Family Recipe: Corn Casserole with Bacon (2024)

My brother not only made dinner for me after I had Adrienne, but he also wrote a guest post for my blog about it. And to top it all off, he reads my blog and knows me well enough to say this with his email: “I took lots of pictures and took out all my extra spaces after periods.” Is he good, or is he good?

Welcome, James – and thank you for both a meal that included bacon-y goodness AND a blog post about it!

A few weeks back, my sister had a baby, and although her 6-year-old daughter is quite brilliant, she’s not quite the chef of the family yet. As a good brother, I volunteered to make dinner for one of our weekly, Thursday night family dinners. I thought I’d do something impressive (read: a deliciously lit and photographed recipe for double-dipped, buttermilk fried chicken I found on Pinterest).

Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out, which ended in a very grumpy, unplanned trip to KFC. Luckily, I had made all the sides from scratch: mashed potatoes, homemade biscuits, and creamed corn with bacon. I had made the mashed potatoes before. I had made the biscuits. But I had never made this creamed corn (with bacon).

Bacon. I knew my audience. I knew how to hook ‘em. More importantly, the creamed bacon with corn (I mean…creamed corn with bacon) was a huge hit! I made enough so there was plenty for another meal, and my sister texted later that she would have to arm wrestle my brother-in-law for the leftovers. So, here we are, much later and with my own Pinterest-worthy pictures, learning how to jazz up corn with everything good in the world.

CREAMED CORN WITH BACON

Preheat your oven to 400F. While the oven preheats, line a large, rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Then (are you ready?) lay a pound…yes, the whole pound…of bacon in a single layer onto the foil. Bake the bacon for 18 to 20 minutes, or until it’s quite brown and crispy.

As the bacon bakes, get out a big Dutch oven and start to melt a quarter pound of butter (that’s a whole stick for those of you who are counting). You’ll need half of a medium onion, diced finely. Don’t shed too many tears. You’ll want to save those for when you break down crying, asking yourself why you haven’t made this before.

Add the diced onion to the butter and sauté just until the onion is translucent. I like my onions brown and sweet, which means I probably go a bit further than “translucent,” but to each their own.

Once the onion is just how you like it, add the cream cheese a little at a time. Use the 1/3 less fat kind if you’d like, but why waste everyone’s time?

After cutting the cream cheese into 1-inch cubes, add it to the pan, stirring after each addition. The cream cheese melts and mixes with the butter and onion. If you’re faint of heart, have someone else do this step. The onion/cream cheese/butter combination is not the prettiest sight to behold.

Cue the stabbing, shower scene music from “Psycho.” It’s pretty dreadful, but never fear, the bacon is probably finished in the oven by now. Deep breaths. Oh…bacon. Sweet, sweet bacon. Bacon always saves the day. You’ll need to take it out of the oven so it has time to cool a bit.

If you didn’t have a Homer Simpson moment and immediately start drooling, then you may want to check your pulse. Mmmm….bacon….

Let’s see more of that bacon.

If you aren’t sitting down already, feel free to get a little weak in the knees and take a seat…but not really, because there’s work to do! While the bacon is cooling, and the cream cheese is melting in the pot, open up 4 cans of low- or no-sodium, whole-kernel corn.

{Full disclosure: I cut myself on one of these lids. Safety first!}

Four cans seems like a lot of corn, and this is coming from someone who lived in Iowa for 11 years! But you’re planning on feeding a small army, right? After opening the corn, toss it in a colander for quick draining. Or be brave and use the lid to drain off all the liquid. I’m not that talented, and usually lose half the corn down the drain.

After draining the corn, return to the pan and give the cream cheese and onion mixture a stir. Add some parmesan cheese to the pot, and sprinkle in some pepper. Then in goes the corn. No need to work out today, your arms will be pumped up after stirring this big pot of goodness.

Does it seem like we might have forgotten something? Of course not! Now is the time to chop up your cooled bacon. All of it (minus the little piece you pulled off to try…just to make sure it was crispy enough, of course).

After chopping up the bacon (and trying another piece) add it to the pot with the corn, cream cheese, and onions. Stir it all together, then put the mixture into a 9×9 inch pan. Add a little more parmesan cheese to the top, and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Because really, what could make cheese and bacon more appealing than some melted butter?

Put the casserole in the already preheated oven and cook 15-20 minutes, or until bubbly and brown around the edges. You will need to let it cool for a bit, but good luck with that. This stuff is tasty, and has now been added to my recipe box as a “complete success,” which will be made over and over and over. Enjoy!

CREAMED CORN WITH BACON

Ingredients:
– 1/4 cup butter
– 1/2 medium white onion, diced
– 1 pound bacon, cooked and chopped
– 2 – 8 ounce packages cream cheese
– 1/2 cup parmesan cheese + more for the top
– 1/2 tsp black pepper
– 4 cans no- or low-sodium whole-kernel corn, drained
– 2 tbsp melted butter

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F. On a foil-lined, rimmed sheet pan, bake 1 pound of bacon for 18-20 minutes, or until crispy. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
2. In a Dutch oven, cook onion in 1/4 pound (4 tbsp) of butter until translucent.
3. Add the cream cheese to the pan a little at a time, stirring continuously, until the cream cheese is smooth.
4. Add the parmesan cheese and black pepper.
5. Stir in the drained corn.
6. Chop the cooled bacon, and add it to the pan.
7. Pour the corn mixture into a 9×9 oven-safe dish. Sprinkle the top of the casserole with additional parmesan cheese, and drizzle with 2 tablespoons melted butter.
8. Bake the casserole for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges are bubbling and browned. Let cool for at least 10 minutes and serve.

You guys, I can’t even tell you how good this corn was – and I’m not just saying that because it was a meal I didn’t have to cook myself. It was DELISH, and I have demanded requested it become an official staple at all of our family gatherings. (Not the weekly ones. That would be overkill. We’re not animals.)

So, the moral of this story? Make this corn. You’re welcome.

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