Begin by prepping your bacon. I find that using kitchen shears makes it easier to cut the bacon into small pieces. Add the bacon to a large pot over medium-high heat and cook until it's crispy, which should take about 10 minutes.

While the bacon is cooking, start prepping your onion, celery, ham, and potatoes.

Once the bacon is crispy, remove it from the pot and set it aside on a paper towel-lined plate. Leave the bacon fat in the pot.

Add the chopped onion and celery to the pot with the bacon fat and sauté for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the flour and continue stirring nearly constantly for about a minute.

Add in the minced garlic, followed by the chicken broth. Stir well to ensure that the flour has dissolved and that any flavorful brown bits from the bottom of the pot are scraped up.

Add in the cream, frozen corn, chopped ham, diced potatoes, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper (optional), and most of the crispy bacon (I like to save some for garnishing the bowls later on). Turn up the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to a rapid simmer.

Allow the soup to cook until the potatoes are tender, which should take around 15-20 minutes. Stir every so often, as the soup will get thicker the longer you cook it.

Finally, taste the soup and season with salt and pepper as needed. To finish, garnish each bowl with the remaining crispy bacon. Enjoy!