Sweet Corn Soup From Scratch

Sweet Corn Soup is a hugely sought-after thing in our family. It is the soup we order most often while eating out, and the soup I prepare often at home too. And why shouldn’t it be? It’s a delicious, delicately spiced soup after all, loaded with the flavour of sweet corn. In fact, I have been making loads of this soup lately – it is just the perfect, comforting and lovely antidote to the chilly, rainy weather we are having here in Bangalore at the moment.

In today’s post, I am going to share with you all the way I make Sweet Corn Soup from scratch.

Delicious Sweet Corn Soup, made from scratch

What goes into my Sweet Corn Soup

Making Sweet Corn Soup at home is not a very difficult task. If you are using frozen corn kernels, like I have done here, it takes hardly 30 minutes to put together (and that is including hands-free time, waiting for cooked sweet corn to cool down).

Apart from the corn, there are very few ingredients that go into this soup. Salt and pepper, a bit of sugar and a dash of lemon juice is what I use to flavour the soup. Just before serving, I saute some fresh coriander in butter and add it to the soup – a hack that my mother taught me to infuse oodles of taste to it. On an aside, I’m thinking these Crispy Paneer Potato Bites by Swaty would be simply lovely, along with this soup! 😊

I have used cornflour to thicken the Sweet Corn Soup, but you can skip this. In the ‘Tips & Tricks’ section of this post, I have suggested a few alternatives to soup thickeners that you could use too.

How to make Sweet Corn Soup from scratch

This is how I go about it.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1. 1-1/2 cups sweet corn kernels

2. 2 tablespoons + 1-1/2 cups + 1-1/2 cups water

3. 1 tablespoon cornflour

4. Salt to taste

5. Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

6. 1/2 tablespoon sugar

7. Juice of 1/2 lemon or to taste

8. A small cube of butter

9. 1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander

Method:

1. Wash the sweet corn kernels well under running water. Drain out all the water. Then, place the kernels in a saucepan and add in 1-1/2 cups water. Place on high flame. Let the water come to a boil, then reduce the flame to medium. Cook on medium flame for 5-6 minutes or till the corn kernels are tender. Switch off gas at this stage.

2. Keep the cooked sweet corn kernels aside. Very little water would be remaining at this stage. Let the corn kernels cool down completely. Then, reserve 1/4 of them for later use and transfer 3/4 of them to a mixer jar along with the remaining water from cooking them. Grind the latter to a smooth puree.

3. Take the cornflour in a small cup. Add in 2 tablespoons water and make a smooth, lump-free slurry. Keep aside.

Top left: Step 1, Top right and below: Step 2, Bottom left: Step 3

4. Now, transfer the corn puree to a heavy-bottomed pan, along with 1-1/2 cups of water. Add salt and sugar. Mix well. Let it come to a boil. Reduce the flame down to medium.

5. Add the freshly cracked black pepper.

6. Stirring constantly, add in the cornflour slurry. Mix well. Continue to cook on medium flame for 3-4 minutes or till the soup thickens up. Switch off gas.

7. Mix in the lemon juice.

8. In a small tempering pan, heat some butter till it melts, then add in the finely chopped coriander. Turn the flame down to medium. Gently saute the coriander for a couple of seconds, then add it to the soup. Your Sweet Corn Soup is ready to serve. Serve it immediately, piping hot.

Top left, centre and right: Steps 4, 5 and 6, Bottom left: Step 7, Bottom centre and right: Step 8

Is this Sweet Corn Soup vegan and gluten-free?

The above recipe is completely vegetarian, but not vegan (plant-based) due to the use of butter. For a plant-based version, you could use vegan butter, though I have no personal experience of doing so.

This soup is also gluten-free. The cornflour I have used in this recipe is typically gluten-free. However, you might want to check the label before buying a packet of cornflour, make sure it is indeed completely gluten-free.

Other soup recipes on my blog

I have quite a few other soup recipes on my blog, which you might be interested in checking out. Here are some examples.

Hot & Sour Vegetable Soup With Burnt Garlic

Lemon Coriander Soup With Vegetables

Broccoli Almond Soup

Dal Ka Shorba

Tom Kha| Vegetarian Thai Coconut Soup

Palak Ka Shorba

Thai Tom Yum Vegetable Soup

Italian-Flavoured Tomato Soup

Mug Nu Pani| Moong Bean Soup

Tips & Tricks

1. I have used frozen sweet corn kernels here. You can use sweet corn on the cob too. Make sure you use fresh corn cobs/kernels that are unspoiled and free of fibres.

2. I have used regular salted butter here. You can use garlic butter too, which adds a nice flavour to the soup.

3. I have used lemon juice here, instead of which you can use vinegar. Adjust the quantity as per personal taste preferences.

4. I have used cornflour here to thicken the soup. Instead of this, you can use roasted wheat flour or arrowroot flour. You may also use a small boiled and mashed potato instead too, or potato starch that is readily available in shops. Please note that these alternatives do tend to impact the taste of the soup. Cornflour gives you the closest thing to a restaurant-style Sweet Corn Soup. If you are not comfortable with using cornflour, you may skip it (and any other thickener as well), and keep the soup as is – while this version might not be very thick, it still tastes just as great.

5. I have used 1 tablespoon of cornflour here, which gives a moderately thick, not watery consistency to the soup. If you want the soup to be thicker, you would need to use more cornflour.

6. If you do not want sweet corn kernels in your soup, you can puree them entirely after cooking and cooling them. I have reserved some kernels because I like the bite they offer while consuming the soup.

7. You may add some steamed veggies to the soup too – carrot, beans, cabbage and beans go beautifully. Ginger and/or garlic can be added for flavour too. Here, I have not used any of these ingredients.

8. You may adjust the quantity of water you use, depending upon your personal preferences.

9. You may jaggery to lightly sweeten the soup, instead of the sugar I have used here. You may even skip the sugar/jaggery completely, depending on personal taste preferences.

10. Soya sauce, tomato ketchup, green chilli sauce and/or red chilli sauce can be added to the soup for added flavour. I have not used these.

11. This Sweet Corn Soup is best served fresh, immediately after preparing it. If you don’t want to serve it immediately, you may make it sans the coriander sauteed in butter. When you are ready to serve the soup, you can saute the coriander in butter and add it to reheated soup. The sauteeing coriander in butter is something I learnt from my mom, and it infuses the soup with a gorgeous fragrance when done at the very end of the process.

12. I have used water to make this soup, as I never have ready-made vegetable stock at home. If you have stock ready, you may use it instead of the water.

Did you like this recipe? Do tell me, in your comments!

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