Corn Soufflé, on the Family Table for 20 Years

Whether you shuck fresh sweet corn off the cob in summer, or grab a couple of cans from the pantry in the fall and winter, this Corn Soufflé Casserole is the perfect side dish

Corn Casserole? Corn Souffle? Corn Pudding?

Corn Souffle with Fresh Summer Corn

• 8 ears fresh sweet corn, shucked into 4 cups of kernels
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter

• 1 8.5 oz package cornbread mix
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey

Corn Souffle with Canned Corn in the Fall and Winter

fresh/refrigerator ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter

• 1 8.5 oz package Jiffy cornbread mix
• 1 can of whole kernel corn, drained of liquid
• 1 can of cream-style corn

Best Kind of Corn for Corn Souffle Casserole

The best kind of corn for corn soufflé is the one that is most accessible.

Canned Corn. The original, vintage recipe calls for canned corn kernels and canned cream-style corn, and I believe this is simply because the recipe was meant to encourage families to buy canned foods, including corn, in whatever decade convenience foods like canned corn and cornbread mix were made popular. The 1950s? 1960s? I'm not totally sure. Using the canned version of corn are the fastest and easiest.

Frozen Corn. Most people, and by most people I mean me, serve Corn Soufflé in the fall and winter months as part of Holiday dinners, so canned corn is what is available. Though that is closest to the original recipe, that doesn't mean it's the best. I personally think frozen corn tastes better than canned, so if you have access to frozen corn, use it. Frozen vegetables, in general, taste better than canned, and are sometimes even better and easier than fresh because they are frozen exactly at their peak. In general.

Fresh Corn. But of course, nothing will beat summer's fresh sweet corn shucked, cut off the cob, and boiled. The thing is, when fresh corn is actually in season, late summer, the last thing anyone wants to do is turn on the oven for 45 minutes to bake a casserole, let alone eat something hot and heavy. Ok, maybe the last part, yes. But heat up the kitchen to 350°? Bake at your own risk.

Anyway.

Additional Ingredients Notes and Resources

Cornbread Mix. Cornbread mix is different from cornmeal, corn flour, masa or anything that's just ground up corn as a base ingredient. We are talking 99 cent small box of Jiffy cornbread mix, like a cake mix, that includes a few other ingredients like sugar, dehydrated fats, and leaveners. The Cornbread Mix is usually found in the cake mix aisle, and because it is now so closely associated with the Corn Soufflé, sometimes in the canned vegetables aisle so you can get all the ingredients for your corn soufflé in one place.

Sour Cream. The original recipe uses sour cream, but I usually have giant tubs of yogurt already on hand, so use either one.

How to Make Corn Souffle

This is going to sound crazy but the hardest part of making Corn Soufflé is opening the cans. Other than that, you can literally just stir together all of the ingredients (you do have to melt the butter) in a large mixing bowl and pour into a buttered pan.

Pro-tip: Save the wrapper from the butter and use whatever little swirls of butter left on it to grease the pan.

BEST Ingredients to Add to Corn Soufflé

Jalapeño Peppers. Because the Corn Soufflé leans fairly sweet, something spicy like jalapeño peppers are a great taste balance. You can use fresh jalapeño peppers, removing the seeds, and chopping them, or you can use pickled jalapeño peppers from a jar or can, which will also add another dimension of tartness.

Cheese is an obvious and oft-added ingredient mixed into Corn Soufflé. You can stir about 1 cup of coarsely shredded Cheddar or Jack cheese into the batter before pouring into the baking dish, then sprinkle some of the shredded cheese on top. Because the Corn Soufflé is so sweet and rich, I like cheese with a little more "bite" like feta. Crumble 6-8 ounces of feta into fairly large pieces and stir into the batter. Feta doesn't melt the way cheddar or Jack cheese does, so you will get big, soft pockets of tangy feta in your Corn Soufflé!

