Hatch Chile Corn Chowder with Mushrooms and Chicken

Hatch Chile Corn Chowder with Mushrooms and Chicken for the slow cooker makes the most of your late summer and early fall harvest. Delicious and healthy, your family will love it! 

We could subtitle this dish: An Ode To The Mushroom, Even If It Makes My Soups Go Grey. I fiddled and fiddled, but honestly, the white balance in this dish’s pictures is fine. I took them in daylight, no artificial lighting, and honestly that is just what a mushroom does when it cooks all day in a slow cooker. It goes grey.

But people this soup is DEE-lish-US! Like not just delicious, but spelled wrong and over-emphasized delicious. Can you get tastier than that? I think not.

This was my first time ever cooking with hatch chile peppers and true confession time: I think poblanos would sub just fine. Don’t get me wrong, they were tasty, but so are poblanos. Also, I think maybe poblanos might be just a little bit milder, but who knows, that might vary batch to batch depending on soil and weather. I used three hatch chile peppers in this, roasted, peeled and de-seeded, and it was a little too spicy for my kids. John of course thought it was fabulous as it was–actually I did too, so don’t think it was super spicy or anything.

For the possible garnishes, I have listed one that might seem a little odd: salsa. For me personally I just needed that sweet acidity that you get from salsa, especially tomatoes. John on the other hand loved it without it. I leave it to each diner to decide.

5 from 1 vote

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Hatch Chile Corn Chowder with Mushrooms and Chicken

I call for browning all of the ingredients--this will make for a much more complex dish, with layers of flavor from the caramelized sugar formed from browning. It takes a little time, although not tons. It is great for a weekend morning, for example. If pressed for time, you could brown the ingredients the night before. Also, you can skip these steps. The final result should still be tasty, just not as tasty.

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Southwestern

Author: TheSpicedLife

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 T avocado oil
• 5 medium-small potatoes, cut into bite sized chunks (if using a waxy boiling potato, I usually do not peel, but if using a russet baking type potato, do peel), I used about 16 tiny potatoes
• 1 lb sliced crimini mushrooms
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 roasted, peeled and de-seeded hatch chile peppers, chopped
• 1 T heaping garlic
• 1 1/2 t ground cumin
• 1-2 T apple cider vinegar, plus more to taste
• 4 cups low sodium chicken stock
• 1 corn cob, kernels removed and reserved
• 1 zucchini, diced
• kernels from 3 ears of corn
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 2-4 T heavy cream

For serving:

• Tomato Salsa
• white cheese, such as Monterey Jack, farmer's cheese or yogurt cheese
• Sour cream

Instructions

1. Pat the chicken breasts dry and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.
2. Heat the avocado oil in a cooktop-safe slow cooker insert or a large pan. When it is shimmering, add the chicken. Brown on each side, about 6 minutes per side. Remove to a bowl.
3. Add a tiny bit more oil if needed at any point in the browning stages.
4. Add the potatoes with a pinch of salt--do not overcrowd the pan, you want them to brown, not steam. Brown the potatoes on a few sides, in batches if necessary. When they are brown, remove them to the bowl with the chicken.
5. Brown the mushrooms in batches similarly, with a pinch of salt per batch. Remove to the bowl with the chicken and potatoes.
6. Add the onion with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add 1-2 tablespoons of the vinegar, the larger amount if there is a lot sticking to the bottom of the pan, less if not. Add the roasted peppers and garlic to the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the cumin and stir. Cook for 1 minute.
7. If your slow cooker insert is not cooktop safe, transfer the ingredients in the pan to the insert now.
8. Add the chicken stock, the roasted chicken, potatoes and mushrooms, along with all accumulated juices, and the corn cob. Transfer to the slow cooker base and cook on low for 2-3 hours.
9. An hour before serving, add the corn kernels and diced zucchini and turn the setting to high. Cook for 1 hour on high.
10. Remove the chicken and shred the meat. Return to the soup.
11. Right before serving, mix in the cream and cream cheese. If it tastes dull, mix in a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Taste for more salt.
12. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and, if it still tastes a little dull, tomato salsa.

For the collage fans: