what’s for dinner? corn + crab chowder.

i literally just made this yummy soup for dinner tonight, and then instagrammed it and several of you asked for the recipe. so here goes. the secret to making this healthy corn crab chowder is substituting silken tofu for cream. and it can be made vegetarian as well, without the crab meat.

HEALTHY CORN CRAB CHOWDER

Quick and easy (about 30 minutes prep, cook for 40 min, use a blender/food processor). crab is optional if you want to make it vegetarian (and it takes much less time when you don’t have to crack the crab legs.

ingridients:

2 med onions, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil
½ cup celery diced
4 cups fresh corn kernels (you could use frozen)
¼ cup canned green chilies, small dice (Ortega works well)
6 cups vegetable stock (canned ok)
½ cup white wine (optional)
1-½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp fresh thyme
½ tsp fresh sage
½ tsp chili powder
Black pepper (to taste)
2 cups silken tofu (this is the thickener instead of cream — tofu is soft, not firm)
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped and served on top of soup
½ avocado chopped and served on top of soup
½ lime juice squeezed on top of avocado
Shredded cheese on top (optional)

steps:

1. Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent. Add celery and sauté 5 minutes
2. Add green chilies and corn and sauté 5 minutes
3. Add stock, wine, dry herbs and pepper
4. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes
5. Crack your crab meat – I used about 2 cups (optional); set aside
6. Puree 3/4 of the soup mixture with the silken tofu in the blender in batches until completely smooth (just a little bit at at a time – given the heat, you don’t want it to explode!)
7. Return puree back to pot, stir really well with remaining 1/4 of soup mixture
8. Add crab meat, stir
9. Serve in bowls and add cilantro, avocado, lime juice and/or cheese to top of soup and adjust seasonings (I added a tad more sea salt).

voilá! i hope you like it!