[Warning! This post contains Top Chef Season 17 spoilers.]
I didn’t say it was logical, I think we know better than to expect clear, sound reasoning here, but when cookbooks decided that cauliflower could be pizza crusts or that black beans could go in brownies, I’m sorry, but I checked out. But this summer in particular, as plant-based diets are on evermore agendas, I’ve seen so many creative uses of corn — as ribs, twice, corn butter, and now, a surged interest in a longtime restaurant kitchen staple, corn stocks — and I love it; I’m all in.
A few weeks ago, People Magazine ran my blueberry muffin recipe and on my way to find it, I ran into this winning corn-coconut soup from beloved Top Chef Season 17 winner, Melissa King, and had to make it right away. It absolutely delivered. Because you first make a corn stock from corn cobs, ginger, onion, and water, the soup is completely vegan and more deeply corn-flavored than it would be from a mixed vegetable stock. From there, you sauté the kernels, more onion, and garlic, simmer it with the stock and coconut milk, blend it, and finish it with lime juice. The resulting soup is mellow and delicious — the pickiest human in my family not only ate it, she vocally reconsidered her previously-held stance on not liking my cooking, and requested it for lunch the next day. (I am still recovering.)
The rest of us had fun with garnishes — chile oil, cilantro, lime, and because we couldn’t choose, both crispy and pickled shallots. The soup would also be good with croutons and diced roasted sweet peppers (King’s suggestions) and/or toasted coconut flakes. There’s such a coziness to the soup; I want to pack it up for a friend or stash some in the freezer for later this winter. I can’t wait to see what you do with it.
Previously
Six months ago: Pina Colada
One year ago: Salted Caramel Pretzel Blondies
Two year ago: Foolproof Cacio e Pepe
Three years ago: Cheesecake Bars with All The Berries and Corn Chowder with Chile, Lime, and Cotija
Four years ago: Eggplant Parmesan Melts and Even More Perfect Blueberry Muffins
Five years ago: Angel Hair Pasta with Raw Tomato Sauce, Crispy Peach Cobbler, and Corn Chowder Salad
Six years ago: Strawberries and Cream with Graham Crumbles and Corn Cheddar and Scallion Strata
Seven years ago: Almond-Crisped Peaches, Key Lime Popsicles and Zucchini Parmesan Crisps
Eight years ago: Mediterranean Baked Feta with Tomatoes, Leek, Chard, and Corn Flatbread and Vanilla Custards with Roasted Blueberries
Nine years ago: Hazelnut Plum-Crumb Tart, Zucchini Fritters, and Naked Tomato Sauce
Ten years ago: Eggplant Salad Toasts and Peach Shortbread
Eleven years ago: Griled Eggplant and Olive Pizza and Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting
Twelve years ago: Slow-Roasted Tomatoes, Kefta and Zucchini Kebabs and Dimply Plum Cake
Thirteen years ago: Double Chocolate Torte and Spicy Soba Noodles with Shiitakes
Fourteen years ago: Moules Frites and 44-Clove Garlic Soup
Corn Coconut Soup
- 2 large yellow onions
- 3 quarts (2.8 liters) water
- 4 large ears or 5 medium-large fresh corn, kernels cut from cobs, cobs reserved
- 1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) canola, safflower, or another neutral oil
- 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1 (13.5-ounce or 400-ml) can full-fat coconut milk, well-stirred
- Juice of half a lime
- To garnish: Fresh cilantro leaves, lime wedges, toasted coconut flakes, (see below for next three) chile oil, pickled shallots, and/or crispy shallots
Make soup: Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large pot over medium. Add corn kernels, sliced onion, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent and soft, about 15 minutes. Add 4 cups of the reserved corn stock; bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 20 minutes. Add coconut milk and lime juice. Remove from heat.
Working in batches, pour mixture into a blender. Secure lid but remove the center piece to allow steam to escape. Or, you can use an immersion blender in the pot, as I did. Process until very smooth. Pour soup through a strainer into a pot — I didn’t do this but wished I had — and discard solids.
Serve: Ladle into bowls. Top with garnishes of your choice.
