Creamed Corn is the perfect easy side dish recipe. It is easy enough for a weeknight meal, but delicious enough to grace your holiday table.
Creamed corn is such a great side for so many recipes. I always think of it in terms of the holidays, and Thanksgiving. But truly this dish is amazing all year round. If you are having barbecue this is an ideal dish to serve with it. If you just need a quick side dish on a weeknight, lean on this easy creamed corn recipe.
This was delicious, my husband loved it and he wants me to make it again. He couldn’t stop eating it!
How to Make Creamed Corn
This is a brief overview of how easy this recipe comes together. For the full recipe with all of the measurements, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Start by melting some butter. When the butter is fully melted, add in some frozen corn. Cook the corn in the butter until it is thawed and soft, about five minutes.
- Add flour to make a roux. This is the foundation of your cream sauce. I’m going to talk about it in depth below, but you will need to add flour to the butter and corn mixture. Things will seem really gummy, and that is okay.
- Add in the whole milk. Slowly whisk in some whole milk. When all the whole milk is added, stir in 1/2 a cup of heavy cream.
- Bring everything to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for five minutes. If after the five minutes, it is too thick, add more heavy cream.
- Stir in some sugar. We use 1 tablespoon of sugar in this recipe to really pull together all the flavors. It does wonders.
- Season with salt and pepper. Start out slow on the salt and pepper – just 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Taste it and decide if you need more.
Making a Roux
A roux is made whenever you combine a fat and flour. In some recipes, like my New England Clam Chowder, we use rendered bacon fat. In this recipe we will be using butter as the fat.
When you fully combine butter and flour the fat molecules coat the starch molecules, allowing them to disperse evenly in your sauce and thicken it. The key to a roux is two fold. First, you need to cook the butter and flour together to cook out the raw taste of the flour. Second, you need to slowly add your liquid (in this case whole milk) to the roux. Doing so will let the roux do its job properly and thicken up your sauce.
Unlike a traditional roux, we are adding butter, then corn, then flour. While it makes it a little trickier to combine everything, it will totally work and you will have a great creamy sauce.
Frozen Corn or Fresh Corn
For the sake of convenience, I’m calling for frozen corn in this recipe. But, just like my Corn Chowder, the corn taste is significantly better when you are able to use fresh corn. The sauce and the corn combine better and that great sweet corn taste is perfectly distributed throughout the dish.
If you use fresh corn, you will need 3 cups or about 4 medium corn cobs. You will want to use the bundt pan trick to cut the kernels off the cobb. Put the stalk of the corn through the hole in a bundt pan, and then using a sharp knife, cut down the length of the cob. The corn kernels will fall right into the bundt pan.
Added Sugar
Traditionally, homemade creamed corn is on the sweet side. You can certainly leave out the sugar, but you might find that it is missing something without it. I suggest trying it without and then adding a teaspoon at a time (for a max of 3 teaspoons) until you get a flavor you like.
Storing
Leftovers of this recipe can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up four days. Reheat over low heat, stirring often.
While this is not my favorite recipe to freeze, it can be done. I would suggest thawing the frozen leftovers in the refrigerator overnight and reheating the next day as you would if they hadn’t been frozen.
As with all leftovers, use your best discretion.
What to Serve this Cream Corn Recipe With
- BBQ Pork Chops: These two stove top recipes were made for each other.
- Air Fryer Whole Chicken: This chicken is so fast to make in your air fryer. Whip up this corn while you are waiting for it to cook.
- Burgers: We like to live on burgers in the summer, but they are great on our indoor grill all year long, and this is the best side for them.
If you make this amazing Creamed Corn recipe or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Creamed Corn
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (42.4 grams)
- 16 ounces frozen corn or 3 cups fresh corn or four cobs – read my thoughts on fresh vs. frozen corn here (453.592 grams)
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour (30 grams)
- 1 cup whole milk (227 grams)
- 1/2 – 1 cup heavy whipping cream (113.5 – 227 grams)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon fresly ground black pepper plus more to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter.3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Add in the frozen corn and cook until it is thawed and soft, about five minutes. (If you are using fresh corn, cook until it is tender.)16 ounces frozen corn
- Whisk in the flour. This will make things a big gummy. Cook for about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in the whole milk. Add a little bit, allowing it to get fully combined with the flour and butter before adding in more. It will get easier to add the further along you go and you can add it more quickly. While this process will be slow, it should take less than a minute.1/4 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup whole milk
- Add in 1/2 a cup of heavy cream. Bring everything to a boil and then turn to a simmer for five minutes. If after simmering it is too thick, add another 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of heavy cream.1/2 – 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- Stir in the sugar, taste, add in the salt and pepper. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/8 teaspoon fresly ground black pepper
Doug Heuerman says
Is heavy cream the same as whipping cream?
Yes!
Marcia Fuksa says
Made this with fresh corn and it turned out great. I didnt have heavy cream but the milk by itself worked out wonderfully. Also I used 1/8 cup corn starch instead of flour. My husband loved it!!
I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to come back and let me know!
ColleenB.~Tx. says
Can a person use whole kernal canned corn that has been well drained?
Yes! That would work.
Cheryl says
When do I mash the corn? Or is this is just the corn in a creamy sauce?
It’s corn in a delicious sauce that is both creamy and ends up tasting like the corn.
Renee Futrell says
Do you cover creamed corn while it’s baking
I’m a bit confused because this recipe isn’t baked.
Connie B says
This was delicious my husband loved it and he wants me to make it again he couldn’t stop eating it
I’m so happy to hear that, Connie!