Creamed Corn is the perfect comforting side dish recipe; sweet tender corn kernels in a velvety cream sauce.
This easy recipe uses simple ingredients. The corn can be either fresh, frozen, or canned and the other ingredients are things you likely have on hand.
Simply season homemade creamed corn with salt and pepper or top with your favorites from crispy bacon to diced jalapeno.
Homemade Creamed Corn
Who doesn’t love corn? Whether it’s served on the cob, as cornbread, or corn chowder, it is so versatile because of its sweet delicate flavor.
- You can make creamed corn from canned corn, with fresh corn, or even frozen.
- Creamy, rich and delicious, this is a family favorite of ours.
- This homemade cream corn recipe uses just a few ingredients that you likely have on hand already.
- It’s quick to make, about 30 minutes start to finish.
This creamed corn recipe is great as a side dish to almost any meal from tenter Pork Tenderloin to Oven Baked Chicken Breasts. It tastes better than anything you’d ever get in a can and is as simple to make as it is satisfying!
What is Creamed Corn?
There are different variations of creamed corn. Like most recipes, there are of course different ways to make it!
In my family, we make creamed corn by cooking corn kernels in a seasoned creamy sauce, so good (very similar to creamed peas)! Blending a portion of the kernels with cream adds thickness to this creamed corn recipe. As make this all year long (served at Easter with ham or with Thanksgiving dinner) I do not always have fresh cobs to scrape the pulp from the cobs (but I do love to blend a portion of it).
Many creamed corn recipes include scraping out the milky pulp of the corn cob kernels, pureeing a portion of the corn, or even using a grater to remove the kernels from the cob (instead of a knife). Often cream is added to the corn (but not always) and it is seasoned with butter.
Most canned cream style corn recipes contain whole kernels of corn mixed with pureed corn and added sugar, salt, and starch. They don’t tend to have cream and I find canned cream corn to often be bland, pale, and usually way too sweet. (Although canned creamed corn is great for adding to recipes like Corn Casserole)
How to Make Creamed Corn
What makes this the best creamed corn recipe? Using fresh ingredients and making sure it’s well seasoned! This creamed corn recipe comes together fast and leftovers reheat well as a side dish or make a great thickener for Baked Potato Soup or Chicken Stew!
- Soften the onion in butter (or bacon grease). Add flour to make a roux.
- Add corn and mix well.
- Stir in heavy cream and milk along with just a pinch of thyme.
- Simmer until thickened. Blend 1 cup of corn and add back to the pan. Season and serve!
Season generously before serving, salt is vital to this recipe! Creamed corn can be made ahead of time and reheated on low on the stove. This recipe can easily be scaled up or down to increase/decrease the servings.
Variations
This homemade creamed corn is so cozy and delicious scooped over mashed potatoes. It uses real butter, milk, and cream along with a few seasonings for a dash of savory elegance.
- Add in crispy bacon bits, finely diced ham, or even cooked broccoli!
- Top this with jalapeno slices for a little heat.
- Stir in a handful of cheddar cheese.
- Swap up the herbs or seasonings based on what you have on hand.
More Side Dishes You’ll Love
- Roasted Carrots – Easy
- Classic Green Bean Casserole
- Easy Steamed Broccoli
- The BEST Mashed Potatoes – So good and so creamy!
- Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon
- Potatoes Au Gratin
- Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole – No condensed soup
Homemade Creamed Corn
Ingredients
- 4 cups corn kernels drained if canned
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 ¼ cup milk
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme or ⅛ teaspoon dried
Instructions
- Combine onion and butter and cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent, about 4 minutes.
- Add flour, salt, and pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes while stirring. Add corn and mix well.
- Add in milk, cream, sugar, and thyme. Stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Allow to boil 1 minute while stirring.
- Remove 1 cup of the corn mixture and blend with a hand mixer until smooth. Stir back into the creamed corn.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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Wonderful !