Garnishes:
To make a tiny batch of chile oil: Place 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper in a small heatproof bowl. Heat 1/4 cup neutral oil in a small skillet over medium-high until shimmering, then pour over red pepper. Let stand 10 minutes and pour through a fine-mesh strainer, discarding the pepper flakes. Dot over soup with caution.
To pickle shallots: Thinly slice two large shallots. Add to a bowl with 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons cold water, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, and a slightly heaped 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Set in fridge until needed. Shallots will be very lightly pickled by the time you’re done making the soup, but if you can give it 1 to 2 hours in the fridge, they’ll be more so.
To make crispy shallots: Thinly slice two large shallots. In a small skillet, heat 1/2-inch of oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the shallots to the skillet, breaking them into rings as you place them in. Cook until deeply golden, watching them carefully, stirring occasionally, and then transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate. Sprinkle immediately with salt. They will continue to darken after being removed from the skillet.
Sounds divine! Can’t wait to make this one. It does appear that the first few sentences of the corn stock directions may have been the victim of a word processing mishap, though.
Thanks for the edit!
I have eaten soup like this with cooked chicken added for those who would like some more protein. Looks very tasty. Why do you wish you had strained the soup? Was it not smooth enough? Thanks for the recipe! A good start to Autumn!
I used an immersion blender and found the bits of corn closest to the cob a bit gritty. It might have been smoother in a Vitamix, but I’m not sure — there’s not a lot of solids for the amount of liquid.
Made this today with our csa bag. Since I’m the queen of substitutions, I used the lonely leek on the bag instead of onion for the soup (the stock got an onion). Then I served it with some crispy carnitas, black beans, pickled onions and cilantro which ended up being a delicious fusion of thai and Mexican flavors.
My stock didnt reduce much so I ended up with a bit more that will probably be used to make rice to go under crispy fried eggs.
Thanks for the inspiration!
I strained and wished I didn’t… it ended up making the soup very thin and lacking flavor. I had a taste before straining and it was much more flavorful. I’d take a little gritty over slurping straight coconut milk.
This sounds so yummy! Can you please reword/edit the first few sentences? I think the meaning is lost a bit.
Yikes, sorry about that. Now fixed. You can tell that no amount of coffee has been sufficient today.
So curious, what would you suggest serving this with?
My question exactly! It couldn’t be anything with a strong flavor or it would overwhelm the soup. I was wondering if maybe something Asian would go with this? Any suggestions anyone?
I’m making Bahn Mi inspired sandwiches this wknd and wanted a soup. I was looking for corn, like a chowder, and found this recipe. I’m thinking it’s gonna be a lovely pairing.
Great idea!
I’ve made it before with banh mi style burgers (Modern Proper has a good recipe) and a butter lettuce salad with a sesame dressing. Bit hit!
I know you specified full fat coconut milk, but I have a can of reduced fat in the pantry. Do you think the recipe would still work or must it be have to be full fat?
I used reduced fat and it was fine. Still plenty creamy and thick.
Excited to make this! Approximately how much stock were you left with once it simmered and reduced? I want to make sure I don’t under or over-reduce, lol.
I had about 6 cups. You only need 4 for the soup, so I think you’re unlikely to over-reduce.
This sounds like the vegan chowder recipe I Loved from a seafood place that closed a few years ago. My life hasn’t been the same without it. They put butternut squash chunks in theirs. Maybe some potato too? Can’t wait to try this.
Corn soup is in the air! I just made the Thai Corn Chowder from the Rebar Cookbook yesterday – very similar but with lemongrass and kefir lime leaves too :)
I have an abundance of lemon grass in my yard. I may toss some in. Sounds great.
This sounds just like the soup my local Thai place used to serve. They added mushrooms and tofu, but I am not convinced it needed the tofu. Excellent appetizer.
OMG. I was looking for something to do with the corn stock I made earlier this summer. And I somehow have all the ingredients for this. Win!
Sounds heavenly, can’t wait to try this! If I covered the pot, should I cook it longer? Or would it not reduce correctly while covered?
Lusca, if you keep it covered, then the evaporation collects on the lid, condenses and falls back into the pot instead of actually evaporating and reducing the stock.
