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Home Appetizers & Sides Easy Creamed Corn

Easy Creamed Corn

By Natasha

Aug 14, 2023, Updated Oct 21, 2023

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This easy creamed corn recipe is perfectly rich, buttery, and uncomplicated to let the natural sweetness from the corn shine. It’s the best version you’ll try!

You may also like my Easy Creamy Corn Pasta and Creamy Corn Chowder next.

Why you’ll love it

Cream style corn is perfect for an anytime side dish. It’s equally great for the holidays or as a BBQ side during corn season. You can’t really go wrong with butter and cream, in my opinion. I kept sneaking bites of this classic side dish while it was cooking!

I prefer my method since it’s definitely the easiest I’ve tried. You don’t need fancy ingredients to make good creamed corn, and it adds a comforting and creamy pairing to pretty much any main course, much like my Creamed Spinach or Creamed Peas.

What you’ll need

Butter and flour – to make a quick roux for thickening it up
Half-and-half – for that luxurious creamy quality
Garlic powder – it’s a little additional savory flavor boost
Cayenne – Just a pinch gives it that extra something-something. It won’t make the dish spicy or anything!
Corn – I use frozen since it’s ultra convenient and frozen at the peak of ripeness. If using fresh corn, I’d use 8 ears or so. If using canned corn (I prefer frozen to canned), I’d try 2 (15 fluid ounce) cans or whatever’s closest to the frozen corn amount. Be sure to drain the cans well.

ingredients for cream corn in prep bowls

Helpful tips

The key to success with this recipe is to let the corn simmer away long enough and at a low enough heat. That gives the sauce some time to thicken up and for the corn kernels to plump up nicely.
If you want to add even more thickness/change up the texture a bit, take about a cup of the cooked creamed corn and blend it up, then add it back to the pot. Or use a stick blender right in the pot to blend some of it up.

How to make creamed corn

This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.

making a roux in a soup pot and adding in half and half and seasonings for creamed corn

Make a roux with butter and flour in a fairly large pot. Whisk in the half-and-half and seasonings until very smooth, then add in the corn and bring it to a gentle boil.

adding in corn to a soup pot and stirring to make creamed corn

Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has reduced to your liking and the corn is plump. Season generously with salt & pepper to bring out the flavors.

Tools for this recipe

Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!

I used a Le Creuset Dutch oven to make this recipe.
Use a wire whisk to make sure everything is perfectly smooth.
This is my favorite cooking spoon for stirring it up. It won’t scratch your pans.

Substitutions and variations

Want it spicy? Add more than a pinch of cayenne, or chop up some jalapenos and add them.
Some recipes for creamed corn add in some extra sugar. I don’t do this. If you do like your creamed corn even sweeter, feel free to add a teaspoon or so, but I really don’t find it necessary.
You may use heavy cream instead of half-and-half. It’ll likely thicken up faster, so you may need to adjust the heat and cooking time a bit (but this dish is best cooked low and slow, so keep that in mind).

What to serve with creamed corn

It goes with so many weeknight mains. Try it with my Easy Baked Pork Tenderloin or Easy Baked Chicken Breast. It’s great with my Easy Meatloaf too or Garlic Butter Steak Bites. Or baked ham during the holidays!
Cream corn is a favorite during summer BBQ season. Pair it with my Easy Grilled Pork Chops or this Crockpot BBQ Chicken.

Leftovers and storage

Store leftover creamed corn in the fridge for a few days in a covered container.
For reheating this recipe, reheat it on the stove on low heat, stirring occasionally, or in the microwave in 30-second increments (stir in between).
I don’t recommend freezing it.

More tasty corn recipes

Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad
Black Bean Corn Avocado Salad with Rice
Elote Creamed Corn
Super Easy Cream Cheese Corn Dip
Jiffy Corn Casserole

If you made this creamed corn recipe from scratch, please leave a star rating and review below! You can also find me on Instagram.

5 from 40 votes

Easy Creamed Corn

By Natasha Bull This easy creamed corn recipe is perfectly rich, buttery, and uncomplicated to let the natural sweetness from the corn shine. It's the best version you'll try! Prep: 5 minutes Cook: 30 minutes Total: 35 minutes Servings: 6 Save RecipeSaved Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe Print Recipe

Ingredients 0.5x1x2x3x

▢ 2 tablespoons butter
▢ 1 tablespoon flour
▢ 2 cups half-and-half
▢ 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
▢ Pinch cayenne pepper
▢ 5 cups frozen corn
▢ Salt & pepper to taste

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Instructions

Melt the butter in a pot over medium-high heat. Add the flour and cook it for a minute or so, stirring nearly constantly.
Whisk in the half-and-half, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Make sure that there's no lumps.
Stir in the corn. After about 10 minutes, it should start to bubble. Once it's bubbling, turn the heat down so it's simmering gently.
Cook the corn for another 15-20 minutes or until the sauce has reduced and the corn is nice and plump. Keep an eye on it, and stir it occasionally.
Add salt & pepper as needed (I'm pretty generous with the salt).

Notes

Here in Canada I buy a (750g/26.5 oz.) bag of frozen corn for this recipe (it equals 5 cups). If using less corn, add a bit less half-and-half (this recipe is pretty forgiving!).

Nutrition

Calories: 278kcal, Carbohydrates: 37g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 40mg, Sodium: 73mg, Potassium: 513mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 408IU, Vitamin C: 11mg, Calcium: 92mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

© Salt & Lavender Inc. Content and photographs are copyrighted. Sharing this blog post is much appreciated, but copying and pasting full recipes without authorization to social media is strictly prohibited.

Leave a star rating and comment below!

This recipe was originally published on February 4, 2019. It’s been updated with new photos and better instructions but is the same great recipe!

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Hi! I’m Natasha.

Salt & Lavender is a recipe blog with a focus on delicious comfort food using everyday ingredients. Beat the weekday grind with hundreds of easy-to-follow and hassle-free recipes!

More About Me

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5 from 40 votes (4 ratings without comment)

117 Comments

Super easy, quick and delicious creamed corn recipe!
Reply
1. Thank you so much, LeAnn!
  Reply
I made this in a very large quantity and it turned out beautifully! I multiplied the recipe by 12. It did take a very very long time to bubble at that quantity, so plan extra time for large amounts. I never made creamed corn before this and this was by far the best reviewed dish on the buffet. Thank you for an easy and delicious side!
Reply
1. You’re very welcome!!
  Reply
How many servings does this recipe make?
Reply
1. 6 (see top of recipe card).
  Reply
can I make this in the crock pot??
Reply
1. Hi! Sorry – I have not tested. You would need to experiment.
  Reply
Hi, Can you make this the night before being served? Thanks!
Reply
1. Hi Cece! You sure can! See “leftovers & storage” in the blog post for reheating tips. Enjoy! 🙂
  Reply

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Hi! I’m Natasha.

Salt & Lavender is a recipe blog with a focus on delicious comfort food using everyday ingredients. Beat the weekday grind with hundreds of easy-to-follow and hassle-free recipes!

More About Me