Weeknight · Instant Pot · about 50 minutes

“Charge Ahead” Chowder with Potatoes, Corn & Wild Rice

Name: "Charge Ahead" Chowder with Potatoes, Corn and Wild Rice
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 113 g vegan margarine; 40 g all-purpose flour; 1900 ml water; 48 g Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base; 2 tbsp dried chopped onion; 2 tbsp dried celery; 1 tsp dried thyme; 320 g wild rice; 454 g baby red or yellow potatoes; 1 can corn; 240 ml full-fat coconut milk

A creamy, dairy-free chowder — potatoes, corn, and wild rice in a coconut-milk broth thickened with a quick roux. Hearty enough to be supper, and it all happens in the one pot.

~50 min total 25 min pressure Instant Pot method

Spoon cost

Time ●●○○○ Anytime

Instant PotVegan

Servingsamounts scale to match

Units

Ingredients

Brown the roux first, and add the potatoes and corn late. Cooking the margarine-and-flour roux to golden in the pot gives the chowder its body and toasty depth. The wild rice needs the long cook, so the halved potatoes go in for a quick second round and the corn and coconut milk only at the very end — so nothing turns to mush.

Easier, if you like

Frozen corn (about 1½ cups) works in place of canned — stir it in at the end.
Skip the roux for a lighter, brothier soup, and thicken at the end with a cornstarch slurry instead.

Method

Cook's notes

No Instant Pot? Soup pot: make the roux, build the broth, then simmer the wild rice covered, 45–50 minutes. Add the potatoes for the last 15 minutes, then the corn and coconut milk off the heat, same as written. Top up with water if it gets stew-thick before the rice is done.

Dairy-free and creamy — full-fat coconut milk gives the richness; lite would leave it thin.

Why two rounds: wild rice wants the long cook, but potatoes would fall apart over 25 minutes — so they go in for a quick second round and stay intact.

It's not gluten-free as written (the roux uses wheat flour) — see the swaps below.

Thickens as it sits; loosen leftovers with a splash of broth or water.

Vegan as written; easy to make gluten-free

Gluten-free: use a gluten-free all-purpose flour for the roux, or skip the roux and thicken at the end with a cornstarch slurry (1–2 tbsp cornstarch whisked into a little cold water).

Vegan: it already is — Earth Balance margarine and full-fat coconut milk keep it plant-based.