🍂🌻 Chili Champions & Backyard Cooks 🌻🍂🤠 Chuckwagon Fall Recipe of the Day — Wednesday, October 7, 2026

🥓🥔 Loaded Cowboy Chicken & Potato Chowder 🌽🧀

Good morning, folks! 🤠🍂

Happy Wednesday, friends!

After yesterday's harvest chicken, we're changing things up with a big steaming pot of creamy country chowder that's perfect for an October evening.

Today's Loaded Cowboy Chicken & Potato Chowder is packed with tender chicken, smoky bacon, Yukon Gold potatoes, sweet corn, onions, carrots, cheddar cheese, and just enough seasoning to give every spoonful plenty of flavor.

Top it with bacon, cheese, green onions, and a dollop of sour cream, and you've got a bowl that eats like a whole supper! ❤️

🍲 Loaded Cowboy Chicken & Potato Chowder

Serves: 6–8Prep: 20 minutesCook: About 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 1½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, cubed

• 8 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1 large sweet onion, diced

• 2 carrots, diced

• 2 celery stalks, diced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 2½ lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed

• 1½ cups sweet corn

• 4 cups chicken broth

• 1½ cups half-and-half

• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar

• ½ cup sour cream

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• ½ teaspoon onion powder

• ½ teaspoon dried thyme

• Salt and black pepper to taste

🤠 For Topping

• Crispy bacon

• Extra shredded cheddar

• Chopped green onions

• Sour cream

• Fresh parsley

• Sliced jalapeños, optional

🔥 Let's Get Cooking!

1️⃣ Fry that bacon! 🥓Add the chopped bacon to a large Dutch oven and cook until crispy.

Remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving about 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in the pot.

2️⃣ Brown that chicken! 🍗Season the chicken with smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Add it to the bacon drippings and cook until lightly browned.

Remove the chicken and set aside. It will finish cooking in the chowder.

3️⃣ Build those country flavors!Add the butter, onion, carrots, and celery.

Cook for about 5–7 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften.

Add the garlic and cook another 30 seconds.

Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir for about one minute.

4️⃣ Bring on those potatoes! 🥔Slowly stir in the chicken broth.

Add the potatoes, thyme, onion powder, and browned chicken.

Bring to a gentle simmer.

Cover and cook approximately 15–20 minutes, until the potatoes are fork-tender and the chicken reaches 165°F.

5️⃣ Make it creamy! ❤️Stir in the corn and half-and-half.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for another 5 minutes.

For an extra-thick chowder, mash a few of the potatoes against the side of the pot.

6️⃣ CHEESE TIME! 🧀Remove the pot from direct heat and gradually stir in the shredded cheddar until smooth.

Stir in the sour cream.

Don't boil the chowder after adding the cheese and sour cream.

Taste and adjust your seasonings.

7️⃣ Load those bowls!Ladle the chowder into big bowls and top with crispy bacon, cheddar, green onions, parsley, sour cream, or jalapeños.

Oh my goodness—somebody pass the cornbread! 😋🔥

⭐ MawMaw's Chuckwagon Secret

🥔 Yukon Gold potatoes are wonderful for chowder!

They hold their shape while still becoming creamy enough to naturally thicken the broth.

And here's a trick that doesn't require adding more flour:

Take about one cup of the cooked potatoes and broth, mash them together, then stir them back into the pot.

Instantly thicker chowder! ❤️

One more tip: shred your own cheddar. It generally melts smoother than pre-shredded cheese.

🌽 Serve It With Honey-Butter Cornbread

A big bowl of chowder deserves warm cornbread!

Bake your favorite skillet cornbread and, while it's still warm, brush the top with a mixture of:

🧈 3 tablespoons melted butter🍯 2 tablespoons honey🧂 Tiny pinch of salt

Let that honey butter soak right into the warm crust.

Now we're talking! 🤠

🍽️ Make It a Wednesday Supper

Add a simple garden salad, Southern green beans, warm yeast rolls, fried apples, or a cranberry-pecan harvest salad.

And don't forget the sweet tea or apple cider! 🍎

🍂 And for dessert?

🍎🥧 Caramel Apple Pie Bread Pudding

Cube up day-old bread and bake it in a creamy cinnamon-vanilla custard loaded with tender apples.

Finish it warm with caramel sauce, toasted pecans, and vanilla ice cream.

It's like apple pie and bread pudding decided to become best friends. 😄🍨

💜 Wednesday Chuckwagon Encouragement

A pot of chowder doesn't come together because of one ingredient.

Every little thing adds something.

The potatoes make it hearty.

The broth brings everything together.

The seasonings add flavor.

Even that little sprinkle of green onions on top has a purpose.

People are a lot like that too.

Sometimes we look at someone else's gifts and think ours aren't important.

Maybe you aren't the person standing in front of everybody.

Maybe you're the one quietly helping behind the scenes.

Maybe your gift is cooking a meal, sending a card, praying for somebody, listening when someone needs to talk, or simply showing up.

Never underestimate what God can do with the little things you faithfully place in His hands.

You don't have to be like somebody else.

God gave you something special to contribute.

Use it for Him. ❤️

📖 Scripture for Today

"As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

— 1 Peter 4:10 (KJV)

🍲 Wednesday Table Question

What MUST go on top of your loaded potato chowder?

🥓 Extra bacon🧀 Lots of cheddar🧅 Green onions🥄 Sour cream🌶️ Jalapeños🌽 Extra corn🤠 EVERYTHING—load that bowl up!

👇 Tell us in the comments!

And while you're there, show us what's cooking at YOUR house! Share your family recipes, fall favorites, chili pots, BBQ creations, cast-iron meals, cooking pictures, and upcoming cook-offs with our Chili Champions & Backyard Cooks family.

🍂🤠 Happy Wednesday, Friends!

May your bowl be warm, your table be full, and your heart remember that no gift is too small when it's placed in God's hands.

Faith ⭐ Family ⭐ Friends ⭐ Food ⭐ Memories ❤️🍁🌻