Homemade Creamed Corn is easy to make and so full of flavor! This is a wonderful side dish for BBQ style meals or for special holiday dinners.

Made with corn in a rich and creamy Béchamel sauce, this from scratch recipe tastes so much better than canned!

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

ingredients for creamed corn with text labels — Ingredients for Creamed Corn: Corn, butter, onion, garlic, milk, cream, sugar, cream cheese, flour, salt, pepper and dried thyme.

Ingredient notes

Corn: You can use either canned or frozen corn for this recipe. I suppose fresh would be very delicious, but you’ll need to cook it first. Defrost frozen corn before adding it to the sauce in order to make it easier to bring it to a safe temperature.
Milk/cream: Feel free to use all milk for a lighter dish, or go for half-and-half. Evaporated milk would also work if that’s all you have in the house.
Sugar: Feel free to skip this if you don’t want to add sugar.
Cream cheese: This isn’t mandatory in the recipe and if you’re not a fan, then feel free to skip it. You may need to add a few more splashes of milk to make up for the lost creaminess, but only add more milk once the corn is heated. Otherwise, you may end up with a soupy dish.
Butter: Feel free to use stick margarine instead of the butter, if you prefer. A spreadable margarine would not work very well, its water content is usually too high. You can also use a dairy-free butter, if needed.

How to make Creamed Corn

1. Start by cooking the onion and garlic in butter. You’ll want to give this enough time to fully cook and soften the onion over medium heat. The ingredients shouldn’t brown, but you need the onion fully cooked or the raw taste will linger in the finished dish.

2. Next, stir in the seasoning and the flour until smooth, then cook for 1-2 minutes until frothy, stirring constantly. Again, you do not want the flour or onions to brown, so stick to medium heat.

sautéed onion and garlic in Dutch oven — sauté onion and garlic in butter

sautéed aromatics and roux in Dutch oven — sauté onion and garlic in butter

3. Next, gradually pour in the milk while stirring constantly. You do not want any lumps, make sure everything stays smooth.

4. Stir in the cream and simmer the sauce until thickened over medium-low heat. You’ll want to stir constantly so the sauce doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pot – don’t worry, the thickening only takes a few minutes.

5. Then stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer until the corn is fully heated, about 5-10 minutes (it is imperial to fully heat and cook the corn, especially if using frozen!).

corn in Dutch oven with Béchamel sauce — add remaining ingredients

corn stirred into Béchamel sauce in Dutch oven — add remaining ingredients

6. Finally, remove 1 cup of the cooked corn mixture and blend it with a hand blender until mostly smooth (the corn will not blend to fully smooth, just make sure everything is broken up).

7. Stir the blended corn back into the pot with your creamed corn. Check for seasoning and adjust salt/pepper as needed. Serve immediately.

overhead view of white bowl filled with creamed corn and garnished with fresh thyme

Recipe tips

Make sure to fully cook the onion in the first step. If it’s still partially raw when you add the milk, the raw taste can linger in the finished dish and you’ll miss the natural sweetness/flavor from the fully sautéed onion.
Do not allow the onion, garlic or flour to brown. Always use medium heat (or even medium-low if your stove is very strong or you feel like your pot is getting too hot).
Make sure to never leave the dish unattended on the stove. It doesn’t take a lot of time to make it, but it’s something you really can’t walk away from. You need to stir it often to keep it from catching and burning on the bottom of the pot.
Feel free blend a second cup of the dish if you prefer a more blended type of creamed corn.
If using frozen corn, defrost it before adding it to the dish. Make sure to fully heat and cook the defrosted corn in the sauce. You can even pre-cook the corn separately before stirring it into the sauce if you’re unsure. Frozen vegetables can bear the risk of illness if not fully heated through.

How to make a Roux/Béchamel sauce for beginners

This technique is called making a roux (cooking flour in butter) to make a Béchamel sauce (adding milk/cream to create a creamy, thickened white sauce). Here are my tips to make a roux without messing it up if you are a beginner:

You must use medium to medium-low heat to cook the flour/butter mixture and the flour mustn’t brown.
If you are new to making roux, I highly recommend taking the pot off the heat to stir in the flour. This gives you a little more time to avoid lumps and to keep the flour from getting too hot. Once you have fully stirred the flour into the butter, place the pot back over medium heat again and cook for 30-60 seconds, stirring constantly, until the flour is foamy.
Now take the pot off the heat again and gradually stir in the milk. This is not how you usually make a béchamel sauce (you’d leave it on the heat), but I have tested this several times and for beginners, it’s an absolutely easy way to make a great roux/béchamel without creating a lumpy or burned sauce.
Once you have fully combined the milk (plus any other liquid your recipe calls for) with the flour mixture, set the pot back over medium-low heat and simmer until thickened while constantly stirring.

For more tips on making a roux/homemade Béchamel, check out my post on how to make a classic Béchamel sauce!

Serving ideas

Creamed corn is such a great side dish for a comfort food dinner. I thought I’d share some of my favorite dinner recipes that pair wonderfully with creamed corn:

For a BBQ style dinner, try any of my oven fried chicken recipes with this creamed corn, mashed potatoes, baked beans and coleslaw.

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.