ByDavid
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Too cold to grill? This Mexican Street Corn Soup features all of the flavors of the delicious grilled version…just in soup form instead!
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During the warmer months, Mexican Street Corn is one of our favorite side dishes whenever we’re grilling dinner in the backyard. It’s a fun recipe to make – even if it’s a bit messy to eat. And when you can get ears of fresh local corn? Oh, that is one of my favorite summer meals!
However, once the colder months arrive, we retreat indoors. I don’t particularly enjoy shoveling a path through the snow to my grill and/or smoker. I’ve done it before – sometimes you just desperately need a good burger! However, pulling out the snow shovel for some voluntary shoveling is not high on my list. That’s where this Mexican Street Corn Soup comes in!
Mexican Street Corn Soup
During the winter months, we eat a lot of soup here in our house. Like a lot of soup. Each Sunday we make a batch of soup that turns into lunches throughout the week. We start with our favorites like Chicken Noodle Soup and Tomato Florentine Soup…but after a while, we start running out of ideas. I had a lot of fun hitting the kitchen and transforming the flavors of grilled Mexican street corn into a soup!
There are several key flavors in Mexican street corn, and I attempted to bring each of them into this Mexican Street Corn Soup. The hardest flavor was mimicking the buttery, grilled corn. However, if you toss frozen corn in a bit of melted butter and just saute it for an extra long time? It tastes remarkably like grilled corn! Some of the kernels get a bit charred, and that step adds a ton of flavor to this soup!
In addition to charred corn, Mexican street corn also calls for lime, Cotija cheese, crema (or sour cream), chili powder and cilantro. I layered each of these flavors into this soup – along with some diced onions and a jalapeno for extra flavor. Oh, and I crumbled some bacon on top, too. Bacon typically isn’t found on Mexican street corn, but I love crumbling a bit of bacon on top of soup. All together, this Mexican Street Corn Soup was delicious!
If you’re stuck indoors and looking for some tasty comfort food to warm you up, then a bowl of this soup is the answer! Aside from letting the corn sauté until it’s a bit charred, the recipe itself is quite easy.
Like most soups, this one will taste better if you let it rest in the fridge overnight. There are a lot of flavors in this soup. If you take a bite when you make it, you’ll be able to taste the individual flavors. However, if you let the soup rest overnight, the flavors come together into a magical combination of deliciousness!
I hope you enjoy this soup as much as we do here in our house – stay warm!
Did you make a batch of this Mexican Street Corn Soup at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog) – I’d love to see your version!
Mexican Street Corn Soup
Too cold to grill? This Mexican Street Corn Soup features all of the flavors of the delicious grilled version…just in soup form instead!
5 from 11 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 322kcal
Ingredients
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 6 cups corn fresh or frozen, divided
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper seeds and ribs removed, finely diced
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro plus more for garnishing
- ½ cup cotija cheese note: crumbled feta can be substituted if cotija is not available
Instructions
Using a large skillet, cook bacon until crispy. Crumble and set bacon aside.
Meanwhile, using a Dutch oven or stock pot, add butter and place over medium-high heat.
Once butter has melted, add 2 cups of corn, salt and pepper; stir until well combined. Let cook without stirring for 8-10 minutes, or until corn has begun to lightly char. Stir and continue cooking without stirring for 4-6 more minutes. Remove corn from pot and set aside.
Reduce heat to medium and add olive oil, diced onions and jalapeno to the pot. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 6-8 minutes, or until onions have softened.
Add garlic, cumin and chili powder; stir until well combined. Continue sautéing for 1 more minute.
Add the broth and remaining 4 cups of uncooked corn. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
Use an immersion blender to puree mixture until smooth.
Add charred corn (from above), sour cream, lime juice and cilantro; stir until well combined.
Divide into bowls and top with additional chopped cilantro, crumbled bacon (from above) and cotija cheese.
Looking for more tasty soup recipes? Check out these other favorites:
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