Recipe Overview
✨ Texture: Velvety cream cheese sauce with juicy corn, crispy bacon, and tender sauteed vegetables.
🥣 Ease: Easy stovetop side dish with simple ingredients that pack so much flavor!
🎉 Best For: Holiday dinners, summer gatherings, or anytime you need a quick frozen corn side dish!
🌶️ Customize It: Add a bit of spice to this cream cheese corn recipe! Jalapeño, green chiles, fresh herbs, or red pepper flakes are fun, flavorful mix-ins to try.
This is one of my favorite corn side dishes! I add sautéed onions, red bell peppers, and green onions for even more flavor and a colorful finish to this bacon-filled creamed corn.
I love that it doesn’t take up any precious oven space during holiday food prep! This easy corn side dish comes together on the stovetop in just minutes for a no-stress addition to the meal. It’s one of those perfectly delicious side dish recipes that works just as well for Thanksgiving and Christmas as it does for an everyday dinner.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are a few notes on some of the key ingredients to make this cream cheese corn. Jump to the recipe card below for the exact measurements.
- Corn: I use frozen corn for this recipe because it has a fresher flavor and better texture than canned corn. There’s no need to thaw it first.
- Bacon: Thick-cut or regular bacon both work well in this recipe. I prefer regular bacon for a little more crispiness.
- Milk: Any type of milk will work here. I even use heavy cream sometimes for an extra-rich, velvety sauce.
- Cream cheese: I recommend full-fat cream cheese for the creamiest sauce. Reduced-fat cream cheese will also work, but the sauce may not be quite as rich.
How to Make Cream Cheese Corn
Here’s an overview of how to make this recipe. You can jump to the recipe for the full instructions!
Cook the Bacon: I like to cut the bacon into small pieces with kitchen scissors before cooking it in the skillet. It cooks evenly this way and saves me the extra step of chopping hot bacon afterward.
Sauté the Vegetables: I cook the onion and red pepper in some of the bacon drippings to create a flavorful base before adding the frozen corn. I typically use yellow corn, but white corn works too!
For the Smoothest Sauce: I cube the cream cheese before adding it to the skillet so it melts evenly without leaving chunks in the mixture. This is also when I add the seasonings.
Remove from Heat: I wait until the creamed corn is off the heat before adding the green part of the green onion so they stay fresh and colorful. Then I top the side dish with a little more bacon for a crispy finish!
More Holiday Side Dish Recipes
Corn Side Dish with Cream Cheese and Bacon
Ingredients
- 8 slices bacon, chopped
- 24 ounces frozen corn kernels, white or yellow
- ½ cup white onion, diced
- ½ cup red pepper, diced
- 8 ounces cream cheese, cubed
- 2 tablespoons milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 green onions (green part only), thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a large nonstick skillet, add the bacon. Cook over medium heat until golden and crisp. Scoop the bacon out onto a paper towel-lined plate.
- Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease. Add the onion and red pepper and cook over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the corn and cook for another 5-7 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender and the corn is heated through.
- Add the cream cheese, milk, sugar, pepper and salt. Stir until the cream cheese is melted and everything is evenly incorporated.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the green onions. Top with the bacon before serving and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published in November 2023. It was updated with new photos and instructions in September 2026.
