Typically, when you think of chowders your mind immediately pictures a thick and hearty winter soup designed to warm you from the inside out. However, not every chowder has to be associated with winter or necessarily be extra hearty and filling. Today's recipe for example, Shrimp Chowder, is actually a fairly light, but rich and creamy, soup that be enjoyed year-round while keeping your calories and waistline in mind. It is probably one of the simplest recipes you will find here because it is all shortcut and minimal effort! Rather than wasting any more time talking about this delicious slow cooker chowder, how about we just get to it, eh? Let's Get Cooking!
Beyond opening cans and dumping everything into a slow cooker, this recipe only requires one, yes ONE, actual prep and cooking step. Begin by finely dicing an onion and sauteing it in a small pan with some butter over Medium-High heat for 2-3 minutes. To be honest, you could even skip this step if you dice your onion into small enough pieces and let them cook in the slow cooker, but I found a quick sauté seems to add a bit more flavor so do whatever floats your boat in this circumstance. You can save a couple minutes and a dirty pan if you just want to get dinner started on your lunch break.
Once your onion is slightly cooked, the only remaining step to open up the 7 cans the recipe calls for and add everything to your slow cooker. The cream of potato and chicken soups should remain as is and not be diluted with any water. Drain the corn, but the evaporated milk can go straight in as well. Otherwise, flavor things up with a bit of Creole seasoning and garlic, stir to get it all mixed, and place the lid on your slow cooker. Let it cook on Low Heat for 3 hours while you go about the rest of your day. If you run a little late or need some extra time, you can let this chowder go up to 4-5 hours since the initial ingredients can't really overcook, especially on Low Heat.
The mixture will start out fairly thick, as you see in the picture above, but will thin out somewhat during the cooking process. After 3 hours, simply pull the lid off and add the cooked small shrimp and some sour cream or cream cheese. Either will work so use whatever you have on hand. I chose to use sour cream because I had no other recipe calling for a little over half a package of cream cheese. As for the shrimp, don't feel guilty buying a couple bags of precooked, frozen shrimp for this recipe. They work perfect, but you will just have to trust me on that till you try it for yourself.
Once you add the shrimp and sour cream/cream cheese, let the chowder continue to cook on Low for an additional 30 minutes or so. This is just enough time for the shrimp to warm through and all the flavors to come together. Cream cheese users will likely end up with a slightly thicker chowder, but after opening a few packaged goods and 3 and a half hours, your Shrimp Chowder is finished and ready to enjoy!
Quick and simple is the key to this delicious Shrimp Chowder! You could definitely chef it up a ton with additional ingredients such as fresh potatoes, carrots, etc., but spend the prep time and make sure everything is diced small enough to cook within the timeframe and easily fit on a spoon as you enjoy your chowder. Think canned soup or frozen veggie small dice size if you decide to pimp out your chowder to the next level. Otherwise, enjoy a lazy day dinner because this Shrimp Chowder is amazing as is, even if all we did is basically heat up canned soups! We all get busy from time to time and just don't need to waste any extra spare moments in the kitchen for something that will essentially turn out great with almost zero effort. That being said, give it a try and let me know how your Shrimp Chowder turned out and if you made any changes to the lazy recipe version. As always, make delicious food and the people around you happy...Just Keep Cooking!
SHRIMP CHOWDER
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