Cream Cheese Corn Casserole

Here’s how to make this creamy, cheesy corn casserole!

How to Make Cream Cheese Corn Casserole:

Recipe Ingredients:

Here’s everything you’ll need to make this corn casserole with cream cheese recipe. See the recipe card below for the exact quantities.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions:

• Scallions: I like scallions in this recipe because of their delicate onion flavor and because they cook quickly in the butter. You can use onion if you prefer, but you may need to add oil to keep the onion and butter from burning because onion takes longer to soften.
• Milk or Half-and-Half: You can use either; whole milk is preferable to anything lower fat, such as 2%, 1% or skim.
• Corn Kernels: Use frozen thawed corn kernels for ease or fresh corn kernels when fresh corn is in season.
• Mexican Blend Cheese: I used Mexican blend cheese because it melts nicely. You can also use Monterey Jack or Pepperjack cheese.
• Cream Cheese: You can use full-fat cream cheese or reduced-fat Neufchatel.
• Green Chiles: Use hot or mild canned green or Hatch chiles. If you have your own roasted Hatch green chiles, by all means, use them. I used my own, and they really pack a punch to this cream cheese corn casserole recipe. Leave them out completely if you don’t care for anything hot.

Step-By-Step Instructions:

• Gather and prep all the ingredients.
• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 1 to 1 1/2-quart baking dish or spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
• Here’s my secret tip (more information in the Chef Tips and Tricks section): Place the milk or half-and-half in a blender or container that will allow you to puree some of the corn with an immersion (hand) blender. Add 1 cup of the corn kernels to the milk or half-and-half and puree until smooth. (It won’t get completely smooth because of the nature of corn.) Set aside.

• Heat the butter in a skillet or saute pan over medium heat.
• Add the scallions, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until softened.

• Add the pureed corn combination and the remaining corn kernels to the skillet, stir and bring to a simmer.

• Add the cream cheese and green chiles. Cook over medium-low heat until the cream cheese is incorporated.
• Add additional milk or half-and-half if you like it looser and creamier.

• Stir in half the shredded Mexican cheese blend.

• Transfer to the prepared baking dish and top with the remaining shredded Mexican cheese blend.
• MAKE AHEAD: Can be made 1 to 2 days ahead of time to this point. cover and refrigerate. Let sit out at room temperature while the oven preheats. You may need to add additional baking time.

• Bake the cheesy corn casserole for 30 to 35 minutes or until hot and bubbling.
• Creamy, cheesy, decadent, delicious, spicy! Cream Cheese Corn Casserole with Green Chiles!

Chef Tips and Tricks:

• One thing that always bothered me about cheesy corn casseroles was that the corn flavor wasn’t throughout the creamy base; it was just corn combined with cream cheese. To solve this, I puree some corn kernels into the milk or half-and-half to bump up the corn flavor throughout the casserole.
• Breaking the cream cheese into smaller bits after adding it to the pan will help incorporate it faster.