This looks amazing! To even further highlight the corn, I highly recommend making the corn stock in the instant pot or other pressure cooker (15 mins at high pressure, quick release, sauté function to reduce it down). The pressure “milks” the cobs and delivers maximum corn flavor. If you transferred the stock to a big measuring cup before continuing, and used an immersion blender, the entire thing could probably be done in the IP without dirtying many other dishes (The corncob-milking idea is shamelessly stolen from Kenji Lopez-Alt’s incredible pressure cooker corn soup)
I discovered corn stock a few years ago (having thoughtlessly thrown out countless stripped cobs, considering them garbage) and agree that it gives wonderful fresh veggie flavor to soup. So far this summer I have made it twice and used it in zucchini soup and mixed-squash soup, both strained, pureed, and frozen for the upcoming day when corn cobs are no longer available (sniff). I am currently saving more cobs in the fridge for my next batch.
Because all detritus will be strained out, I like to toss in some dried thyme sticks and a bay leaf.
I absolutely cannot wait to make this! I’ve been searching for this recipe since I watched that episode. What I loved about Top Chef’s last season was how so many of the contestants embraced vegetables. Thanks, Deb!
That bowl of soup photo is gorgeous. I’m looking forward to making this: I’m sure my family will love it. Made the eggplant and orzo bake the other day–loved it and loved the leftovers, too!
Regarding pickled shallots–did you mean to say bowl bowl? Is it moreso or more so? (Embarassed to mention this). Feel free to delete this comment, I don’t mean to be rude.
Thanks, now fixed!
This took some time but was GREAT!! So yummy!! We also didn’t have coconut milk but had tons of corn so it was just a corn soup and it was amazing. Other tip is if you have a vitamix use that and then no straining at all!
This looks amazing! I’ve got a soup made with corn and their stock in my new cookbook, but this one sounds so much tastier…!
This looks and sounds delicious. Would this also work with pre-cooked vacu-packed corn cobs, do you think? Fresh corn on the cob can be difficult to find here in Germany.
Also, could you please please please add metric measurements? My brain does not work in quarts and ounces, and while I do possess American cup measurements which are useful in some of your recipes, my measuring jug only does ml, and our tinned food gives the content in ml or g. I’m sure I’m not the only European reader (and fan) of your recipes who hates having to sit down with conversion tables and a calculator before writing the shopping list or starting to cook.
Having said that, I really am a huge fan, have both of your books and have loved just about everything I have cooked after one of your recipes.
Yes and yes. I do try to put metrics in most recipes; if I forget, just leave me comment — as you have! — and I’ll add them as soon as I see it.
That was quick, thank you!!
Just to make sure: The first “yes” referred to the pre-cooked corn, right?
Yes…. but I missed that it was pre-cooked. I just saw the vacuum-packed part. Now I’m less confident that you’ll get the full flavor potential here, but it’s worth trying.
In the late 90s, some Thai friends down the hall in my dorm would make a soup similar to this, except theirs was slightly sweet and also incorporated small tapioca pearls. I loved it so dearly, and this brought back wonderful memories. This recipe might get me most of the way to recreating that lovely comfort food experience. Thank you for posting this!
This is hands down the best soup I have ever made. I have made this at least 5 times this summer, and I’m making it again today. Each time, I have let the stock simmer for a long time, freeze this stock, then use the frozen stock for the next batch. I don’t notice a difference in flavor, and it makes putting the soup together a quick process. Smitten Kitchen + Melissa King = perfection!
The red head says she doesn’t like your cooking?
That is hilarious. Does she even know who you are? Lol.
Lol. She’s not impressed!
I made this tonight – loved the simplicity and flavor. In the words of my sister, “it tastes like corn”.
Deb! A) This is delicious and my tummy is full and happy. Thank you! B) If you grate lots of nutmeg on top you won’t be sorry.
P.S. we only partially blended this and left it sort of chunky on purpose because we’re in the middle of packing and moving and I didn’t want to find our sieve. It was excellent this way as well – will have to try the smoother way later.
