Chicken and leek barley soup
A warm chicken soup with soft leeks, carrots and pearl barley.
About 55 min · 405 kcal · 36 g protein per serving
Prawn and sweetcorn chowder
A light chowder of prawns, sweetcorn and potato.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 20 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm diced potato is tender in 15 minutes
- Confirm raw prawns cook through in 3 to 4 minutes
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 40 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 495 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 37 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains crustaceans, milk. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- vegetable stock. Vegetable stock often contains celery, and some contain milk or gluten; check the label, especially if you need it vegan.
Cooking steps
Wash and slice the leek and soften it in the oil over medium-low heat for 6 minutes.
Add the diced potato and the stock and simmer for 15 minutes, until the potato is completely tender.
Ladle about a third of the pan into a jug, blend it and return it. This thickens the chowder without a roux.
Add the milk and the sweetcorn and bring back to a bare simmer. Do not let it boil once the milk is in.
Add the prawns and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
Cooked when: opaque and firm right through, with no glassy flesh left.
Finish with the chives.
The useful detail
The prawns go in last and take three minutes. Almost everything that goes wrong with a chowder is a prawn that has been in it for ten.
Make it work for you
One serving is A deep bowl, half the pot. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Cooked prawns instead of raw
Firmer. Add them at the very end and only warm them through.
Per serving: about 20 kcal more, about 5 g more protein, about the same fat.
Soya milk instead of dairy milk
Thinner and slightly beany.
Per serving: about 10 kcal less, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Allergens: Adds soya, removes milk.
Smoked haddock instead of prawns
Flakier and smokier. Poach it for 5 minutes and flake it in.
Per serving: about 15 kcal less, about 5 g less protein, about the same fat.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A chowder thickened by blending its own potato rather than with a roux, cream or butter, with the prawns carrying the protein.
| Energy | 495 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 37 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| of which saturates | 3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 66 g |
| of which sugars | not calculated |
| Fibre | 8 g |
| Sodium | 1,400 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| leek | 150 g | FDC 169246Leeks, (bulb and lower leaf-portion), raw | 92 kcal | 2.3 g |
| olive oil | 14 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 121 kcal | 0.0 g |
| potatoes | 300 g | FDC 170026Potatoes, flesh and skin, raw | 231 kcal | 6.1 g |
| vegetable stock | 590 g | FDC 171583Soup, vegetable broth, ready to serve | 29 kcal | 1.4 g |
| milk | 205 g | FDC 171267Milk, reduced fat, fluid, 2% milkfat, with added vitamin A and vitamin D | 103 kcal | 6.8 g |
| sweetcorn | 300 g | FDC 169214Corn, sweet, yellow, canned, whole kernel, drained solids | 201 kcal | 6.9 g |
| raw prawns | 250 g | FDC 175179Crustaceans, shrimp, raw | 213 kcal | 50.3 g |
| chives | 10 g | FDC 169994Chives, raw | 3 kcal | 0.3 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 992 kcal | 74.1 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. of which sugars could not be calculated, because one ingredient’s record does not cover it; the row above says which. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool it quickly, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours. The FDA chart gives soups and stews 3 to 4 days. Reheat gently; a chowder with milk in it splits if it boils.
- In the freezer
- The same chart gives soups and stews 2 to 3 months in the freezer for best quality.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout, stirring so it heats evenly.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
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About 50 min · 345 kcal · 20 g protein per serving
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