Hatch Chile Peppers. Toward the end of summer, Hatch green chiles from New Mexico become available, and match corn season if you're using fresh corn. Roast the Hatch chiles, chop them up, and stir into the batter before baking. You can also buy prepared Hatch chiles that are frozen canned or jarred. Hatch chiles vary in heat/spice level, so make sure you read labels or taste them before you add to the Corn Soufflé!

Herbs. You can stir chopped fresh herbs into the Corn Soufflé. The obvious ones (to me) are basil, dill, or parsley. If you have pesto on hand and have people in your orbit who like the flavor of it, pour the corn souffle batter into the baking dish, smooth it out, then spoon about ¼ to ½ cup of pesto on TOP of the souffle and swirl into the batter with a spoon or butter knife.

Is Corn Healthy?

You can ask 10 different people if corn is healthy and get literally, 10 different answers, all of which will very convincingly defend their argument that corn is/is not/"it depends" healthy.

Before we get any further, let's just accept that this Corn Soufflé doesn't promote or support good health the way, say, a spinach salad would promote and support good health. This Corn Soufflé recipe is made with mostly processed foods, contains a good amount of refined sugar in the cornbread mix, which is inarguably not good for any metabolic health, and because it tastes SO GOOD, you will end up being pretty calorically dense.

That all being said, we can still ask, "Is corn by itself healthy?"

The argument for yes. Corn is technically a grass, which means it is a grain, providing the same kinds of nutrients that other grains provide like fiber. Unlike the wheat family of grasses, though, corn does not contain gluten, so it a good source of carbohydrates for those who need to avoid gluten.

The argument for no. Corn, as mentioned above, is technically a grain, not a fruit or vegetable as many of us treat it in the kitchen and in our western lifestyles. Eating corn as a vegetable, if it replaces other actual more nutrient dense vegetables, may not be healthy simply because it is not allowing you to eat more things.

From the perspective of someone who stays within an anti-inflammatory framework, I eat corn, but not often, and approach it as if it were a treat. Eat the best version of it you can, and not too much.

Don't be fooled by the photo.

The recipe for this golden delicious fluff is something you will most certainly not find in any modern cookbook. It merely seemed appropriate to include this Sweet Corn Souffle here because stickeningly sweet corn in bread-ish form is both summery and southern.

The fact is, you wouldn't find a recipe for Sweet Corn Souffle in any real cookbook, for how could any self-respecting chef/food expert/cookbook author take instructions on the back of a box of dry mix and publish it as a "recipe" for birthday cake, pancakes, cornbread or otherwise?

Oh, wait. Sandra Lee does that.

Then again, I did say "respect."

Now, back to the blonde, bubble-headed Barbie doll of a woman whose body couldn't possibly absorb a single molecule of the fat and calorie-laden "food" she "cooks" in front of the camera. On the one hand, the Semi-ho is everything a food lover would hate. Buy everything and fake like you made it. On the other hand, who doesn't love a woman who matches her Chanel-quilted headband to her JV-cheerleader-too-tight deep V-neck cashmere sweater to her apron to the drapes in her "kitchen" to the tiled backsplash and down to her appliances?!?! And when she goes all pink, you know she means business.

I will say that as much as I am not fond of Sandra Lee, I do appreciate the philosophy of semi-homemade. Life moves pretty fast, and there are times when you just have to resort to using the $0.69 box of Jiffy cornbread mix because you don't have time to grow corn in your backyard, harvest the corn, shuck it, cut it, dry it, and do whatever else you're supposed to do to make cornmeal.

So I didn't actually even cheat. It wasn't like I was going to make cornbread and was forced to use a mix out of convenience in the last minute. I actually have a recipe for this Sweet Corn Souffle that specifically calls for the boxed mix as one of the ingredients. I am not quite sure why it's called a "souffle," as there is absolutely nothing souffle-ish about this sour cream-heavy cake hy-bread. Maybe it's the eggs, though they aren't even separated and beaten. Everything is dumped into a bowl, combined and baked.

When I make it, I almost feel a little dirty.

But only until it cools and I eat it.