Made my creamed corn from scratch, a delicious recipe!
Love it! So glad you enjoyed it, Suzanne!
I made this and it is superb! Thanking youuu!
You’re welcome, Mary! So glad you enjoyed it.
Added cream of chicken with herbs. My granny would spank me if she knew. This was always on the table during summer time back in the good ole days.
Oh dear Well I am glad got to enjoy this recipe :)
Very delicious! I made it exactly as written, but with frozen whole corn kernels. Next time I will increase the amount of corn to make it slightly less creamy. It turns a gorgeous sunny yellow when you blend half of it!
I remember all our creamed Corn was canned from the store but i can rememeber my mom made Creamed peas
We love creamed peas too, or the combination of creamed peas and potatoes.
Tweaked it a bit, used my food processor to finely chop the onion and sauted with pressed garlic. Had to use frozen corn but I can hardly wait to make it again next summer right off the cob.
Made this to use in corn casserole, SO SO GOOD! Way more flavor than the canned stuff, by a mile. Quick question: can creamed corn be frozen? I know it has lots of dairy in it, but since it’s higher fat I thought maybe leftovers could be frozen with decent success? Thanks in advance!
Hi Claire, we haven’t tried freezing this but I think it would work well. I would store it in an airtight container and freeze it for up to a few months.
Yep. Best creamed corn I’ve ever had. So good. I made it ahead of time for tomorrow (creamed corn is a controversial thanksgiving side, but we love it). And I’m having a realllllll hard time not eating like half of this right now thanks so much!
Hi! I live overseas in Russia where we do not have canned cream corn, like in the states. I am trying to replicate Corn Casserole so we can eat something familiar for Thanksgiving. Do you think this recipe would work for substituting one can of creamed corn for this recipe? Thanks!
This recipe will make more than the equivalent of one can of cream corn but I think it should work well as a substitute. You will have to let us know how it turns out, Lori!
Very good recipe and very easy to follow! I added extra sugar because that’s the way my great aunt always makes it (noticeably sweet that is), but other than that I had no notes! I halved the recipe because I only wanted two servings and it was easier that way. Half of the recipe ended up filling an average size soup bowl to the brim for a better understanding of the size of this recipe!
That sounds like a delicious addition, Ansley! Glad you enjoyed it.
Like to learn how to make cream corn
We love this recipe for creamed corn Delores, hope you enjoy it too!
First time making homemade creamed corn. This recipe is easy to follow and is simply delicious, I only added 1 more tea spoon of sugar and it was awesome my husband loved it and so did I yum .
I almost went with another recipe. This is amazing! Only thing I did different was add only one cup of milk. Highly recommended!
Very very good! Everyone loved it even my picky eater
My Shepard’s Pie has always had creamed corn in it. The grocery store had NONE! I mean NOT ONE CAN! I came home, googled a recipe, got yours, and cooked it. It was so easy and it came out absolutely delicious! I mean so good that I will NEVER buy the canned one again! Thank you.
Oh Mary, that made my day! So happy that this creamed corn recipe worked so perfectly for you!
This is by far a household favorite now. My son and my husband both love it. The only thing we can’t figure out is the blending part. So we don’t have an actual blender, we have a bullet. But on the bullet it says not to do hot things in it. So I have no way to blend it. I’ve tried using a hand mixer but its not great. Do you have any suggestions?
I think it would work if you blended the corn with the cold milk before adding it as well. Let us know how it goes!
Outstanding recipe! Toss in a can of picked crab and you have an instant Crab Bisque to die for!
Delicious!! But I made too much. Can I turn the leftovers into fritters? And how??
I havne’t tried these as fritters but you could try adding them to mashed potatoes cakes or even turn them into a corn chowder.
So good and very easy to make. I did half the recipe and used frozen corn.
Hi, can I used bagged, frozen corn?
Thanks!
Yes, that’ll work perfectly