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.
Yes. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs work wonderfully and stay extra tender.
Yes. Use full-fat coconut milk or unsweetened oat milk.
Yes, no problem at all! See detailed recipe Note below.
Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken & Corn Soup
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 7 hours, 30 minutes
- Total Time: 8 hours
- Yield: 12 cups
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Description
Ingredients
- 4 strips bacon
- 1 cup (130g) sliced carrots
- 1 cup (130g) sliced celery
- 3/4 cup (100g) diced yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (14.75-ounce/418g) can cream-style corn
- 2 (15.25-ounce/432g) cans corn, drained (or use about 3 cups fresh or frozen)
- 3 cups (400g) peeled & cubed sweet potatoes (around 2 medium)
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced (about 1.25 pounds or 570g)
- 5 cups (1200g/ml) chicken broth (I use reduced-sodium)
- 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360g/ml) whole milk, slightly warmed
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- optional: fresh (or dried) parsley and/or thyme for garnish
Instructions
- Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until browned on both sides. Reserve 2 to 3 Tablespoons of the grease. Place cooked bacon on a paper towel–lined plate and allow to cool. Once cool enough to handle, chop into crumbles.
- To the greased skillet, add the carrots, celery, and onion. Stir and cook until soft and tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Remove from heat.
- Place the creamed corn, corn, sweet potatoes, chicken, chicken broth, thyme, parsley, salt, and pepper into a 5-quart or larger slow cooker. Add the celery/carrot/onion mixture and the crumbled bacon (save some for garnish, if desired). Stir to combine and cover with the lid.
- Cook on low heat for about 6–7 hours.
- After 6–7 hours, whisk the warmed milk and cornstarch together. Pour into the soup. Give it a good stir, then cover.
- Cook on low heat for 1 more hour.
- Serve warm with a sprinkle of parsley, thyme, and/or any leftover bacon crumbles.
- Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. To reheat, simply pour into a pot and cook over medium heat until warm. Soup freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw and then reheat.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Large Skillet | Slow Cooker (5-quart or larger)
- No Slow Cooker? No Problem. Prepare recipe through step 2. Instead of placing ingredients into a slow cooker in step 3, place into a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Stir together, then allow to boil and cook until chicken is no longer pink, about 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, whisk the warmed milk and cornstarch together, and then stir it into the soup. Let simmer for 10 minutes more.
- Can I Use Chicken Thighs Instead of Chicken Breasts? Yes. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs work wonderfully and stay extra tender.
- Whole Milk: 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. For a nondairy option, use full-fat coconut milk or unsweetened oat milk.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1.5 cup
- Calories: 208
- Sugar: 8 g
- Sodium: 1123 mg
- Fat: 6.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 28.6 g
- Protein: 9.7 g
- Cholesterol: 21 mg
Reader Comments and Reviews
This was a great crockpot recipe. Most of my kids liked it which is always a win. Thanks
Great recipe , I made it as written and is in the slow cooker as we speak !
Love your recipes and have saved or printed a few well more than a few of of your brilliant sugestions all sounding so delicious. Thank you so much with greetings from Canada….. !
This soup sounds delicious and I am definitely going to make it soon!
I would love to see the Nutrition Info though, thanks!
i hate the flavor of celery and sweet potatoes, are there any good substitutes for these ingredients?
Hi Eva, you can leave the celery out and replace the sweet potatoes with other potatoes if you would like.
Loved, add jalapeños even better
My whole family is anti-sweet potato. So could I use a squash or another potato instead?
Another potato would work great!
Awesome soup! I added diced red bell pepper, and cut down little on the bacon (2 strips). Thank you for this great recipe!
What can I substitute for bacon?
Hi Roni, you can leave it out. Cook the vegetables in a little butter or olive oil instead, such as 1-2 Tablespoons.
I haven’t tried this yet. Do you think I could use Yukon gold potatoes instead of sweet potatoes? Thx
Certainly!
This looks and sounds amazing, and I cannot wait to try it! I’m wondering if anyone on Sally’s team can tell me what brand that beautiful skillet is in the picture showing the sautéed vegetables? It looks like it has gold handles?
Hi Lauren! That is a pan by the brand Caraway!
This looks like a great recipe. How would cook time change if the chicken is already cooked? Thanks!
Hi Rochella, we would follow the same instructions, just add the cooked chicken at the end with step 4. The soup may cook a little faster.
