The Biggest Flavor Mistake You're Making With Homemade Corn Soup

Cooking soup at home isn't just comforting, it's delicious and — best of all — easy. One kind that's great year-round is corn soup. Corn is almost always easily accessible in fresh, frozen, or canned varieties. A basic corn soup has only three ingredients — butter, canned corn, and milk (plus salt and pepper to taste) — but once you've made the base, you can mix it up to create any number of recipes, like slow cooker chicken corn soup. Any variety, though, relies on the corn to bring out the most amount of flavor.

One of the easiest tips to make your soup taste better is to toast the corn kernels in butter. Many home cooks make the mistake of tossing the corn straight into the soup without taking time to coax out the best taste. Whether you're using canned corn, frozen corn, or kernels fresh off the cob, toasting the kernels in butter adds extra flavor. While you can simply melt butter and toss the kernels around, browning the butter first will impart an even richer, nuttier flavor. If you're using canned corn, removing excess water is crucial to make the corn taste fresh. What's more, toasting the corn in a dry skillet can add an almost freshly grilled flavor. Once the corn is dry, it can be added to the skillet with butter and toasted just until the corn begins to char.

Butter isn't just good for sautéing corn — it gives the corn depth and richness, making the soup taste even better. Along with corn and butter, milk adds creaminess and additional flavor. People who prefer an extra creamy, rich soup can add heavy cream or half-and-half, while those who prefer a lighter version can use almond or oat milk. Once the kernels are charred, the corn is added to a blender with your milk of choice and blended until smooth. With only three ingredients and a strong corn flavor, corn soup can be served alone or alongside another main.

Corn soup can be served alongside chicken, steak, or bread for the perfect dip. If you'd like to bulk up your corn soup, you can also throw in potatoes, bacon, or even leftover chicken. You can even switch up the flavors by adding different spices like paprika, red pepper flakes, or Old Bay to give it more of a corn chowder vibe. If you are making corn soup in the summer and can't bear the thought of turning on your oven, you can try making chilled sweet corn soup instead.