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Pepperoni Chowder

By Rex Goode

I stumbled across this wonderful stuff. It’s called Buttery Sweet Corn All Natural Soup made by Pacific Natural Foods in Tualatin, Oregon.  It has a wonderful, sweet corn taste. I first bought it thinking it looked interested. Cooked up by itself, it’s delicious.

One day, my wife made some baked pasta thingy that seemed pretty low on flavor to me. When I had it as leftovers the next day, I put it in a bowl, poured a healthy helping of this corn soup on it, and heated it up in the microwave. Amazing! It was a whole different dish! I immediately went back to the store where I bought the soup and got a few more cartons of it. I started dreaming up ways to use it. One day, I just poured a bunch of it into a pot and started throwing things in as the ideas came to me. The result was something I call Pepperoni Chowder. Here’s the recipe.

  • 48 oz.  (3 cartons) Pacific Natural Foods Buttery Sweet Corn All Natural Soup
  • 3 cans of evaporated milk
  • 2 cups chicken broth (also available from Pacific Natural Foods)
  • 32 oz frozen or drained canned corn
  • 2 regular cans of diced tomoatoes, drained
  • 1 cup of small pasta (small shells are good, but macorni works too)
  • 4 cups diced potatoes
  • 2 cups sliced and halved pepponi rounds

In a large pot, boil the potatoes and macaroni in water for about 7 minutes. Drain the water and return the pot to medium heat. Add the corn soup, chicken broth, and evaporated milk. Stir well. Add all of the rest of the ingredients to the pot and slowly heat it up.

It’s fairly spicy already, but at our house, we like it with even more bite. I give it about five dashes of crushed red pepper.

This makes a lot. With all sorts of leftovers in the refrigerator that get thrown out, we’ve never thrown this out. Everyone loves it.

You can adjust it in all sorts of ways. It’s not very thick, so it may not entirely deserve the name, “chowder.” Reduce the liquid if you want it thick. Every time I’ve made it, I ask my family how they like it. They always say it’s great, but needs more pepperoni. I add more each time, and they still say the same thing. My wife suggested that I get some pepporoni chunks instead of the slices. I’ll try that someday.

To reduce the fat, which isn’t much I think, use fat-free evaporated milk. Seems to me I’ve seen that somewhere. You could probably even use skim milk, although I really love the creamy taste of evaporated milk. If you don’t care about the fat, try real cream.

Email me if you try it. Let me know if you vary the recipe at all and how it turns out.

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One Response to “Pepperoni Chowder”

  1. Rex Goode said:

    So, I never realized how hard the Pacific Natural corn soup is to find. There is a harder way that any die-hard foodies might prefer. Buy some high quality frozen corn, preferably sweet. Heat it up as if you were going to serve it. Blend it up in a blender or food processor with some water. I haven’t measured the proportions. Not enough water and it won’t blend. Too much and it doesn’t taste corny. You can also add vegetable or chicken broth for flavor. I’ve varied this recipe many ways, but my family loves it no matter the exact recipe.

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