Can i substitute heavy cream for 1 (14 ounce) can cream-style corn?
Thanks
Hi Judy! You certainly can, if you would like.
Do you think green beans in place of the whole kernel corn would work?
So good, followed recipe and turned out great. Served in bread bowls, also her recipe.
This was delicious! We have a dairy allergy in our family, so I used a can of full fat coconut milk instead of the whole milk. I also cooked it in my Instant Pot for 20 minutes high pressure and 15 minutes natural release. After removing the chicken (I just put it in whole instead of pre-dicing), I used my immersion blender to puree around half of the soup to make it even more creamy. It came out perfect!
Did you add milk n cornstarch in the IP or did you add after?
Thank you for commenting – I’m going to do it in my IP! Did you add the milk & cornstarch?
Thx soup is delicious! A bit of work BUT well worth it. I made it in my Dutch oven instead of my slow cooker as I didn’t get started soon enough to let it cook for several hours. It goes amazingly well with your white sandwich bread recipe that I make all the time!
Hi!
If I need to let the soup sit before serving should I wait to add the cornstarch until closer to serving time? Or is it ok to add corn starch, cook for an hour, then keep it on warm setting in the crock pot? Just worried it would get clumpy if it sat too long.
Thanks!
Hi Elizabeth! The soup should be fine left on warm for a while before serving.
This looks great. I am going to try it, but why not just put the chicken pieces in whole? couldn’t I just shred it in the end? Thanks
Hi Tera, you can certainly do that instead. Hope you enjoy the soup!
Was looking for a new chicken recipe and this was definitely it! It was absolutely delicious! Will definitely be making this on a monthly basis.
Would it be possible to complete steps 1 & 2 (bacon + sauteing vegetables) then put them in the fridge overnight so that everything else can be tossed into the slow cooker the next morning?
Sure!
Thanks for the response! I ended up cooking it overnight in the slow cooker instead. I didn’t do the cream and cornstarch stage, and I seared chopped up boneless, skinless chicken thighs beforehand in the remaining bacon grease with some salt, pepper and smoked paprika. The soup is very tasty! My sweet potatoes got a bit softer than I’d like, but I also cooked it for 8 hours overnight. Next time I’ll cut them a bit bigger or do a shorter cook time. Thanks for the great recipe!
Hello. This sounds fantastic. How would I adjust the cook time for boneless chicken thighs?
Hi Camilla, cook time should be the same. Be sure to chop the chicken before adding to the slow cooker. Enjoy!
I would like to try this recipe but am lactose intolerant. Could I use lactose free whole milk? Would the final results and taste be lacking?
Hi Dottie, a dairy-free milk will work in a pinch, although the texture may not be quite as creamy. We hope you enjoy the soup!
I made this the other night for supper.
However I didn’t include the bacon although I’m sure that would have made it different in taste.
I’m very satisfied as to how it came out.
A wonderful treat for the fall.
Thanks again for your great recipes.
They inspire me to keep on cooking!
This was so good!
I made it in the instant pot and just put some freezer burnt frozen chicken breasts in and set for 40 minutes. Fished the chicken out, cut it up and put it back in.
My instant pot was getting quite full so I left out one can of corn. I added some more spices. It was great!
What spices did you add? My family doesn’t like thyme.
I made this recipe & your strawberry salad for our post lent service snack Also made your double chocolate cookies, brought pretzels, & a punch, coffee, & tea. Everyone loved it !!
Thank you for the advice. Probably the bacon as you said. I’ll try again. Thank you.
My soup had a slight curdled appearance even before I added the milk, which didn’t improve matters. Advice?
Hi Heather! We’re unsure how the soup could be curdled with just veggies, chicken, chicken broth and seasonings… perhaps it was the slight separation of fat from the bacon grease? This is normal. Did the soup thicken at all with the addition of milk and cornstarch? Make sure to whisk those together until no lumps remain before adding to the soup.
Really enjoyed this recipe. I made it on the stove top as we were staying in after receiving 8″ of snow. Nothing feels better and more comforting than soup on a wintery day!
We have made this recipe 5 times since August. It is phenomenal. Would love to have the nutritional information.
Hi Becki, so glad you love this one! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Dumb question but does the chicken get put in the crock pot raw?
It does!
Would this recipe lend itself to shrimp instead of chicken? With the shrimp added close to finish time?
Hi David, we haven’t tried it but we can’t see why that wouldn’t work! Let us know if you give it a try.