Spoon Bread
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Spoon bread—a creamy, comforting twist on cornbread packed with fresh corn flavor. This easy homemade spoon bread combines fresh ingredients for a rich, buttery side dish that’s perfect any time of year—from summer cookouts to holiday dinners.
Spoon bread, also known as corn casserole or corn pudding, is a creamier version of cornbread that you eat with a spoon. The most well-known recipe is from Jiffy and is typically made from Jiffy corn muffin mix, butter, sour cream, eggs, canned corn, and canned creamed corn. This from-scratch version barely takes any longer to make, yet it’s so much more delicious. Making your own cornbread mix — with flour, sugar, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder — and using fresh corn makes all the difference.
This is a wonderful summer dish to make when fresh corn is in season (check out my favorite corn recipes for more ideas). During the cooler months, it’s delicious as a Thanksgiving side dish or paired with roasted chicken or steak. (When fresh corn is not available, opt for frozen corn over canned.)
“Being from NH, I’d never heard of spoon bread. Lucky for me, my son-in-law is from the south. He encouraged me to try it and I’m hooked. We’ve had it once a week for the past month. He told me it tastes just like his Grams!”
What You’ll Need To Make Spoon Bread
- All-Purpose Flour: Adds structure and helps create the soft, tender texture of the spoon bread, balancing the cornmeal’s natural grit. To ensure accuracy, measure the flour by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off.
- Yellow Cornmeal: Provides the classic corn flavor and a slight grit, giving the dish its signature texture and traditional cornbread taste.
- Sugar: Adds a touch of sweetness that balances the savory elements, enhancing the corn’s natural sweetness.
- Baking Powder: Acts as a leavening agent, helping the spoon bread rise and achieve its light, fluffy texture.
- Butter: Adds rich flavor and moisture, ensuring each bite is tender and melt-in-your-mouth.
- Creamed Corn: Contributes moisture, creaminess, and a concentrated corn flavor, and makes the spoon bread richer and softer.
- Fresh Corn Kernels: Provide bursts of fresh, sweet corn flavor and texture, adding a nice contrast to the creaminess. (This is best with fresh corn but when it’s not in season, opt for frozen corn over canned.)
- Sour Cream: Adds tanginess, creaminess, and moisture, creating a rich, velvety consistency.
- Eggs: Bind the ingredients together, giving structure to the spoon bread and ensuring it sets properly with a custard-like center.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Use a serrated knife to cut the kernels off the cobs. Placing a kitchen towel on top of the cutting board prevents the corn kernels from bouncing all over the place.
Add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder to a medium bowl.
Whisk together.
In another bowl, melt the butter.
Add the creamed corn and fresh corn kernels.
Add the sour cream and beaten eggs.
Fold in the sour cream and stir the mixture until evenly combined.
Add the dry ingredients.
Mix until the batter is uniform.
Pour batter into the prepared 2-quart baking dish.
Bake until the top is golden brown and the center is set, 40 to 45 minutes (a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the spoon bread should come out clean).
Serve warm or room temperature.
Make-Ahead Instructions
Spoon bread can be made up to 2 days ahead of time. To reheat, cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and warm in a 300°F-oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until warmed through.
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Spoon Bread
Spoon bread—a creamy, comforting twist on cornbread packed with fresh corn flavor. This easy homemade spoon bread combines fresh ingredients for a rich, buttery side dish that’s perfect any time of year—from summer cookouts to holiday dinners.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- ½ cup yellow cornmeal
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the baking dish
- 1 (8.5 oz) can creamed corn
- 1⅓ cups raw fresh corn kernels, cut from 2 ears of corn (frozen kernels may be substituted)
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Grease a 2-quart or 8-inch baking dish with butter.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
- In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, creamed corn, and fresh corn kernels. Add the sour cream and beaten eggs and mix until evenly combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until the batter is uniform. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish and bake until the top is golden brown and the center is set, 40 to 45 minutes (a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the spoon bread should come out clean). Serve warm or room temperature.
- Make-Ahead Instructions: Spoon bread can be made up to 2 days ahead of time. To reheat, cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and warm in a 300°F-oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until warmed through.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (8 servings)
- Calories: 370
- Fat: 19 g
- Saturated fat: 11 g
- Carbohydrates: 45 g
- Sugar: 15 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 6 g
- Sodium: 363 mg
- Cholesterol: 92 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Hi Jenn! I’m sure you’re busy with your own Thanksgiving prep, so it’s ok if you don’t have time to answer this!!! I just made the spoon bread (first time), and I will reheat it on Thursday for Thanksgiving. It says to reheat at 300, but some of the other recipes I’m making (all yours!) need to be reheated/baked at 350. Will this dry out the spoon bread? Can I just leave it in for a shorter time? I always get confused when mixing oven temps. Thanks so much!
Karen
Hi Karen, It’s totally fine to reheat at 350 for less time. Happy Thanksgiving!
My local grocery store only had self-rising corn meal.
What adjustments can I make?
Hi Coleyn, I don’t recommend self-rising cornmeal here. Sorry!
I would like to make this for thanksgiving… will it work if i doubled recipe ?
Sure – enjoy!
This is delicious. Can you use a cornbread mix as your base? If so, how large a pkg. would you need along with the butter, both corn types, sour cream and eggs.
Glad you like it! Unfortunately, it won’t work to use cornbread mix here.
This was delicious!! I will definitely make it again, was great with our steaks but would love it with a good soup! Thanks so much:)
Being from NH, I’d never heard of spoon bread. Lucky for me, my son-in-law is from the south. He encouraged me to try it and I’m hooked. We’ve had it once a week for the past month. He told me it tastes just like his Grams!
If frozen corn is used should it be used frozen or thawed?
Yes, I’d thaw it first. Enjoy!
This is a fantastic recipe. I made it tonight 9/13/21 to go with your best beef chili recipe and let me tell you it was fantastic. They go together so well. The spoon bread is very good and I will definitely be making it over and over again. The recipe is perfect exactly as written would not change a thing. Thanks again for another great one.
Have made this recipe twice in the last week. Delicious!
Used 1/4 cup sugar and it was perfect!
Loved the spoon bread! The recipe was easy to follow with ingredients readily available in my kitchen. I made it with frozen corn and it was delicious. I will be making this over and over. Will substitute with lower fat ingredients one at a time but when I want a treat this is it!
Loved this so much! Reduced the sugar to 1/3 cup instead of 1/2 cup and it was the perfect amount of sweetness for me and my husband. Thank you for sharing. This will be our go-to recipe when we want cornbread.