This looks great, but I”m avoiding onion in my diet. Is there a veggie I should sub for adding flavor (like saute broccoli, or squash? or something) or substance, or just skip that element? Or is it crucial and I should wait to make it til I’m eating onion again?
DEB! SPOILERS! That season isn’t streamable yet for those of us without cable! Give folks a warning, sheesh!
I was not aware! But it’s also in People Magazine as her “winning” soup and there have been a ton of articles about her winning.
Yesssss but those are all super easily avoidable if you haven’t seen this season!
I’m really sorry. I hadn’t even considered that someone didn’t know who the winner was from June.
Why do you have a spoiler for a show that’s not streamable yet??
I know!!! I also commented about that-love Deb, love the site, but please don’t post show spoilers. So sad….
I made this soup today and it was delicious. My reduced stock ended up being exactly 4 cups. I blended the final soup with a Vitamix and then put it through a strainer. I’m glad I did this extra but very simple step — there were fine bits of corn kernel skins that would have detracted from the smooth texture. I topped my soup with croutons, pickled red onions, cilantro, a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of coarse salt. It was outstanding!
Made this tonight and it is truly the best soup I’ve ever tasted. Hands down. My husband loved it too and he’s “not a soup person.” Followed recipe exactly. Thank you, Melissa and Deb!
i’m a big fan and have made countless smitten kitchen recipes. i find it hard not to tweak here and there but this time i followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect! used an immersion blender and tried it with and without straining – personally i preferred the strained version. i had almost a quart of leftover stock to freeze.
Made as instructed and enjoying this as a chilled soup right now (hot summer days where I am).
I made this soup tonight and found that it came out *very sweet* which I have a few theories on. It definitely tasted like corn, but concentrated. I have a small suspicion that my choice to throw in a sweet onion probably affected the final outcome a bit more than I expected.
I think next time I’ll be a little more exact on the ingredients, and maybe a smidge more lime juice and salt in the cook.
I felt the same, Kate. Added the juice of the whole
lime into the pot with some additional salt. More limes for passing along with the crispy and pickled shallots, fresh cilantro, drops of homemade peach-habanero hot sauce, and some butter-poached lobster…because here in Maine, that’s whatcha do :)
Was your coconut milk unsweetened?
I may not be in the majority, but I find some corn to be too sweet. It is fine for eating with butter and salt, but when I use it in savory dishes, particularly soup, I find it too sweet. That said, I made this soup last night with some corn we grew that is sweet ,but not overly so, and it was fantastic. So simple and yummy – drank the rest of it out of the fridge cold for a mid morning snack, also delicious.
We used unsweetened coconut milk and shallots – because corn can be too sweet when concentrated.
This is the best soup. Maybe not ever – but it’s now in my top five. I’m so glad right now that I doubled the stock and am freezing half the kernels. With all the fires and wind, it’s unlikely we’ll have much farm corn left this summer.
I highly highly recommend taking the time to make this.
Oh yes, anything with ginger and lime juice (and/or zest) will always taste good.
Sounds intriguing. Corn soup is a big popular street food in my country (Trinidad). Ours uses both vegetable broth and coconut milk and is wonderful. I will have to see if this one holds up!
Hello Deb-your soup looks great, but I was kind of sad about the unexpected Top Chef spoiler…
I’m so sorry — I hadn’t realized the news wasn’t out since I’d read press about her win for months.
I made this soup tonight and found that it came out *very sweet* which I have a few theories on. It definitely tasted like corn, but concentrated. I have a small suspicion that my choice to throw in a sweet onion probably affected the final outcome a bit more than I expected.
I think next time I’ll be a little more exact on the ingredients, and maybe a smidge more lime juice and salt in the cook.
I made this and it came out wonderfully! It’s so delicious; great job, Deb. I actually doubled the amount of corn because..I felt like it? and it was great!
Oh man this was good! I would like to point out that the strained out solids after blending are also delicious and can be eaten like a corn mash. It doesn’t sound appetizing but it was also delicious. My fiance wolfed that down.
I have tried this soup, obviously this was inspired by some other food blogger. But this one is slightly different. I will definitely try it this weekend.
