Smoked cod chowder is a hearty main course with deep flavours, luxurious texture and generous flakes of smoky cod. It’s sort of half soup and half fish stew with loads of vegetables and fresh herbs. Chowders come in all sorts of combinations and we look forward to making many more over this coming Winter. Love the thought of cauliflower and salmon or scallops and corn chowder, don’t you?
This is a perfect soup for feeding a crowd as it gets even better after a day or so in the fridge. Serve with hot crusty bread rolls for dipping and follow with our german apple and pecan crumble cake for a fabulous make ahead lunch or dinner. Perfect for cold wintry days when a soup just hits the spot.
Infusing the milk
Gently infusing the cod with the milk and aromatics releases a wonderful deep smoky flavour that is the basis of this chowder.
Bacon
Adding bacon to this chowder brings a lot to the flavour party. It’s salty smokiness adds another flavour level. We know that there are true chowder aficionados out there that say bacon has no place in a chowder……but we tried it and loved it so let us know if you like the bacon flavour
Corn
We’ve used canned supersweet corn as we like the sweetness with the smokiness of the cod and bacon. Of course, you can use frozen corn as well.
Check our more winning soup recipes
- chicken and sweet corn soup
- roasted tomato and garlic soup
- minestrone with ham and pesto
- cauliflower soup with burnt butter – gluten free
- pea and ham hock soup
What’s your favourite chowder recipe?

Smoked Cod Chowder
Half soup, half fish stew, this delicious smoky soup is perfect for cold, wintry weather.
Ingredients
Poaching the Cod
- 1 pound (500 g) smoked cod – see notes
- 2 1/2 pints (1 1/4 litres) full cream milk
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- couple of stems of parsley
Chowder
- 3 rashers bacon sliced
- 2 ounces (50 g) butter
- stick celery finely chopped
- leek halved, sliced and rinsed
- medium to large carrot finely chopped
- small bulb of fennel finely chopped
- 3 medium potatoes cut into small cubes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fine white pepper
- bunch of chives finely chopped
- handful of parsley chopped
- 14 ounce (400 g) can of super sweet corn kernels – drained
- 3 tablespoons cornflour (mixed with a little water to thicken the chowder)
- 1/2 cup thickened cream
Instructions
Poaching the cod
in a heavy-based pan place cod with parsley, bay leaves, peppercorns and pour milk over
simmer gently over medium to low heat for 10-12 minutes
turn the heat off and let fish infuse in the milk whilst you prepare the chowder
Chowder
fry bacon in pan till crispy – set aside
melt butter in heavy based saucepan
add chopped carrot, leek, fennel, potato and celery
gently cook vegetables in butter till softened over medium heat (do not brown)- about 12-15 minutes
remove fish from milk and flake discarding any bones and skin
strain milk over vegetables in pan discarding aromatics
bring stock to a gentle boil and add cornflour slurry
stir stock till the milk has thickened
reduce heat to low-medium and add flaked fish, bacon, corn, chives, parsley and cream
gently stir together and season with salt and pepper
serve and enjoy
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 499Total Fat 26gSaturated Fat 14gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 10gCholesterol 101mgSodium 950mgCarbohydrates 44gFiber 6gSugar 6gProtein 25g
Nutritional information provided here is only intended as a guide.
2 comments
Hi, Is it possible to make this dish with an already cooked and smoked fish?
Hi Toya, the poaching of the cod releases the flavour into the milk which is the basis for the chowder. We would suggest heating your milk, bay, parsley and peppercorns firstly then flake the fish into it and turn the heat off and allow the fish to infuse the milk that way. Love to hear how it turns out. Regards, Jo and Jen