American
Creamed Corn
Corn simmers in milk and cream with a little butter and a cornstarch slurry so the sauce turns glossy. It should coat a spoon, not run like soup.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 25 min
- Servings
- 6
- Difficulty
- Easy
Why you’ll love it
- Cutting the kernels and then scraping the cobs, if you use fresh ears, gives the sauce a natural body.
- A cornstarch slurry thickens the milk without a floury taste.
- Sugar is there to underline the corn, not to make a dessert.
- A low simmer after the slurry goes in keeps the sauce from breaking.
Ingredients
Ingredient amounts scale. Oven temperature and cook time do not. Salt, spices, and leaveners are a starting point after you scale. Taste and adjust.
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Instructions
- 1
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the corn and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes.
- 2
Stir in the sugar, kosher salt, black pepper, and paprika.
- 3
Pour in the heavy cream and 3/4 cup of the whole milk. Bring to a gentle simmer.
- 4
Whisk the cornstarch into the remaining 1/4 cup whole milk until smooth.
- 5
Stir the slurry into the corn. Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring, until the sauce turns glossy and coats the kernels, 3 to 4 minutes.
- 6
If it looks thicker than you want, loosen it with a splash of milk. If it looks thin, simmer 1 minute more.
- 7
Serve hot.
Pro tips
- Frozen corn works. Thaw it and pat it dry so you are not simmering ice water.
- Do not dump dry cornstarch into the hot pot. It clumps. Mix it with the cold milk first.
- Pull the pan off the heat as soon as the sauce coats a spoon. It thickens a bit more as it cools.
Easy substitutions
- Heavy cream
- Evaporated milk
- Cornstarch
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, whisked into the cold milk the same way
- Paprika
- A pinch of cayenne
Storage and reheating
Storage
Refrigerate in a covered container up to 3 days. The sauce will thicken in the fridge.
Reheating
Warm in a saucepan over medium-low heat with a splash of milk, stirring, until hot and creamy again.
Nutrition
Estimates per serving, using standard ingredient averages and rounded to the nearest gram. This is not a lab analysis, and it shifts if you change brands or add sides.
- Calories
- 222
- Protein
- 5 g
- Carbs
- 28 g
- Fat
- 10 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
Budget friendly · Stovetop
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An air fryer with a real basket
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A half-sheet pan
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An instant-read thermometer
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