Do you think I could add rotisserie chicken or shrimp?
I actually eat plant based so I’m absolutely loving this recipe and will try it ‘as-is’, but I’m thinking of making for elderly neighbors and I know she’d prefer some meat.
I think either of those proteins sound lovely. I topped mine with some butter-poached lobster lobster. I think grilled scallops or shrimp would be great. And rotisserie chicken would be an easy addition. You can’t go wrong either way.
Can’t stand the taste of coconut, should I substitute half & half or heavy cream or something else? Any suggestions appreciated.
I would try a different corn soup — I just don’t think corn and cream will give you enough flavor. Try this corn chowder with chile and lime.
This soup looks so good, love Melissa! Also don’t feel bad about posting the winner, it’s definitely been long enough, and she has done a bunch of press, it’s not like it aired last week!
I strained the soup and it was beautifully smooth, but it took me a long time to get it all through the strainer. I was also surprised it didn’t yield that much overall. Maybe my strainer was too fine? Curious if it took awhile for others or if I can tweak what I did to make it quicker. The end result was delicious.
I experienced this too and was also wondering if I should have used a less-fine strainer! I ended up with closer to 3 healthy servings or 4 smaller ones.
Do yourself a favor and run, do not walk, to your local farm stand, farmers market or grocery store to make this soup today. You will not be sorry. This soup is summer in a bowl.
Made this yesterday in the middle of a nasty California heat wave in a house with no a/c. I followed Erika’s suggestion, and used my Instant Pot. But I did the whole thing in the Instant Pot to avoid using the stove.
For the corn stock, did 15 minutes high pressure and quick release, then sauté function for about 40 minutes. YMMV you may need more or less time in sauté to get it reduced enough.
Then I used the sauté function to cook down the corn and onions.
Lastly, I used my VitaMix and had no solids to speak of even though I strained it.
The toppings are a must to balance out the sweet of the corn and onion. Salt from crispy shallots, acid from pickled shallots and lime, heat from the chili oil and fresh vegetal flavor from the cilantro.
I saw some commenters that their soup was sweet. Make sure you are using UNSWEETENED coconut milk. And make sure you add all of the salt recommended for the stock.
We thought the leftover stock would be great as a base for a quick soup by throwing in some pre-made wontons and green onions and topped with chili oil. Maybe throw in a handful of a bitter green like kale.
Thanks for all your great recipes, Deb. I’m not always motivated to comment but will on this one. Can’t believe I never tried making corn broth before and seldom go for recipes that call for coconut milk. (Maybe everyone else knew to use unsweetened milk and I just got lucky.) I wasn’t sure how this would go over, but I pretty much followed the recipe and only used immersion blender as we don’t mind texture in soup. I used the soup more as a sauce in bowl with rice, grilled chicken and blistered shishito peppers, and second night also added spinach. OMG. We loved it!!! Keep these great ideas coming!
I finished The Margot Affair the other day. Great read, thank you for the suggestion. I have some fennel in my fridge so planning to make the salad tonight alongside my long-held tradition of making a corn chowder on Labor Day weekend. I also make the stock from the cobs, but use heavy cream and butter. I just came here to find the fennel salad recipe and saw this. You haven’t steered me wrong yet, so I’m going to skip the dairy and opt for coconut milk It still stays working tradition of making a corn chowder as summer winds down, but adds an element of something new as well!
It was tasty, but sweeter than I would have preferred. Next time, I think I’ll combine the corn stock and some chicken stock for a more savory flavor. The fried shallots helped, as did the seasoned bay shrimp we added for serving.
This was fantastic! Followed the recipe exactly, including straining at the end. So flavorful and as silky as something you’d get at a restaurant. A great summer soup, and—since we had a quart of extra stock leftover that’s now in the freezer—will be a wonderful reminder of warmer days when we make this again in the winter.
Hi Deb, do you think this recipe would work well chilled? Thanks!
I didn’t try this chilled, however, I have seen other corn coconut soups that are served chilled, so it seems like there’s potential.
update: made it last week and had it hot which was delicious. then the next day the heatwave arrived in CA so we had it cold – i almost liked it better! with just a squeeze of lime and some fresh cilantro on top.
