Corn is one of the few vegetables where frozen and canned are not a step down. Both are processed within hours of harvest, while the ears stacked in the supermarket bin may have been picked days ago and have been converting their sugar to starch ever since. For most of the recipes below, a bag from the freezer is the sensible choice outside of August.
Six of these do need fresh ears, and it is worth knowing which before you shop. The corn chowder with cob stock simmers the stripped cobs in the broth, which is where its flavor actually comes from. The baked corn ribs need whole cobs to cut into pieces. The grilled elote, the street corn salad, the fresh corn soup and the red potato salad all cut kernels off the cob, hot or charred, and a frozen kernel will not char the same way.
If you are swapping, the conversions are simple: one medium ear gives about three quarters of a cup of kernels, one 15-ounce can gives about a cup and a half drained, and a 16-ounce bag of frozen corn gives about three cups. Creamed corn is the exception and is not interchangeable with anything, because it is not drained and brings its own starch and sugar into the dish.
The twenty-five below run from a 20-minute street corn salad to a slow cooker chowder that takes four and a half hours, and from 68 calories a fritter to a 667-calorie rice bowl. Each one lists its real total time, servings and calories, so you can see what you are committing to before you start.
Corn Side Dishes
The dishes where corn is the whole point rather than one ingredient among many. Three of them look similar on a table and are built completely differently, which the questions at the end sort out.
Homemade Creamed Corn
Four cups of kernels thickened with cornstarch, half and half and whole milk, then finished with cheddar or Parmesan and a pinch of smoked paprika. Fresh or frozen both work, and it is done in 25 minutes, which is faster than opening and doctoring two cans. View the full recipe — 25 minutes · serves 4 · 321 calories
Creamy Corn Casserole
The holiday table version, built from one can of creamed corn and one can of whole kernel, bound with cornmeal, flour, baking powder and a full stick of butter. That base is why it sets up sliceable like spoonbread rather than staying loose. View the full recipe — 1 hour 15 minutes · serves 8 · 321 calories
Cheddar Jalapeno Corn Pudding
Three eggs and only a quarter cup of flour, so this one stays custardy in the middle instead of turning bready. A cup of sharp cheddar and a quarter cup of diced jalapenos go in, with green onion on top. View the full recipe — 1 hour · serves 8 · 276 calories
Crispy Parmesan Corn Fritters with Green Onion
Twelve fritters from two cups of fresh kernels, with cornstarch in the batter for the crisp edge and half a cup of Parmesan carrying the salt. The green onion and cilantro go in raw so they stay bright against the frying. View the full recipe — 40 minutes · makes 12 · 68 calories each
Baked Corn Ribs with Smoked Paprika and Garlic Butter
Four cobs quartered lengthwise, rubbed with smoked paprika and garlic powder, then baked until the drying kernels curl each piece backward on itself. Garlic butter and parsley go on after they leave the oven, not before. View the full recipe — 40 minutes · serves 4 · 287 calories
Grilled Mexican Corn with Smoked Chili Adobo Mayo
Elote with a tablespoon and a half of smoked chilies in adobo worked into the mayonnaise, plus sour cream, lime juice and oregano. Parmesan stands in for cotija here, which matters if your store does not stock it. View the full recipe — 30 minutes · serves 4 · 215 calories
Hot Buttered Corn Rice
Frozen corn toasted in butter with three cloves of garlic, then the rice and broth go into the same pan. Eight ingredients and one pot, and it sits under anything grilled without competing with it. View the full recipe — 40 minutes · serves 4 · 343 calories
Corn Chowders and Soups
Five that are genuinely different from each other rather than five versions of the same pot. The spread is 232 to 448 calories a bowl, and the thickening method changes in every one.
