The Japanese love their corn potage (corn soup) both hot and chilled! While this easy recipe is delicious made with fresh sweet corn, you can also use frozen or canned corn. The creamy and smooth soup will comfort you on those cool late summer evenings!
One of our family’s favorites, sweet corn, is in season from June to October. While we spent the summer in Japan, I received a lot of recipe requests for Corn Potage and Japanese Corn Soup. As soon as I returned, I quickly refined my original recipe so I could share this late, late-summer soup with you.
As the nights are starting to make a subtle shift with a touch of cool air, this Japanese Corn Potage or Corn Soup would be the coziest way to savor the deliciousness of the last of the season’s produce.
Table of Contents
What is Corn Potage (Japanese Corn Soup)?
Potage refers to thick soups, stews, or porridges that originated in the medieval cuisine of northern France. Despite being a Western-style soup, there is no Western recipe for corn potage on the internet. Instead, you will find Japanese corn potage recipes.
In Japan, where most soups are variations of miso soup, you will find a few non-Japanese soups that are just as popular. Corn potage or corn soup is one of them, along with clam chowder, minestrone, borscht, and Chinese-style soups (chuka soup 中華スープ).
So, what is corn potage? It’s a super creamy corn soup made with fresh, canned, or frozen corn, onion, milk, and heavy cream. It’s ridiculously simple to make.
This creamy corn soup is called “potage,” where the corn kernels and soup are blended till smooth and strained through a fine mesh sieve. As a result, the soup has no fibers and the texture is silky smooth and creamy with a somewhat thick consistency.
When the soup is not blended and still has chunky bits of corn, we usually refer to it as corn soup. However, some people might call the creamy corn potage with a thick consistency “corn soup” as well, so it can be a little confusing.
Both corn potage and corn soup are especially popular among children because Okosama Lunch (children’s menu) often includes corn potage or soup as part of the kid’s meal next to Ebi Fry and Hambagu. Many of us grew up drinking corn potage, and there is a nostalgic feeling attached to this soup for the Japanese.
If you’re in Japan, you can even get corn potage from the vending machine!
3 Tips to Make Delicious Corn Potage (Japanese Corn Soup)
Tip 1 – Cook the cobs together in the soup
If you’re using fresh corn on the cob to make this recipe, do not discard the cobs! Add them to the soup while cooking as they release delicious flavors and sweetness into the soup.
Tip 2 – Use water for the soup
If you prefer a strong corn flavor in your soup, I highly recommend using water to maximize the corn flavor from the corn kernels.
Some other recipes for corn soup/corn potage recommend using vegetable or chicken broth or bouillon. I’ve tried them, but as a purist, I stick to using ONLY water to extract the sweet corn flavor for a pure, undiluted taste.
Tip 3 – Adjust the ratio of creaminess with milk and heavy cream
Most of us prefer rich and creamy soup, but not everyone can afford the extra calories from heavy cream. It’s entirely up to you how much heavy cream you want to add to this recipe. Feel free to adjust the ratio of heavy cream and milk for the 2 cups you add to the soup.
Which Do You Prefer: Corn Soup or Corn Potage?
When it comes to texture, you can choose to blend the corn kernels and strain, blend but not strain, or keep the corn kernels as they are. It’s really a personal preference.
For those who have tried corn potage in Japan and love it, I’m sure you would prefer following today’s method.
Corn Potage (Japanese Corn Soup)
Ingredients
- 4 ears sweet corn (large; or substitute 3 cups frozen corn or drained canned corn from 2 (15-oz) cans)
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (divided)
- ¼ tsp paprika
- ½ onion
- 1½ Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
For the Garnish
- 1 sprig parsley (chopped)
- 1 Tbsp heavy (whipping) cream
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450ºF (230ºC). For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC).
To Prepare the Corn
- Slice off the corn kernels from 4 ears sweet corn.
- Place the corn kernels on a rimmed baking sheet, saving the cobs for later.
- Add 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of kosher salt, and ¼ tsp paprika.
- Mix all together with your hands and spread it out evenly in a single layer. Roast the corn kernels in the middle rack position at 450ºF (230ºC) degrees for 15 minutes. Once it‘s done, remove it from the oven and set it aside.
To Prepare the Soup
- Meanwhile, thinly slice ½ onion against the grain. Heat 1½ Tbsp unsalted butter in a heavy-bottomed pot.
- Add the sliced onion and a pinch of kosher salt. Sauté until translucent.
- Add the roasted kernels and 3 cups water.
- Add the reserved cobs to the pot to naturally sweeten the soup. Push the cobs down to check if they are completely covered by the liquid; if not, add more water until submerged.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover and lower the heat to medium-low heat and simmer for 15 minutes. During this time, skim the foam on the surface for a more refined taste. After 15 minutes, discard the cobs.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until creamy and smooth. If you use a food processor or blender, let the soup cool for a few minutes before blending to avoid major splashes and cover the opening with a towel.
- If you want to make your soup similar to corn potage (Japanese corn soup), strain the soup through a fine-mesh sieve for a smoother consistency.
- Transfer the soup back to the pot. Add 1 cup heavy (whipping) cream and 1 cup milk. The ratio is entirely up to you. Here, I used equal parts milk and heavy cream, 1 cup each. Bring back to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes or more, stirring frequently. Once the water evaporates, it’ll be more flavorful.
- Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Make sure to taste the soup when you season. Finely chop 1 sprig parsley. Serve the soup hot or chilled. You can drizzle 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and/or 1 Tbsp heavy (whipping) cream among the bowls and sprinkle the parsley to garnish.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container (or in the pot) and store in the refrigerator for 3 days and in the freezer for 2–3 weeks.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on September 18, 2017. It was republished with more information on July 29, 2024.