Like others found this really sweet (used regular unsweetened coconut milk). I ended up adding Thai curry paste, Pepper flakes, a dash of fish sauce, bell peppers and basil.
This soup is delicious. I used an inversion blender and a mesh strainer to remove the solids from the soup and ended up with a fair amount of polenta leftover. I’m going to mix in some scallions, peppers, an egg and more sweet corn to make fritters tomorrow with the remaining mush.
Thank you for this fabulous recipe. Living in Italy, I crave Asian-inspired recipes especially ones as easy as this was.
The only thing I added was, I poached chicken thighs in ginger & cilantro then shredded it and added to the finished soup. I didn’t do the chili oil but added a dried Thai chili that did the trick. I also added some rice noodles but with or without, this a keeper.
I made this today and it was a huge hit with mt clan! Used a Vitamix and it was perfect. A welcomed meal for a snowy day in Montana.
This soup is delish! I’ve served it hot, and cold. Don’t make me pick a favorite!
Very Delicious. A lovely subtle combination of corn and coconut flavours. Thanks Melissa King and Deb. Another great recipe
I made this last night. I found that I was a little disappointed in the intensity of the stock. In spite of the fact that it concentrated down almost more than I wanted it to in the hour of cooking, it didn’t have a lot of flavor. It may be a matter of the pot that I used, such that more water was lost to evaporation and the cobs didn’t really have enough time to give up all their flavor, but considering the flavor of the cobs seemed to be pretty leached out afterwards, I’m not sure about that. Maybe next time I’ll try pressure cooking the stock instead–I’ve been finding that the pressure cooker produces the best, most flavorful stocks I’ve ever made.
I added a little extra flavor to the finished product with a dash of fish sauce and a little lemongrass and galangal, as well as a bit of extra lime, and it was delicious even if I forgot the cilantro and fried shallots I was going to use to garnish because my husband and I were cooking and eating in the middle of a Zoom gathering!
This soup was incredible, especially served with all additions. Sweet and creamy, with a little bite from the pickled shallots, rich/bitterness from the fried shallots, and heat from the (STRONG AS HELL) chili oil, lol.
I do wonder if the stock really adds much, since I wasn’t blown away by the flavor, tasting it after the 1 hour simmer and salting. But I’m not sure I would risk trying it without, since the end product was really delicious.
Any thoughts on making this soup with whole or 2% milk? I have a child who is allergic to coconut but loves the other flavors present in this recipe.
Cream or half-and-half will give you closer to the rich texture of coconut milk.
I made this tonight but I’m not eating onion, so I peeled and diced up zucchini to use in place, to add more substance, and I also added celery and just a few carrot pieces to the corn stock. We definitely preferred the soup blended, and I added more oil to the sautéed corn/zucchini mix, and I thought fresh cracked pepper and more salt was wonderful. Would have probably enjoyed some crackers on top. This was not a very substantial dinner, but I would make it for a first course…if I ever serve multi course meals.
This appears to be a pretty fool proof recipe. My corn was mediocre. I was distracted and left my broth on too high of a heat (hi remote schooling kindergartner), so I had to add two cups chicken broth. The only topping I had was fresh lime. I started straining my soup, realized I was getting something far too thin to be called soup and stirred back in the corn bulk. And it was STILL an awesome dinner. I look forward to eating it for lunch tomorrow.
Also, I tasted the broth for spices right before blending and it was like the most amazing Tom Kha Gai broth. I’m planning to try and make a riff on that with this broth (including coconut milk and lime juice) next week.
This soup was tasty, but it was quite a bit of work and made lots of dishes. I liked the comment above about half blending the soup and leaving it chunkier – I may try that next time. I needed extra lime to balance the sweetness. If you make crispy shallots, avoid my mistake and don’t taken them far past a light golden – my turned out a mid-deep brown but tasted quite burnt.
Had the soup tonight, and it was a hit! The fried shallots were our favorite topping. Will definitely make again.
I made this exactly as written but ended up adding the strained solids back in. Without them, it was good but didn’t taste like corn. But I didn’t trim the corn deep down into the cob so I didn’t have any of those hard pieces.