Creamy Corn Chowder with Bacon
Four cups of corn and a pound of Yukon Golds, with the bacon fat and three tablespoons of flour doing the thickening before a cup of heavy cream goes in at the end. Thyme and smoked paprika keep it from tasting only of dairy. View the full recipe — 50 minutes · serves 6 · 343 calories
Fresh Corn Chowder with Corn Cob Stock and Bacon
The one that genuinely requires fresh ears. Five cobs get stripped, then the bare cobs simmer in the broth and come back out, and that stock is where the corn flavor lives. No bag of frozen kernels can hand you that step. View the full recipe — 1 hour 5 minutes · serves 6 · 369 calories
Cheddar Monterey Jack Corn Chowder with Bacon
Nine ingredients and no potato at all: four cups of corn, two cups of broth, a cup of cream and two full cups of cheese. Thinner and sharper than a potato chowder, and on the table in 40 minutes. View the full recipe — 40 minutes · serves 6 · 411 calories
Fresh Corn Soup
Six ears, two large potatoes and two bay leaves, with thick cut smoked bacon and fresh rosemary added at the finish rather than cooked in. At 232 calories a bowl it is the lightest soup in this group by a wide margin. View the full recipe — 55 minutes · serves 6 · 232 calories
Slow Cooker Corn Chowder with Creamed Corn
Two pounds of frozen corn plus a 15-ounce can of creamed corn, which is what thickens it, left in the slow cooker for four hours. Half a pound of bacon goes in, so at 448 calories it is the richest of the five. View the full recipe — 4 hours 25 minutes · serves 8 · 448 calories
Corn Dips and Salsa
One raw salsa and three baked dips. The salsa is the outlier at 83 calories; the dips are all cream cheese or sour cream based and sit between 279 and 387.
Homemade Corn Salsa
Ten ingredients and no cooking: fresh kernels, red onion, red bell pepper, jalapeno and tomato, with lime juice and cilantro doing the rest. At 83 calories a serving it goes onto tacos as readily as into a chip bowl. View the full recipe — 40 minutes · serves 6 · 83 calories
Baked Creamy Corn Dip
Six ingredients total. Two cans of corn, sour cream, cream cheese, shredded cheese, green onion and a spoonful of jalapeno go into a dish and into the oven, and it is finished in 30 minutes. View the full recipe — 30 minutes · serves 8 · 301 calories
Creamy Corn Green Chile Dip
Built on a can of corn with peppers and a 10-ounce can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, so the heat arrives already in the cans. Cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise make the base, with cheddar on top. View the full recipe — 40 minutes · serves 6 · 279 calories
Smoked Mexican Street Corn Dip
Elote taken apart into a baking dish: four cups of corn, both cotija and Mexican blend cheese, two jalapenos, lime and smoked paprika. The eight ounces of tortilla chips are counted in the ingredient list, not left to guesswork. View the full recipe — 35 minutes · serves 8 · 387 calories
Corn Salads
Two elote salads, one potato salad and one that works as a full lunch. Three of the four hold well in a cooler, which is the point of a summer salad.
Mexican Street Corn Salad
The fastest recipe in the collection at 20 minutes. Four ears cut off the cob, a full cup of cotija, mayonnaise, lime and chili powder, which is every bit of the elote flavor without eating it off a stick. View the full recipe — 20 minutes · serves 4 · 398 calories
Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad with Cotija
The same flavors spread over eight ounces of short pasta, with the corn sauteed in butter with onion and garlic first instead of going in cold. That one step is the difference between this and a cold corn salad. View the full recipe — 1 hour · serves 6 · 424 calories
Red Potato Salad with Bacon and Corn
Two and a half pounds of red potatoes, two ears of corn and seven ounces of bacon, dressed with cider vinegar, olive oil and Dijon instead of mayonnaise. That is why it survives an afternoon outdoors. View the full recipe — 55 minutes · serves 6 · 527 calories
Chicken Enchilada Pasta Salad with Black Beans and Corn
A pound and a half of chicken breast with a can each of Mexican style corn and black beans, tossed with bowtie pasta in enchilada sauce and sour cream. At 35 grams of protein a serving it eats as a meal, not a side. View the full recipe — 40 minutes · serves 8 · 499 calories
Dinners Built Around Corn
Five where corn is in the main dish rather than beside it, from a 45-minute bake using leftovers to a from-scratch enchilada sauce.
