17 Of The Best Ways To Use Frozen Corn

Frozen vegetables aren't known for inspiring awe in the hearts of home cooks, but they're convenient and great to have on hand for days when you haven't been to the store. If you have a bag of corn in your freezer, you might be looking for recipes to use it in. We've raided the Mashed recipe archives for the best ways to use frozen corn, so you can infuse your meals with summery vibes without the hassle of stripping kernels from cobs.

One of the things we love about this ingredient is how versatile it is. Some of the top ways to use frozen corn put it front and centre in the recipe, such as corn salads and corn fritters. However, it can also be used as a supporting ingredient in things like korma, pasta salad, or fried rice. So, whether you love corn and want it to be the star of the show or you'd rather it was a more subtle addition to your meal, we've got options.

Another brilliant thing about frozen corn is that it's actually quite good. While some frozen veggies end up soggy, mushy, or watery, corn holds up to being frozen pretty well. It might not be quite as crisp as fresh corn, straight off the cob, but it has a better flavor and texture than canned corn. All that's left is to find more ways to use it, and we have 17 recipes where frozen corn is a key ingredient.

Mexican street corn — or elote — is a common street food south of the border, consisting of grilled or boiled corn on the cob slathered in ingredients like mayonnaise, crema, cotija, queso fresco, and Tajin. Our Mexican Street Corn Salad recipe is inspired by these flavors and ingredients, but uses frozen corn to make it quicker and easier to produce.

To make this dish, you saute a couple of bags of frozen corn and a diced onion. This is then mixed with a creamy dressing of lime juice, ranch, grated cheddar, and crumbled feta. However, you could stick to more authentic Mexican flavors by using mayo in place of the ranch and cotija or queso fresco in place of the other cheeses.

Recipe: Mexican Street Corn Salad

Corn is often considered a summer ingredient, since it's in season in the U.S. from roughly May to September. So, what better dinner on a hot day than a Chilled Sweet Corn Soup? And, if you're skeptical about soups that aren't served hot, this one is a great place to start.

The recipe developer, Miriam Hahn, uses fresh corn, but notes that you can also use the frozen stuff without a noticeable difference in the flavor. The main ingredients are corn, onion, yellow bell pepper, tomatoes, and jalapeños. These are blended up and served with cilantro and charred corn as toppings.

Recipe: Chilled Sweet Corn Soup

Southern Fried Corn is a delicious side dish at any time of year. And, while some fried corn recipes call for deep-frying, this one only needs to be sauteed, which makes it more approachable and simple to whip up.

It involves sauteing corn in a couple of tablespoons of fat (butter or a neutral oil would work fine), along with sugar, salt, and flour. Recipe developer Kate Shungu notes that frozen corn is a perfectly good alternative to fresh in this recipe. It may need a slightly longer cooking time, but aside from that, there's no difference in the method.

Recipe: Southern Fried Corn

If you're looking for an easy pasta salad, this one lives up to its name. It uses a cup of corn kernels, and frozen ones work well in this recipe, you just need to make sure to leave time to defrost them first. You could instead saute them until they're warmed through, should you be short on time.

The recipe mixes cooked bow tie pasta with an olive oil based vinaigrette dressing, plus a selection of veggies. In addition to the corn, it contains cherry tomatoes, chickpeas, and fresh basil and chives, though you could use other herbs or vegetables depending on what you have available.

Recipe: Easy Bow Tie Pasta Salad

If you're sick of hummus or guac for chips or crudites, this creamy corn dip should be on your radar. It uses a full bag of frozen corn: either plain or fire-roasted depending on your preference.

After cooking the corn, you mix it with canned chilis, cilantro, scallions, and a dressing of sour cream and mayonnaise. Throw in some shredded cheddar and you've got yourself a chunky dip that's a bit different from the usual go-tos. And, if you prefer a smoother texture, try blending up to half of the ingredients.

Recipe: Creamy Corn Dip

If you're not making crispy fritters from your frozen corn, you're missing out. These are great as a side dish or brilliant for brunch, with smashed avocado and finishing touches of your choice, such as a drizzle of olive oil or hot honey. They taste amazing and are way simpler to make than most people assume.

You take a couple of cups of frozen corn, mix them with some eggs and milk, and then add dry ingredients, like flour, baking powder and spices to form a batter. Fry dollops of this batter in a skillet in a few tablespoons of oil and you've got yourself some delicious Crispy Corn Fritters.

Recipe: Crispy Corn Fritters

Also known as esquites or elote en vaso is another type of Mexican street corn. It's effectively the same thing as elote but traditionally served in a plastic cup to make it easier to eat. You can serve it however you like, but by using frozen corn, you skip the time-consuming step of shucking the cob and paring off the kernels.

After broiling the corn to give it a grilled vibe, you mix it with sour cream, mayo, garlic powder, and lime juice. Add some cotija cheese, fresh cilantro, and hot sauce to taste and you're good to go.

Recipe: Corn in a Cup

Frozen corn isn't the main ingredient in this Navratan Korma recipe, but rather one of several vegetables that go with the sauce. It calls for frozen corn and peas, along with fresh carrots, cauliflower, and potatoes, although you could use other vegetables, depending on what's in season or in your fridge.