Loved this recipe- and so did my husband! I saved about a cup of kernels and added them at the very end to give it some texture and crunch. But I think the pickled shallots ( I just used regular sliced onions) really made this soup sing! My husband is not a fan of pickled things so he missed out! But we added croutons for a little crunch…. it was all very yummy with lots of Corn flavor. I will def make this again… thanks for the recipe.
This was pretty sweet–sweeter than I really like. But it was good. I liked the complexity and the fresh taste. I hate very salty food, but I added at least two additional teaspoons of salt, and probably could have used more. Sadly I don’t think I’ll make it again.
This reminds me of this: https://www.marthastewart.com/336678/coconut-fish-chowder that I make for my family and that my kids all like (except the fish). Each time I make it, I can’t believe how simple and easy it is, and how delicious. And it is always more than the sum of it parts. I will have to try this one too.
Just made this. Creamy but light, sweet savory and tart at the same time. Definitely should strain. A winner!
Just polished off my first bowl… delicious (even with light coconut milk because of a grocery delivery substitution) but I do agree with those saying it’s very sweet, even with unsweetened coconut milk. I got so hungry that I didn’t make the garnishes yet – will do that tomorrow – but I imagine they might help counterbalance the overall sweetness. A really nice end-of-summer recipe project…
This was DELISH. We put coconut flakes, peanuts, cilantro, and chili crisp on top. Perfectly corn-forward. We braved turning our Vitamix on “High” and it was velvety smooth. Fab!
Absolutely delicious! I wouldn’t call this substantial enough for a dinner, even with the corn solids added back in, but it would be a fantastic appetizer. I added a bit more salt as it came out very sweet, as others have noted.
I’m a huge fan of both blended soups and Deb’s recipes (the miso carrot and creamy cauliflower are regulars in my home!), but I didn’t find this to be very flavorful. I think good ole butter and salt is a better use of my corn on the cob.
I wanted to make this before this great season for corn was over. It has been so delicious this year. I found the corn cob broth to be rather flavorless, but adding the corn to the soup, using the immersion blender and then straining it again really perked it up. The end product was really sweet. (why was that a surprise to me?) I think the chili oil might have helped, but I didn’t have any.
This soup is excellent! My CSA gives me a ton of corn, so I used 6 cobs. My garden also won’t stop with the zucchini, so I added a diced large zucchini to the pot when I added the corn kernels. I made the crispy shallots and also garnished with a squeeze of lime and some chili flakes. I didn’t strain out the solids, which was fine by me, I didn’t mind the texture. It does take time to make the stock, but it’s worth it! Really great recipe.
The soup is delicious and has a very intense flavor. I was especially impressed by the corn cob broth!
I underestimated the amount of time and work, that goes into it (rarely happens to me with recipes from SK!), but it was kind of worth it.
Thanks once again for a surprising and flavorful meal!
…and it is vegan :-)
I know this is a cliched question, but can do you any part of this in the Instant Pot?
I definitely think the stock would be great in it — 20 minutes, maybe?
Made this and served it with homemade crispy veg spring rolls. Holy cow! Definitely some steps here, but the silky and flavorful result was so worth it. This one will be a regular at our house. Thanks, Deb!
I made this recipe and my comment is… what a waste of perfectly succulent, farm stand fresh corn. It was MEH.
Delicious! Reserved some corn before blending to add back in for texture and made the chili oil to drizzle on top with Aleppo peppers, loved it! The pickled shallots were a little distracting from the lusciousness of the soup so decided not to use them on top. Maybe after mellowing a little more they’d be more balanced in it so will try again after they’ve sat for 24 hours. Thank you Deb!
I added Asian veggies that I happened to have in the freezer and tried not to eat it all in 3 days. So good! I did the second straining by the way.
This was delicious. My coconut milk was completely separated, so I just put it in a large bowl and whisked it together before adding to the soup. Also, the recipe suggests straining. The first pass completely clogged the strainer. I ended up pouring back and forth between two strainers, kind of like separating eggs.