Street Corn Chicken Casserole
Starts from cooked chicken and cooked rice, which makes it the leftovers plan rather than a project: eleven ingredients, 45 minutes, and 23 grams of protein at 332 calories a serving. View the full recipe — 45 minutes · serves 6 · 332 calories
Street Corn Chicken Rice Bowl
Chicken rubbed with chili powder, cumin and smoked paprika over jasmine rice, with grilled corn, cotija, sour cream and a whole avocado. The richest plate here at 667 calories, and the avocado is a real share of that. View the full recipe — 50 minutes · serves 4 · 667 calories
Chicken and Corn Enchiladas with Refried Beans
Twenty-two ingredients, and most of them belong to the sauce: cumin, paprika, oregano and cayenne cooked into a flour roux with broth and tomato puree. Refried beans and canned corn fill the tortillas alongside the chicken. View the full recipe — 1 hour 10 minutes · serves 8 · 523 calories
Cheddar Sweet Corn Pie
No crust to make. Onion, garlic, two cups of corn and a cup of cheddar go in the dish, then a batter of three eggs, milk and a cup of flour is poured over and it sets into something sliceable. Meatless, at 225 calories a slice. View the full recipe — 1 hour 5 minutes · serves 8 · 225 calories
Cheddar Ranch Beef and Sweet Corn Rotini Bake
A pound of ground beef, rotini and sweet corn with a ranch seasoning packet doing all the seasoning, so there is no separate spice list to buy into. Cream cheese and sour cream build the sauce, and it comes to 33 grams of protein a serving. View the full recipe — 1 hour · serves 6 · 591 calories
Corn Questions Worth Answering First
What is the difference between creamed corn, corn pudding and corn casserole?
All three are in this collection, and they are built differently. Creamed corn is a stovetop sauce: kernels, dairy and cornstarch, no eggs, and it stays pourable. Corn pudding is baked with three eggs and only a quarter cup of flour, so it sets soft and custardy. Corn casserole uses cornmeal, flour and baking powder along with the eggs, which makes it closest to a loose cornbread you serve with a spoon. If a recipe calls for one and you substitute another, the texture changes completely.
Can I use frozen or canned corn when a recipe says fresh?
In most of these, yes, and frozen is often the better choice outside of peak season. The exceptions are the six that use the ear itself: the chowder that makes stock from the stripped cobs, the baked corn ribs, the grilled elote, the street corn salad, the fresh corn soup and the red potato salad. For everything else, one medium ear equals about three quarters of a cup of kernels, a 15-ounce can gives about a cup and a half drained, and a 16-ounce bag of frozen gives about three cups.
Do I need to drain canned corn?
Drain whole kernel corn, yes, or the packing liquid thins whatever you are making. Creamed corn is the opposite and goes in with everything in the can, because that liquid is the thickener the recipe is counting on. Where a recipe here uses creamed corn, such as the corn casserole and the slow cooker chowder, swapping in drained whole kernel will leave it watery.
Can I cut corn off the cob ahead of time?
Yes. Cut kernels keep three to four days in a sealed container in the refrigerator, and they freeze well spread on a sheet pan before going into a bag. This is worth doing in August when ears are cheap, and it is the only way to get genuinely fresh corn into a December chowder.
Which of these can be made a day ahead?
The corn salsa, both street corn salads and the red potato salad are better after a few hours in the refrigerator. The baked dips can be assembled a day ahead and baked when you need them. The chowders and soups reheat well, though the ones with cream are best warmed gently rather than boiled. The corn pudding and the corn pie are the two to bake fresh, because both depend on an egg set that goes dense once chilled and reheated.
More Collections to Cook From
Corn turns up across most of these, so there is some overlap, though each collection is sorted on a different question.
- 25 Soup Recipes — Where the chowders sit alongside everything else in a pot.
- 25 Casserole Recipes — The corn casserole family, plus everything else baked in a dish.
- 25 Mexican Recipes — More of the elote and enchilada side of this list.
- 25 Summer BBQ Recipes — Grilled corn in its natural setting, with the rest of the cookout.
- 25 Appetizer Recipes — If you came here only for the dips.
Browse all of our recipe collections.
