This Corn Pudding recipe is the perfect southern souffle style casserole that bakes with simple ingredients to the most heavenly cheesy fresh corn side dish ever!
Back in the day, my Big Daddy had a farm overflowing with corn. When it was ready for harvesting, the family would pick it. Big mama loved experimenting with adventurous recipes, ranging from fried corn and corn chowder to an innovative corn relish that everyone called “cha cha” and of course Southern Corn Pudding.
The Heart and Soul of the Best Corn Pudding Recipe
Cuisine Inspiration: Southern Comfort
Primary Cooking Method: Baking
Dietary Info: Vegetarian-friendly
Key Flavor: Sweet and Savory
Skill Level: Easy Breezy
Sweet Highlights:
- Corn Galore: The star of the show, corn, brings its natural sweetness and juicy bursts in every spoonful.
- Creamy Dreamy: Expect a luscious and creamy texture that’s almost too good to be true, making it a hit among all ages.
- Simple Ingredients, Big Flavors: With just a few pantry staples, this dish turns simplicity into a lavish experience.
- Versatility Queen: Serve it up as a side dish or a standalone star; Southern Corn Pudding knows how to hold its own.
- Down-Home Comfort: There’s something about this recipe that just feels like a warm hug from Grandma, bringing comfort and joy to any meal.
What is Corn Pudding?
Corn pudding is a wonderful souffle-like corn casserole that bakes in your oven and comes out like perfection. Very popular in the south, a corn pudding is the perfect Soul Food side dish to add to your Sunday supper table or holiday menu. The consistency is creamy and cheesy. It has both sweet and savory flavor components. The taste is rich and impressive, and this recipe doesn’t break the bank! You can make this comfort food recipe with just a few ingredients found right in your kitchen pantry.
Ingredients
I believe a scratch corn pudding is truly the best. Because the recipe is so simple, it doesn’t take but a few minutes to prepare everything to go in the oven. The main ingredients that make this recipe so special are:
- Butter
- Sugar
- Onions and peppers
- Sour Cream
- Cheddar Cheese
- Eggs
The butter creates such a rich and delicious flavor. I add just enough sugar to bring out the sweetness in the corn. The savory aromatics really amp up the deliciousness of this recipe. Sour Cream adds a lovely texture to this pudding. You can select either sharp or medium cheddar but it makes this recipe so creamy and wonderful. Finally the eggs create the final souffle texture once it bakes up and holds everything together.
This recipe uses canned corn but below you will see other options as well.
How to Make Corn Pudding
- Preheat and Prep: Turn that oven up to 400 degrees and get ready for some cooking magic. Grab your casserole dish and give it a nice, even layer of grease.
- Veggies in Action: Melt your butter in a large skillet and toss in the onions and bell pepper. Sauté until they’re soft, tender, and have a see-through look.
- Mix it Up: In a big bowl, whip together your eggs, butter, and sour cream. Add in the sugar and cornstarch, and give it a good stir. Now, mix in both types of corn and those sautéed veggies.
- Bake and Enjoy: Pour the mix into your casserole dish, sprinkle that cheese like it’s a cheesy snowfall, cover with foil, and pop it in the oven for 50 minutes. Then, unveil it and let it bake for another 10 without the foil.
- Serve and Savor: What you’ve got now is a bubbly, golden delight, ready to be the star of your meal. Dig in and enjoy the creamy, corny goodness!
Using Frozen Corn
Because this recipe uses canned corn, it makes it easier when you just have pantry items around. You don’t have to go to the grocery store to buy additional items. However if you want to use frozen corn, you most certainly can. Just substitute the same amount and saute’ the corn unthawing it and bringing it up to the temperature of the rest of the ingredients. The baking time should be the same.
Using Fresh Corn
Just like with canned corn and frozen corn, you most certainly can use fresh corn for this recipe. It tastes absolutely incredible with fresh corn. When corn is in season in the summer, I can’t think of any better recipe than this to use it for. Make sure you totally shuck the corn until completely clean then cutting the kernels off the cobs to measure the 2 cups needed for this recipe. The flavor is even more delicious, and it proves just how versatile this recipe truly is.
How to Serve
This Southern Corn Pudding is a wonderful side dish for any down home meal. This is wonderful with brown stew chicken or smothered pork chops, soul food collard greens, candied sweet potatoes, corn muffins and sweet tea.
You can serve it year round and truly make it your own. And if you want to give this corn pudding a kick, through in some Pimento Cheese.
Favorite Corn Recipes
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Corn Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/2 bell pepper finely chopped
- 4 large eggs room temperature and beaten
- 1/3 cup salted butter melted
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 ears corn shucked
- 2 cans of cream style corn 14.75 ounce each can
- 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Melt butter in large skillet. Saute onion and bell pepper in onion until onions are tender and transparent. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add eggs, butter and sour cream and whisk together until combined. Next add sugar and cornstarch then stir in shucked corn, creamed corn and the tender onion and bell pepper and combine together.
- Pour mixture into greased casserole dish, sprinkle on cheese, cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes then remove foil and bake another 10 minutes.
how soon before I need to bake can I prepare the casserole?
You can prep this today and refrigerate if you would like. Just bring back to room temp before baking.
Would I use two cans of corn in place of the ears and drain juice?
Sure!
This past Christmas I was tasked with bringing Corn Pudding to the holiday meal. I am from New Jersey, so this was not in my grandma’s recipe box, but I knew you would come to the rescue. The Corn Pudding came out fabulously, I was so proud of myself and it tasted SO GOOD! Everyone wanted the recipe (I of course gave you your due credit!) and I was a hit with the in-laws!
Thanks for making me look good at Christmas dinner!!
Such a delicious recipe and the best way to use up my summer corn! Easily, a new favorite dish!
A wonderful dish that is bursting with a variety of flavors from savory to sweet.
I want to make a corn pudding everyone will love
As a former Nebraskan, I thought I have tried everything ‘corn’, but this is the first I have seen of corn pudding. Anxious to try this
I was wondering how much corn meal to add and when. Looking forward to making this for tonight’s Sunday dinner. Thanks!
Hi there, the corn meal was a additional ingredient to add.