Old-Fashioned Corn Pudding
On a Southern holiday table the ham may get the carving knife, but the corn pudding gets the queue. Golden on top, soft as custard underneath, sweet with corn and only just sweet with sugar — it's the dish that quietly vanishes first, and the one the visiting cousins ask to have written down. There's a boxed-mix version doing the rounds these days; grandma's came before the box and needs none of it — two tins of corn and things already in the cupboard.
Two things separate silky corn pudding from a rubbery one. First, bake it low and gentle — a moderate oven, or better still the dish sat in a roasting tin of hot water, sets the custard like silk instead of scrambling it. Second, take it out while the centre still wobbles — set at the edges, a gentle tremble in the very middle, like a just-set jelly. It finishes cooking as it rests, and that ten-minute rest is not optional.
One bowl, one whisk, and the oven does the rest. Drain the kernels properly, pour the custard over, and bake it beside whatever the main event is — this is the from-scratch corn pudding exactly as it was made before anyone thought to sell it in a box.
Old-Fashioned Corn Pudding
Sweet-savoury custardy corn baked golden — the holiday side everyone spoons up first, no boxed mix needed.
Ingredients
- 2 × 340 g tins sweetcorn, very well drained (about 520 g kernels)
- 1 × 418 g tin creamed sweetcorn
- 4 eggs
- 250 ml whole milk
- 85 g butter, melted, plus extra for the dish
- 50 g caster sugar and 30 g plain flour
- 1 tsp salt, ¼ tsp black pepper and a small grating of nutmeg
Method
- Prep. Oven to 170°C (fan 150°C / gas 3). Butter a 2-litre baking dish (about 23 cm square). Tip the kernels into a sieve and press them dry with the back of a spoon.
- Whisk. Eggs, caster sugar, flour, salt, pepper & nutmeg until completely smooth. Whisk in the milk, then the melted butter.
- Fold. Stir in the drained kernels and the creamed corn, then pour into the buttered dish.
- Bake. 50–60 minutes, until golden and set at the edges with a gentle wobble left in the very centre. For the silkiest custard, sit the dish in a roasting tin half-filled with hot water — allow up to 70 minutes.
- Rest. 10–15 minutes on the side — it finishes setting as it stands. Serve warm, spooned straight from the dish.
Taste a kernel before you start — if your corn is very sweet, take the sugar down to a tablespoon. Corn pudding should sit just on the sweet side of savoury, never like dessert.
Tips for silky corn pudding
Drain, then drain again
Tip the kernels into a sieve and press with the back of a spoon. The liquid in the tin is where watery corn pudding comes from.
Gentle heat, silky custard
Keep the oven moderate, or sit the dish in a roasting tin of hot water. Fierce heat scrambles the custard — grainy, weeping, sad.
Pull it at the wobble
Edges set, centre trembling like a just-set jelly. It finishes in the 10-minute rest — bake it firm and it turns rubbery.
Questions, answered
What is the difference between corn pudding, creamed corn and spoonbread?
Corn pudding is a baked egg custard with whole corn kernels folded through — soft enough to spoon, set enough to hold its shape. Creamed corn is a stovetop side of kernels in a creamy sauce, with no eggs and no baking. Spoonbread is made with cornmeal and beaten eggs, so it bakes up light and soufflé-like. Corn pudding sits between the two: custardy like spoonbread but with no cornmeal, and corn-rich like creamed corn but baked until just set.
Why is my corn pudding watery?
Two usual culprits. Overbaking makes the custard curdle and weep out its liquid — take it out while the centre still wobbles, then let it rest, as it sets fully as it stands. The other is undrained corn: press the kernels dry in a sieve, because liquid from the tin bakes out as a puddle underneath. An oven that is too hot does the same, so keep it at 170°C or use a water bath.
Can I use frozen or fresh corn instead of tinned?
Yes. Swap the tinned kernels for about 500 g frozen sweetcorn, thawed and patted very dry, or the kernels cut from 4 to 5 fresh cobs. For the creamed element, either keep the tin of creamed sweetcorn or blitz a third of the kernels with the milk until roughly creamy — that creamed portion is what gives the pudding its old-fashioned body.
Can I make corn pudding ahead of time?
Bake it up to 2 days ahead, cool, cover and refrigerate, then reheat covered with foil at 160°C (fan 140°C) for 20 to 25 minutes until hot through. You can also mix the custard and fold in the corn a few hours ahead and keep it chilled — give it a good stir before pouring and baking. Freezing is not recommended, as the custard weeps when thawed.