I made this soup last night, and love it. I did strain it at the end, so there was a bit more of a clean up job, necessary, but used the immersion blender first. I topped it with the chili oil and crispy shallots. Absolutely fantastic!
We all loved this, even the child who hates corn, coconut, and soup.
I had a lot of leftover corn mush after straining it so I’m going to experiment with using it instead of cornmeal in cornbread tomorrow morning. I will try to report back…
Update: the cornbread was delicious! I had about 1.5 cups of corn mush leftover from my sieve. Mixed it with 1/4 cup of maple syrup, 4 tbs/2oz melted butter (ish) and 2 eggs, then mixed that with a cup of flour, 1 tbs baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Added no other liquid. Baked in a cast iron skillet at 200C fan / 425F for about 25-30 mins as it was quite wet. Made a bronzed, pudding-y cornbread that is completely delicious eaten warm with cream cheese.
This recipe is from, and credited to, Melissa King. (And while the recipes have similar flavor profiles, almost everything about them is different — each ingredient level, the process, and the final texture, so this is a strange comment.)
Oh just go away!
You’re like “frau” central. Go appeal to bored housewives who will worship you and pay your bills.
Bored housewives with all the time in the world. (Yes, this is sexist but it’s brutally true!)
I like your idea of making the broth with the leftover cobs. I’ve used the cooking water from cooking corn on the cob as a broth/base for soup, but it probably isn’t as rich as one made with the corn that is left on the cob after cutting off the kernels
We’re moving and I’m cleaning out the fridge and pantry so made this with frozen corn, a box of “Not chicken” stock, an onion, an knob of ginger, the coconut milk and lime.
It was fantastic, it’s probably better done as written but it was great and much quicker as modified.
This looks delicious and not too complicated to make for a soup lover like myself. Would it be possible to substitute the corn for any other veggies?
This + Bon Appetit’s chile crisp recipe (authored by Chris Morocco) = YUM :)
Holy moly this was DELICIOUS!! I will be making this one over and over.
Can you make this with canned corn??
Hi Deb Perelman,
Reading your blog and trying out all of your recipes has taught me a lot about cooking and baking. You inspired me to cook and try new foods because I always cook in our house. I just want to say that your blog is fantastic; I hope you get this message and respond with another food recipe that I can try this summer.
Thank you — that’s very nice to read.
This is, hands down, my favorite summertime soup. I made it for friends a few days ago and did it as a noodle soup. Soba noodles, grilled chicken, fried onions, arugula/lime/thai chili chutney. SOOOOOOOO Good! But….
I had a couple of cups of corn stock and like half a cup of soup left over so I used that to make grits. Not even gonna say how good they are. Just saying that if you have leftovers it’s worth giving it a shot,
Made just as written, and this may be the best soup that’s ever come out of my kitchen. Silky smooth, and just tastes like summer. It was sweet as others have noted, but I thought it balanced nicely with some chili crisp. Taking the idea from another commenter, I saved the corn mash left after straining, and mixed it up with an egg and a little cheese for corn fritters (which were also delicious).
I followed the recipe but stopped before the blending step, resulting in a corn/coconut/lime broth with whole corn and onion slices. It came
out great – I liked it even more than the previous time I made it, when I puréed and sieved. Thank you for the recipe and everybody’s helpful comments!
I was looking for a cold soup because we were tired of gazpacho (hard to get tired of this one from Jose Andres https://parade.com/688267/parade/jose-andres-favorite-gazpacho-recipe/ but somehow it happened) and so we served this cold on a hot day. It was great! Even better the day after making it. I would maybe cut down on the coconut milk a bit next time to have more or the corn flavor, but otherwise no changes. It’s probably not the perfect summer soup if your apartment is already steamy, given the long simmering times, but it was a nice change from our usual menu
Made this recipe (strained) along with a five course meal for guests and everyone ignored the entree because they could not stop talking about this soup! Had about 4oz left over which my partner insisted we save and sure enough it was even better the next day. Definitely a summer keeper!
I made this recently and it was great. The next day I added leftover shrimp and fish ceviche; so good served cold!
You referenced being able to freeze extra broth; can you freeze the finished soup with the coconut milk et al?
Yes