These vegetables are boiled to cook them through, before being simmered with a sauce made from tomatoes, cashews, coconut milk, and a range of whole spices. It's delicious served with rice or naan bread, and can be enjoyed alongside other Indian dishes like tarka dal or sag aloo.

Recipe: Navratan Korma

Creamed Corn is a crowd pleaser for a reason and tastes amazing even when made with frozen corn over fresh. Our version, created by recipe developer Susan Olayinka, is sweet but she notes that it's still great as a side to savory dishes.

To make this Creamed Corn, you start by mixing the corn with cream and milk. You then add sugar, salt, a touch of vanilla extract, and cornstarch, and cook until thickened. If you're not sure about the vanilla with savory food, it's fine to leave it out, but we'd recommend giving it a try at least once.

Recipe: Creamed Corn

This one-pot dish doesn't make classic enchiladas but rather a kind of enchilada stew. It uses all the components you might find in the regular version, but makes the process quick, simple, and great for a weeknight dinner.

It consists of corn, of course, but also onions, bell peppers, cooked rice, black beans, enchilada sauce, chopped corn tortillas, and seasonings, all simmered together in a single dish. You can top it with fresh ingredients like diced avocado, cilantro, and pico de gallo.

Recipe: 15 Minute One-Pot Stovetop Enchiladas

Tomato and corn combined makes for a deliciously summery salad. While the recipe was developed with fresh corn in mind, it absolutely works with frozen corn. The corn in the recipe is boiled, so all you need to do is let your frozen corn thaw, although you could pan fry it in butter or olive oil until lightly charred in places to add more flavor.

To make this salad, combine your corn with halved grape tomatoes, minced shallot, basil, and feta cheese. It also contains extra-virgin olive oil and rice vinegar as a dressing, along with salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe: Summer Tomato and Corn Salad

Our Creamy Cornbread Casserole is somewhere between regular cornbread and a corn pudding, as it's largely based around eggs. You bake it in the oven, so it's largely a hands-off dish once you've mixed up the ingredients. And it's a perfect way to use up a lot of frozen corn, since 12 ounces goes into this recipe.

It's an incredibly simple dish to make. You just whip up a batter of eggs, milk, a little flour, and a selection of seasonings, then mix in the corn, a jalapeño, and some shredded cheddar. Bake it in a casserole dish for roughly 45 minutes and it's ready to eat.

Recipe: Creamy Cornbread Casserole

Calabacitas means zucchini in Spanish, but don't let that fool you, because corn plays a major part in this dish, too. It's a versatile vegetable side that's great with rice and beans, in tacos or burritos, or basically anywhere else you fancy it.

It's made by frying some onion and jalapeños, then adding sliced half moons of zucchini and corn — this recipe uses a can of corn, but the frozen kind will work much the same. Once the veggies are cooked to perfection, serve it with some cilantro and queso fresa or cotija.

Recipe: Calabacitas

If you love Panera Corn Chowder, this recipe is for you. But it's a solid chowder, even for those who haven't tried the original. So, if you're looking for a dish that's tasty and comforting, this will do the trick.

You'll need a big bag of frozen corn, along with other ingredients, like potatoes, black beans, bell peppers, and heavy cream. One of the things that makes this chowder so creamy is that potatoes are boiled in vegetable stock with half of the corn. This mixture is blended and makes up part of the base of the soup, along with some heavy cream for good measure.

Recipe: Copycat Panera Corn Chowder

When you have some leftover rice, it would be criminal not to make fried rice. This recipe is for Fried Brown Rice, but it's possible to make it with any rice you have on hand. Making sure it's cooked and chilled before using it improves the texture, which is why it's best with any leftover rice you might have.

Frozen corn and frozen peas or edamame make this a great dinner for when you don't want to do too much prep. You just have to chop some onion, carrot, garlic, and ginger, and the rest of the dish is all leftovers, frozen items, or seasonings.

Recipe: Fried Brown Rice

Corn salsa is delicious with tortilla chips or served on tacos or burritos, in place of or in addition to tomato salsa or salsa verde. This version uses roasted corn for extra flavor, but you don't have to use fresh corn to make it happen.

For this recipe, you take a cup-and-a-half of frozen corn and roast it in the oven with some oil and salt to season it, until it browns slightly in places. Once ready, mix this with diced tomatoes, onions, and jalapeño, minced garlic, fresh cilantro, and lime juice to form a chunky salsa.

Recipe: Roasted Corn Salsa

When you think of loaded sweet potatoes, corn might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but this one is topped with corn, among other ingredients. It's designed to come together quickly, so you could have dinner on the table in 15 minutes.

Microwaving the sweet potatoes speeds things up compared to baking them. The recipe calls for cooked corn, and frozen corn is blanched before freezing, so you only need to defrost it. Though, if you don't have the time to spare, you can simmer or saute it to speed things along. Load the corn into the potato along with sour cream or Greek yogurt, black beans, red onion, and chives.

Recipe: 15-Minute Loaded Sweet Potato