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.
247 Comments on “Mexican Street Corn Casserole”
Is there a way to make this on the stove top as well? Looks delicious!
Not that I’ve tried. Oven is the preferred method.
Sounds good, but as a new cook, there is no mention of how much garlic powder, salt, sour cream, etc. i know how much corn, chili powder, and queso Fresca, and have to guess the rest. I’m experimenting at a pot luck tomorrow, so hope I make it good enough by guessing…
the ingredient measurements are in the recipe card.
Taking this to a friend’s bbq and will bake it in crockpot insert and then plug in to keep it warm once I get there! I’ll let you know how it works! Love the looks of this recipe and May dry sear/roast corn in a skillet before for added Smokey street corn flavor.
Absolutely delicious!! Made this for Thanksgiving and it was one of the best dishes on the table. Super easy to make and can easily be assembled the day before. (A note – I used frozen corn and it needed about an hour to get bubbly.)
Just found this recipe a couple of months ago and my family has asked me to make it a few more times. Had a BBQ today so I made a double batch and this was the first thing to go! Half was gone before we ate the actual BBQ! Thinking of adding some cotija cheese as well.
Can you make this with canned corn instead of frozen?
yes
This was a great dish. The whole family enjoyed it! We served along side a brisket. Will definitely make again.
I am going make this for large group of people. Wondering if you can put colored bell peppers and onion powder?
Can you assemble the ingredients the day before and then bake it when ready?
Yes!
We made this for dinner last night and added ground beef! My husband, daughter and I loved this, but wished we had made rice to go along with it as well! Thanks for sharing!!
Does that say 295k calories?? I just want to make sure.
Yes.
295 kcals. Not 295k cals 🙂 big difference
sorry about that!
We love corn and this recipe will be a new addition to our treats. Oh goodness so many good flavors and so easy. Thank you for making our day and giving us this great recipe!
So glad you love it! Thanks for the great review.
I made this and took it to a cookout for 10 people. Everyone raved about it, even the guy who said he disliked corn. The only change I made to the recipe was adding a teaspoon of cumin to the spice mixture.
That’s a great addition Meg! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it. Thanks for the great review!
We have made this three times now and it is AMAZING! A real crowd pleaser. This time around we were out of sour cream and swapped that for Greek yogurt, and it came out great as well! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
So glad you enjoy this recipe! Thanks for leaving a review Kelly!
Meant to give it 5 stars not 3.
I loved it! It was easy and great flavor.
I made this for a Memorial Day Picnic and it was a hit. I was worried bringing something that I hadnt tried first. I absolutely loved it.
I followed suggestions from other reviewers by putting all ingredients together and topping with the lime juice from half a lime. Place in frig til needed. Cooked 45 mins and topped with cotija, green onions, and cilantro.
Next time we are going to grill some corn on the cob.
Thanks for coming back to leave a comment Liss! So glad you took the chance on my recipe and shared it with your family and friends.
Have you ever made this in a crockpot? What about transferring it to a crock pot for a potluck?
haven’t made it in a crockpot personally, but I think you can do it without any issues. Just spray the crockpot with nonstick spray prior to placing everything in it.
Did you try it in a crockpot yet? I was wondering the very same thing.
I’ve made a lot of different street corn recipes (all because my great love for Torchy’s Tacos) and this casserole method is by far the easiest method that still results in an amazing flavor!! I love to bring it to parties and make it whenever we have taco nights.
What do I do with the cilantro?
Is it okay to make and cook the day before and reheat in the oven the day of ?
Yes that’s fine. But at that point you might as well just make it the day before, cover and store in the fridge and then cook it the day you need it.
We took this to a party and it was devoured! Sooo delicious!! I did cut the amount of corn in half and doubled sour cream instead of using mayo. Preparing it again to take to an Easter lunch.