Skillet Creamed Corn with Bacon
Corn cut off the cob and the cobs scraped for their milky juice, cooked fast in bacon fat with shallots, then bubbled with a little cream and cayenne and finished with crisp bacon and scallions.
Edited by JP Lambiase
Change the estimate
Swaps change the price only: cook any meat to its own safe temperature. Where these numbers come from
The "cream" in the oldest creamed corn is the corn itself. Wikipedia describes creamed corn as whole kernels in a soupy liquid made from the milky pulp of immature kernels scraped from the cob, says canned creamed corn usually contains no cream at all, and notes that it is eaten most in the Midwestern and Southern United States. The same article says the dish began in Native American cooking, but gives no source for that, so we treat it as unconfirmed. Southern cooks make a close cousin called fried corn, cooked in a skillet of bacon fat with the scrapings from the cob; we found it only in home cooks' recipes, not in a history we could cite. America's Test Kitchen's version "milks" the cob with the back of a knife to catch that sweet juice, then cooks the corn only briefly so it still tastes fresh.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Corn cut off the cob and the cobs scraped for their milky juice, cooked fast in bacon fat with shallots, then bubbled with a little cream and cayenne and finished with crisp bacon and scallions.
🇺🇸 The original
The original is succotash: corn and beans cooked together, the Three Sisters of Native American farming with squash beside them. See the Three Sisters Succotash recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Milk the cob
The scraped pulp is starchy and sweet, so it thickens the cream and tastes more like corn than any added flour would (ATK).
Cook it fast
Two minutes in hot fat brings out the corn's sweetness without turning it starchy, and the cream only needs to reduce, not simmer for long (ATK).
🧰 You'll need 4 items
Everything the steps call for. Tick off what you have before you start.
Pans and pots
Tools
Step by step
- Step 1
Stand each ear of corn in a wide bowl and cut the kernels off with a sharp knife. Then turn the knife over and scrape the bare cob firmly with the back of the blade, so the milky pulp falls into the bowl with the kernels.
- Step 2
Cook the bacon in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until crisp. Lift it onto a paper-towel-lined plate.
- Step 3
Pour off all but 1 tbsp of the fat. Add the shallots and cook about 2 minutes, until soft.
- Step 4
Add the corn and all its scrapings and cook about 2 minutes, stirring, until the kernels turn deep yellow and just soften.
- Step 5
Stir in the cream and cayenne and simmer about 2 minutes, until the liquid reduces and turns thick and glossy around the corn.
✓ What it should look like - Step 6
Stir in the scallions and half the bacon, season with salt and pepper, and serve with the rest of the bacon on top.
Skillet Creamed Corn with Bacon
Serves 4 · about 3 cups · 35 min total
- 6 slices bacon, chopped
- 3 medium shallots, minced (or 1 small red onion)
- 5 medium ears fresh corn (about 3 cups kernels), or see Tips for frozen
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- Salt and black pepper
Equipment: 12-inch skillet, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons, Mixing bowls
Method
- Stand each ear of corn in a wide bowl and cut the kernels off with a sharp knife. Then turn the knife over and scrape the bare cob firmly with the back of the blade, so the milky pulp falls into the bowl with the kernels.
- Cook the bacon in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until crisp. Lift it onto a paper-towel-lined plate.
- Pour off all but 1 tbsp of the fat. Add the shallots and cook about 2 minutes, until soft.
- Add the corn and all its scrapings and cook about 2 minutes, stirring, until the kernels turn deep yellow and just soften.
- Stir in the cream and cayenne and simmer about 2 minutes, until the liquid reduces and turns thick and glossy around the corn.
- Stir in the scallions and half the bacon, season with salt and pepper, and serve with the rest of the bacon on top.
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen (Cook's Country, August/September 2006), "Spicy Creamed Corn with Bacon and Scallions" (posted July 27, 2011), as written for 4. The frozen-corn option in Tips is ours, for November. America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- For Thanksgiving (ours): fresh corn is out of season in November. Use 1 lb (about 3 1/4 cups) frozen corn, thawed and patted dry; pulse a third of it a few times in a food processor to stand in for the scraped pulp.
- Make-ahead (ours): cook and chop the bacon Wednesday and refrigerate it; cut the corn Wednesday. The dish itself takes 10 minutes on Thursday and is best made last.
- Double it in a Dutch oven for 8; cook the corn in two batches so it browns instead of steaming.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Creamed corn is made with cream. Disputed: Wikipedia says canned creamed corn usually has no cream, and the creaminess comes from the scraped pulp; home versions like ATK's add a little cream.
- Creamed corn is a Native American dish. Disputed: Wikipedia says so with no source; corn is a Native American crop, but we found no history of this dish to cite.
- Never skip scraping the cob. Documented as ATK's method; it is where the thickening comes from.
- Southern fried corn and creamed corn are the same dish. Folklore: home cooks use both names for skillet corn; we found no authority that settles it.
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