I love your recipes 🙂 I have your 1st and 2nd cookbook. May I know if there is a 3rd cookbook? Looking forward to the 3rd book 🙂 Thank you for all the wonderful recipes 🙂
Hello, Yuet! Thank you very much for your kind words.
Yes! Nami has a third cookbook. Here are more details on her cookbooks.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/cookbooks/
Thank you so much for your love and support!
What to do with the leftover corn that was strained out?
Hi, Barb! Thank you for reading Nami’s post.
The leftover corn still has a nice flavor. They can be mixed with flour or mashed potatoes, formed into pancakes, and pan-fried. It’ll also make a great snack.
I hope this helps! 🥰
Shame it is so westernised with all that dairy that has been foist on Japan by western economies anxious to offload a surplus. The best corn soup can be made by just cooking the corn in water, pureeing it and adding a white miso slurry at the end. Maybe a sprinkle of nutmeg. For all the best health reasons people might like to try this minimalist approach before they go down the ‘load in the animal products’ route that Americans love to do. The addition of cashew nut/almond cream to enrich it is probably enrichment enough.
Hello, Jullianne. Thank you for checking out Nami’s post.
This dish is quite popular in Japan, and we believe it is part of our yoshoku culture.
This post contains further historical information. We hope this was useful.🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/yoshoku/
If you have such a belief of what makes the best and most authentic to you Japanese potage, why come here just to go dictate how it should be made to your standards to a Japanese lady sharing her recipe on her own site, then make weird statements about the recipe being “westernized” and sling something about Americans in for no reason?
450 and 15 min = burnt corn
Hello Billy, we’re sorry to hear that your corn was burned. 🥲
Many readers enjoy this recipe, and we believe your cooking tray was placed too close to the heating element. Please keep it away from the heat on your next try. Thank you for testing Nami’s recipe.
Hey there, I want to try this cooking method and I was wondering if I can substitute heavy whipping cream with coconut milk. Is that possible? I want my corn soup to taste sweet like in western restaurants. I have both milk, coconut milk and this yellow powder I got from Izumiya. I can’t read the labels on the yellow powder bag but the pictures say I can mix it with hot pot soup and with rice.
Hi, Raven! Thanks for reading Nami’s post.
You can use coconut milk instead, although the coconut taste may be noticeable in the soup. We hope this helps! 🤗
This has become one of my facourites when fresh corn is in season. Rich in flavour, smooth and filling. Thank you!
Hi Torbjorn, Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are glad to hear that you enjoyed her recipe!
Hi Nami! Would love to try this cause I have lotsa fresh corn however I can’t have onions at the moment. Could i substitute it with something else to give it a similar flavour 🥹
Hello, Deepa! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
You may use celery instead. We hope this helps and that you enjoy the soup!🤗
Thank you so much!
Hello,
I tried your recipe and I have to say it’s wonderful. I made an adjustment however and used soy milk instead of water and completely omitted the dairy. It tastes great but the consistency was a little too liquid. Any tips on how to thicken the soup?
Hello there! Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe!
To thicken the soup, use a cornstarch slurry. Here’s how.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-thicken-sauce-soup-cornstarch-slurry/
We hope this helps!
Hi Nami! Thank you so much for this delicious recipe! I made it last night in place of miso soup (all out of miso) and I’m so glad I did because it was incredible! My husband especially loved it and requests to serve every night! Thank you so much!
Hi Jasmine! Aww. Nami and all of us at JOC are so happy to hear that you and your husband enjoyed Japanese Corn Soup as much as we did!
Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and rating it 5 stars! 🥰
Hi Nami,
Your website has been a great resource for me whenever I planning what to cook for my 4 picky kids! I wanna try this recipe out next…. Would using chicken stock make the soup more flavorful? Or would the flavor from the corn alone suffice? Thank you 🙂
Hi Alexia! Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe.
As Nami mentioned in tip 2 in this post, she recommends using water if you prefer a strong corn flavor.🙂
We hope this helps! Enjoy!
When I was young my family lived in Japan for 5 years and one of my favorite memories is buying a hot can of corn soup from vending machines. I made this recipe because I wanted to show my husband one of my favorite childhood foods. He loved it and so did our 1 year old! It was so nostalgic it even made me teary eyed
Hello Emmie! Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your experience with us.
We are thrilled to hear that you and your family enjoyed it! We hope you enjoy this recipe for many years to come.☺️
Hi Nami, I served your corn soup to my friends when they came over for Friendsgiving, and they enjoyed it so much!! I am wondering for next time, if I want to double the recipe, should I really multiply all ingredients by 2? Also, if I freeze the soup, would it be best to defrost by thawing in the fridge?
Hi J J! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe!
Nami and all of us at JOC are so happy to hear your friends enjoyed the homemade Corn Potage.
Yes. Except for the water, we recommend doubling the recipe. Begin with 5 cups of water and gradually add more as needed. 😉
As for how to defrost it, putting it in the fridge is a good idea.
We hope this helps!
Husband usually doesn’t like soups and he loved this recipe! I used cashew cream instead of heavy cream to make it vegan. 🙂
Hi Chashu! Aww. We are so happy to hear you and your husband enjoyed Corn Potage!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!😍
I have two quick questions. When using canned corn, should we drain the can before adding to the pot? Also, should we use enough water to cover the corn instead of 3 cups?
I tried following the recipe other than roasting the corn (it was a quick cooking day).
Hi Monica! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
2 cans (15oz/can) of corn will be close to the same amount as 4 ears of corn, so 3 cups of water should be good. However, if you add the water from the cans, please adjust the water amount and salt for your taste.
We hope this helps!