Chilled Corn Soup With Basil Recipe (2024)

I have made this soup a dozen times or more. My learnings:
Use a good brand of buttermilk. The cheap store brands don't taste very good. The buttermilk doesn't need to be full fat, 1% will do. The freshest corn and basil will make a difference. I don't add ice cubes because I like the soup a little thicker. I do strain the soup to smooth it out. Finally, I make this soup hours if not a day ahead of time and chill it. It is a wonderful starter for summer dinner parties.

Don’t discard the cobs. If you can’t bear doing this now freeze them and do it when it’s cooler but make a stock out of them...it makes the best stock to use in all sorts of ways. #zerowaste

Made this last year and loved it. This time I didn't have buttermilk so substituted 1 cup 2% Greek yogurt an 1/2 c 2% milk. Added more lime juice and didn't strain. Loving it more.

This elicited oohs and ahs from my guest.
I loved it too, but thought that possibly adding some avocado would have made it richer/smoother/creamier - ? Will try this next time.

It took me 2 attempts to get this right. Here is my feedback:-- Everyone is right: Don't add ice.-- To strain or not to strain? I did it both ways and, again, everyone is right: When you strain this, it becomes really, really, really thin. Don't strain.-- After reading other feedback, I increased the corn from 3 to 4 cobs in an attempt to 'up' the corn flavor. I think it worked.-- Concurrently, I used the 1/2 cup basil and garlic, but a bit less lime juic

Definitely better & more substantial, less thin the second time I made this without ice cubes: the ice cubes are unnecessary. Chilled buttermilk & corn make the soup refreshing enough. Definitely no beed to be so fussy as to strain. Basil infusion absolutely refreshing as well, as was the biting radish garnish.

I made the strained version on a hot summer evening (because I happened to have buttermilk and lots of corn and basil on hand). Straight out of the blender, even with the ice cubes, it wasn't cold enough; I'd prefer it really icy. It's good . . . but is more like a thin, healthy corn drink than a soup. The flavors are very interesting; I will try it again without straining.

This was...interesting... Cool and soothing if you did't think of it as corn soup, but very confusing if you did. The flavor of corn (and I used fresh picked, wonderful upstate corn) was compeletly overwhelmed by the other flavors. Probably won't make again.

Used an extra ear of corn and a sprinkle of white pepper. Only used 4 basil leaves and omitted lime juice, so as not to overpower corn. Made in Vitamix..didn't use ice and didn't strain. Delicious!

I have made this four times and have never strained it. I was going to strain it the fourth time, but after reading the other comment, I decided not to.

If this recipe improves with time overnight, I will swoon, as this was fantastic right out of the blender. Sorry to say, you must use Ole Oleson's corn from his farm stand outside of River Falls, WI. Measure your corn kernels; when corn is perfect to eat raw, it is young and not fully fleshed out. The way Ole picks it. I needed 5 ears to get 3.5 cups. There is no need to strain the soup if the corn is young and fresh. I might eat this for breakfast tomorrow.

My super fussy family loves this. I substituted coconut milk for buttermilk as some of us are lactose intolerant. It was fabulous with the basil and lime flavour.

I did not add ice cubes, and served it with simple shrimp and avocado lime juice tacos for a fresh hot summer lunch. Delicious!

I just made this; strained, it was too watery, but unstrained it was unpleasantly fibrous. Next time I will go ahead and cook the corn briefly (~5 minutes) first, then drain and chill corn overnight before making the soup. I think that will make the difference so that it doesn't need to be strained yet has more body. (I also omitted the ice cubes; unnecessary, just chill well before serving.)

You can't go wrong with chilled corn soup made with fresh ears of corn, but this recipe was not my favorite. It was too thin - I didn't strain it at first but found it too fibrous, but when it was strained it was too watery (and I only added half the ice cubes). The buttermilk made it a bit too tangy. Personally, I think the basil overwhelmed the corn flavor - I'd probably leave it out next time and I really love fresh basil.

Made this as written ex. ice and strained through a fine mesh sieve because that’s what I had. The sieve caught A LOT of the fibrous parts of the soup which I saved and served with crackers as a corn-basil “hummus”. Both soup and hummus got raves. 10/10 would make again.

I made this tonight and let most reviewers, I didn’t add the ice. This was so watery! I strained but with the purpose of saving the solids. After straining the liquid into a large bowl, I moved the solids into a my serving dish. I then added back some of the delicious liquid into the soup until I had the consistency I wanted. Worked great, a little messy but did the trick. Next I want to tone down the other ingredients until I get the dominant corn flavor I desire. Still a nice soup.

Wonderfully easy to make, very flavorful, and very refreshing--I didn't bother straining the soup, as I prefer the texture and hate to lose and to waste all that flavor and nutrition.

I also didn't think the ice cubes were necessary. Pureed, no straining too. Nice flavor and texture though simple ingredients. Garnished with thinly sliced cherry tomatoes and arbequina olive oil.

I made this for the first time yesterday, for a dinner party. First-time recipes, I always try to follow the recipe exactly. (I used 3.5 cups of corn kernels). The straining produced a very light, refreshing soup, but I hated the waste of fiber! So I will be making this as our sweet local corn is in season at the farms this summer, trying it without straining. (This one, and other pureed chilled soups, might be my excuse to buy a Vitamix!)

This was really good. I agree with other posts - use good buttermilk. Wasn't a big fan of the radish garnish though. Fine to leave it off. Maybe garnish with a small basil leaf instead.

I really liked this soup strained but felt guilty not using all the corn. However, eating the soup with the corn in it was too fibrous, even when I attempted to thin it out. I’ll skip this soup in the future for a corn soup that utilizes all the vegetable so I have less waste.

a wonderful, very sophisticated, delicious soup! I made it when we received a lot of lovely sweet corn from our CSA. Made the first batch and it was SOOO good! I also left out the ice cubes and just chilled it. Served with big sprigs of basil in little glasses - looked perfect and I wasn't running around right before dinner. It was so good I cut the kernels off two more ears and froze them, coming together really fast for another fancy dinner with the messy prep already done!

I made this no-cook chilled corn soup tonight. Today was one of many days over 90 degrees this summer. I used fresh red pepper pieces instead of radishes. I used Kate’s buttermilk without ice cubes or straining. I’ll make it again.

Very thin and watery, even after adding more corn. Flavor okay.

I thought this was really refreshing- I did use the ice cubes and I did strain and it was delicious with a hefty drizzle of good olive oil and some basil and radishes from the garden. I actually used a mix of Thai and Italian and Persian basil.

Delicious. So easy to make. The soup was a bit garlicky but I liked that. Only added 2 ice cubes, did not strain. Garnished with a dollop of sour cream rather than oil, and some basil leaves. This recipe makes 4-5 small servings.

Flavor is delicious, but I had to double the recipe for four people for a first course to serve it in bowls rather than in demi-tasse cups. Next time I’ll omit the ice, as it thins the soup too much.

Oh, my. This recipe is a keeper. My husband had thirds.