ideas.

Print