Homemade Creamed Corn

One of my all-time favorite things is a warm bowl of creamed corn. It’s indulgent, creamy, and utterly irresistible after that first bite. This homemade creamed corn recipe uses easy ingredients like cream cheese, butter, and cream to make a comforting, rich side that we personally love to share on our holiday table every year.

What makes it perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any other occasion is how hands-off it is once it starts cooking. You can use a pot on the stove, or toss it into a slow cooker, and then it just simmers until the corn is tender and the cream sauce is thick and perfect. You can even use fresh, frozen, or canned corn, so it can be made whenever that craving is too hard to resist.

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

• Use fresh, frozen, or canned corn – whatever is easiest and most accessible to you (though I recommend fresh if you’re up for it!)
• No need to scrape cobs or blend corn, this is a one pot, dump and cook type of recipe that’s essentially hands off aside from some stirring.
• Use your stove or your Crock Pot and end up with the same, creamy rich results.
• It makes enough to serve 8, more if it’s one of many sides on a holiday table, and it’s very easy to double.

What is Creamed Corn?

There seems to be some controversy in the online world about what exactly creamed corn ‘should’ be. There are many traditional recipes that consist of scraping corn cobs to release the milky sweet liquid and blending it with corn kernels before thickening during cooking. This is how the canned stuff is made.

We’re making cream style corn, which captures the delicious sweet flavor of whole corn kernels enhanced by a low simmering bath of delicious dairy. It’s thick, tender, sweet and savory, and even it isn’t traditional, it’s really, really good.

Ingredients & Substitutions

It only takes a handful of pantry seasonings and five simple, easy-find ingredients that you can get year-round. I’ve shared my tips for substitutions if you need them below.

• Sweet Corn – This can be fresh sweet corn, frozen corn, or canned corn. Preparation and cook times vary slightly depending on your choice.
• Cream Cheese – A full fat cream cheese, a whole block, adds huge flavor and creaminess. Do not use non-fat, it doesn’t melt the same way.
• Parmesan Cheese – A bit of salt and earthiness from an aged cheese helps the flavor balance. You can also use Romano or Grana Padano.
• Butter – Use unsalted butter so you can adjust the seasoning to taste.
• Half & Half – A thickening agent that helps the dish become rich and delicious. You can use heavy cream, but milk will result in a runnier final result.
• Seasonings – We’ll be using a combination of salt, pepper, sugar, garlic powder

A Note on Corn Options – If it’s corn season (late summer/early fall) and you can get fresh, local corn, please go for fresh. It’s SO good. If you can’t, I’d recommend flash frozen sweet corn over off season corn on the cob. Canned will also work, but drain it first.

Step By Step Instructions

The magic to this recipe is the slow simmer. You don’t have to do much regardless of whether you choose the Crock Por or stovetop method. Both are simple dump and go approaches. This is a large family sized recipe, serving 8 as a side dish, or more if served with other sides.

Step 1 – Combine it All

Add the corn, half and half, cream cheese, butter, Parmesan cheese, and all the seasonings into a large pot like a dutch oven or your slow cooker. Stir it all to let it combine.

No need to melt the cream cheese or butter, you can add it in as it is, but you can speed up the cooking if you melt it or at least soften it first.

Step 2 – Cook and Stir

Put your pot on the stove over medium heat. For the Crock Pot, set it to low. Once it starts simmering stir it turn your stove down to low, and continue to stir every 20-30 minutes.

Even in the Crock Pot, stir every hour. DO NOT skip stirring, it prevents the dairy from scorching on the bottom. Once the mixture has thickened, it’s ready to serve. It takes about 1 hour on the stove, and four hours in the crock pot.

If you’d like, feel free to keep it over low heat for longer, just don’t forget the occasional stir. Keep it covered so it doesn’t over-reduce and lose it’s creaminess.