Mexican Street Corn Casserole
This Mexican street corn casserole is a Mexican-inspired dish that’s perfect for taco Tuesdays, summertime, and any time the cravings for Elote appear. This dish is full of delicious Mexican street corn spices, queso fresco cheese, and cilantro. This casserole is the perfect side to our Mexican Lasagna, Mexican quinoa, Ensalada de Pollo (Mexican Chicken Salad), and sheet pan chicken fajitas. It’s also incorporated into my Corn Fries recipe.
Why This Recipe Works
Elote is a Spanish word meaning “corn” and street corn is a pretty famous and delicious treat enjoyed by many. Although that corn is served still on the cob, you can’t deny how much easier it is to prepare in a baking dish and “off the cob” like we’re doing here today.
We love this street corn casserole because it packs all of those delicious flavors into every bite and requires minimal effort to prep. Serve it alongside some tasty tacos like my Baja Taco Recipe or my Roasted Cauliflower Tacos if you want a veggie-filled dinner.
This Mexican corn casserole is actually pretty perfect on its own and doesn’t need much to make it feel like a complete meal. The flavors complement many dishes and meats though so you shouldn’t have too hard of a time planning something fabulous for dinner.
Ingredients
- Corn: You’re going to need corn for a corn casserole, and while you could simply cut corn off of the cob, frozen corn works best. Not only that but frozen corn makes it so much easier to prep!
- Spices: We use a combination of chili powder, garlic powder, and salt.
- Cheese: While you could use cotija cheese, we enjoy this dish best with queso fresco Mexican cheese because it gives such a great flavor.
Step-By-Step Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Combine the corn (frozen or thawed) and the mayo, sour cream, 1 ½ teaspoon of chili powder, garlic powder, salt, and 4 ounces of queso fresco cheese in a large bowl.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
- Sprinkle the remaining chili powder over the top. Bake for 35-45 minutes until heated through and bubbly around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and top with the remaining cheese and cilantro. Serve warm.
Recipe Tips
Corn: You can thaw the corn or bake it frozen (I didn’t notice a difference when I did it both ways). When frozen it’ll bake longer, around 40-45 minutes. Feel free to use fresh corn cut off the cob as well.
If you want a punch of lime flavor, squeeze some fresh lime juice over the top of the Mexican street corn casserole after it finishes baking. You can even add some lime zest as well if you want a strong lime flavor.
For another delicious corn recipe, try my Honey Butter Skillet Corn.
FAQs
While I have personally not tried it this way, I do not see any reason why it wouldn’t work out. The taste should be incredible and the texture should be even closer to the real deal street corn. I do recommend being careful to cut the corn off the cob so that there aren’t too many hard cob parts in the mixture.
This dish is best when served with a squeeze of fresh lime juice over the top just before serving. As for main dishes to serve alongside corn casserole, I suggest enchiladas, pork carnitas, steak tacos, and more. If you can picture it going great with Elote, then there’s no doubt it would taste fabulous here too.
More Mexican Inspired Recipes
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Mexican Street Corn Casserole
Ingredients
- 40 oz bag frozen corn - thawed, or not thawed (see notes)
- 2/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2/3 cup sour cream - full fat or light is fine
- 2 teaspoons chili powder - divided
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 oz queso fresco - crumbled and divided
- 3 tablespoons cilantro - chopped
- fresh limes - optional, for spritzing at the end if desired, see notes
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 13×9 with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl stir the corn (can keep frozen or thaw it), Mayo, sour cream, 1 ½ tsp chili powder, garlic powder, salt, and 4 oz of the queso fresco.
- Pour in the pan, sprinkle the remaining chili powder on top and bake for 35-45 mins or until heated through and bubbly on the edges. Remove and top with the remaining cheese and cilantro. Serve warm.
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267 Comments on “Mexican Street Corn Casserole”
I made it today for a potluck. Instead of frozen corn I used Mexican style corn in a can with red peppers. The other thing I added was 5 minutes before the timer ended I turned the heat up to broil to get a little char on the corn. I sprinkled a little Tajin (chili/lime seasoning) with the chopped cilantro. It was outstanding.
Sounds delicious, France! Thanks for sharing your review. Love the idea of using canned Mexican-style corn!
Very easy and very good! Great for a potluck. I might add a pinch of cayenne if making for home since we like a little kick.
We love bringing this dish to potlucks! Adding some cayenne would be great. Thanks for your review, Meredith!
Would I use two.pans if I double the recipe?
Yes, I would recommend using two pans. If you have a really deep pan, you could maybe fit it all in there, but it would change the cooking time and also the ratio of toppings to casserole.
How could I adjust this for the slow cooker?
Hi Missy, this should work in a slow cooker. Add all of the ingredients except cilantro, lime juice, and the extra cheese. Cook it on low for a few hours, then add the cilantro, lime juice and extra cheese right before serving. Let us know how it turns out!