Sweet Corn Soup

Sweet corn soup made with tender corn kernels, spices and herbs. Make this simple, comforting and delicious soup under 25 mins. Serve it any time of the day, for a simple meal with Cheese toast, noodles or pasta. Corn soup is a dish made in several cultures across the world. So you will find several kinds of sweet corn soups made in many different ways. But the primary ingredient is the corn and mostly it is the tender sweet corn that is used.

In this post I share 2 ways to make the soup. The first one is an Indian-Chinese inspired recipe which tastes similar to what you get in the restaurants. Simply delicious, flavorsome and am sure you will love it. We personally do not like a lot of starch in our diet so this recipe does not use a lot and you can also easily tweak it to suit your diet.

The second recipe is a home style version which I would make for my kids many years ago. This recipe uses no starch and can be served even to toddlers.

Both the recipes can be made with corn on the cob or frozen corn. But use tender corn as they impart a really good sweet milky flavor. If using corn on the cob you will have to boil the whole corn until tender and then remove the kernels.

To make sweet corn soup I always prefer to use the frozen corn for the convenience and ease. You can also use canned cream style corn to make this recipe.

Since the canned cream style corn has lots of starch in it I personally do not prefer it. Plus if using fresh or frozen corn you have the option to use organic corn.

If using the same, then you may skip the corn starch I mentioned in the restaurant style recipe below.

Recipe 1 – Restaurant Style Sweet Corn Soup

Preparation

This step is optional and you may skip it but pureed sweet corn makes your corn soup more flavorsome, tastes delicious and less starchy.  Add ½ cup corn kernels to a grinder or blender and pour ¼ cup water. Grind to a very smooth paste. We don’t want a coarse paste.

This step is optional and you may simply skip using oil in this recipe & start with boiling the vegetables, ginger and garlic. I prefer to fry the ginger and garlic in little oil to bring out the aroma. If you are using a carbon steel wok this step makes a huge difference.

Make the Soup

1. Pour 1 tsp oil to wok and heat it on a high flame. Add ¾ tablespoon fine chopped ginger, ¾ tablespoon fine chopped garlic and 1 small deseeded and chopped green chilli. If you don’t prefer your corn soup to be hot, they skip the chilli.

2. Let the ginger garlic fry for 30 seconds. Do not burn. Then immediately add spring onion whites and saute for 1 minute.

3. Add 1/3 cup fine chopped carrots and ¼ cup fine chopped French beans. Saute for 1 minute.

4. Add sweet corn and sweet corn paste made from half cup sweet corn kernels blended with ¼ cup water.

5. Pour 3½ cups water and mix well. If you prefer thicker soup cut down the water to 3 cups. Add salt and sugar. Bring this to a rolling boil on a medium high heat.

7. Meanwhile add 1 ½ tablespoon corn starch to a bowl. Pour ¼ cup water to it.

8. Stir and make a smooth lump free corn slurry.

9. When you see the soup boiling, Let it boil for 2 mins. Then stir the corn slurry with a spoons and pour it to the boiling soup. Mix well.

10. Reduce the heat to medium and Let it simmer until the sweet corn kernels are soft and tender. As the soup boils you will begin to see some froth on top. If you prefer you may skim this with a spoon and discard.

11. After a few minutes you will see the sweet corn soup begins to turn thick. It will thicken upon cooling. So when it is of pouring consistency and slightly thick turn off. This is the consistency I turn off.

12. Taste test and add more salt if required. Add 1 teaspoon vinegar (optional) and ½ teaspoon crushed white or black pepper. Turn off the heat and add 2 tablespoons of spring onion greens.

Serve sweet corn soup hot or warm with a bowl of noodles, pasta or bread toast.

More Soup recipes
Vegetable soup
Clear soup
Manchow soup
Tomato soup
Mushroom soup
Dal soup

Recipe 2 – Homestyle Corn Soup

Preparation

1. I used carrots, beans, peas, spring onions and sweet corn kernels. I used potato as well to thicken the soup. It is optional and you may skip if you prefer the Indo Chinese style.

2. Wash, peel and chop carrots. Also chop spring onions, beans, garlic and ginger. You will need ¼ cup carrots, ¼ cup French beans (4 to 6), ¼ cup green peas, 1 small potato, 2 sprigs of spring onions, greens and whites separated. ½ to ¾ tablespoon each ginger & garlic.

3. Heat 1 teaspoon butter or oil in a pot. Add ginger garlic and saute until it turns aromatic. You can also skip ginger if you do not prefer.

4. Then add spring onion whites, peas, sweet corn, potatoes (optional) & beans. Saute them on a high flame for 2 to 3 mins.

Make Sweet Corn Soup

5. Pour 2 ½ to 3 cups water and mix well. Simmer the soup until the veggies turn tender.

6. Optional – When the veggies are soft, stir in 1 tsp corn starch with few tbsps. Water and pour it slowly to the soup.

If desired you can also puree half cup corn kernels with little water in a blender until you get a smooth puree. Then pass it through a strainer and mix well. Boil until the soup turns thick to suit your liking.

7. Add half teaspoon sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, 2 tbsps spring onion greens & black pepper as needed. Taste the soup and add more salt if needed.

Transfer to serving bowls and you can add a bit of vinegar & chilli sauce for restaurant flavors. Serve sweet corn soup hot or warm.

Pro Tips

1. I have use frozen sweet corn kernels. You can also use corn on the cob. Just rinse the corn cob first and then remove the kernels with a knife.
2. You can also use canned sweet corn kernels.
3. To make Chinese restaurant style sweet corn soup, dissolve about 1 tsp corn starch in 2 few tbsps of water and pour it to the soup once the corn kernels are tender.
4. Vinegar, chilli sauce & ground white pepper are served alongside sweet corn soup in restaurants. You can add them as desired just before serving. I avoid vinegar and chilli sauce as I have kids at home.
5. Arrowroot powder or potato starch can also be used to thicken the soup.

Variations

1. To make the soup creamy you can also puree half cup of sweet corn kernels with little water in a blender. Pass it through a strainer and boil until the soup thickens. You can also add some corn starch along with this.
2. You can also add some shredded chicken to the soup. This turns very delicious and you can also stir in some soya sauce, green chili sauce & vinegar just before serving.
3. Usually oil is used to make Indo Chinese soup. But you can also use butter to have a buttery soup. Garlic sauteed in butter lends a too good flavor to the soup. Kids will surely love this.
4. You can even add some cooked noodles to this to make sweet corn soupy noodles.

You can also serve this to a baby over 8 months just skip the ginger garlic pepper in the recipe. Puree the veggies with some soup and serve.

More sweet corn recipes
Sweet corn pakoda
Sweetcorn chaat
Corn fried rice
Sweet corn cutlet
Corn cheese sandwich

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