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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233 Comments on “Mexican Street Corn Casserole”
I am making this tomorrow to bring to a party. I need to make 1 and 1/2 times the recipe. (have made before and love it!). For convenience, I want to bring in an aluminum disposable pan. I thought the best way was to follow for the stated recipe and then do 1/2 in a smaller pan at same time. then move both into disposable and garnish. Do you think that will be ok?
Yes that will work.
Phenomenal. I brought this to a work potluck so I didn’t bake it , but heated it all the way from beginning to end in a crockpot and it was fabulous. I used McCormick’s lime mayo and also squeezed some lime into the mixture before heating it up. Rave reviews from all.
Happy to hear it was a hit, Britta! Thanks for the star rating and review!
Absolutely wonderful!!
So glad you loved it, Kelly! Thanks for the star rating!
Loved this so much and a HUGE hit!!!
So glad you loved it, Katy! Thanks for leaving a 5-star rating and review!
My family loves this recipe and have asked me several times to make it for them. It’s perfect, and doesn’t need anything else added to it.
So glad you love it, Phyllis! Thanks for coming back to leave a star rating and review. It helps me so much!
So sorry for posting that I could not find the amounts. I searched and search on my phone and couldn’t see them but as soon as I brought your recipe up on my computer, I found the amounts. It was super easy to put together. I have it in the fridge ready to bake and take to a potluck. Thank you for this recipe
Glad you found them, Laur! Thanks for the helpful comment!
I really wanted to make this recipe but I couldn’t find the exact quantities. They must be there somewhere but are hard to find
So, so good!! We like spicy, so I added two diced Jalapeno’s to the corn mixture. Sprinkled the top with both the chili powder and cayenne. Thank you for this awesome recipe.
So glad you loved it, Jenny! Thanks so much for coming back and leaving a star rating and review!
My friend made this for our bunko group and it was so good. We all wanted the recipe and will make it soon!! So tasty!!
I’m so glad you loved it, Lynne! It’s so so yummy! Thanks for leaving a star rating and comment.
Can this be assembled the night before and put in the fridge?
Could not have been easier and was a big hit! Thank you so much, I look forwarded to cooking more of your recipes.
Love this – always a hit with my teens!
Delicious! I love street corn and now I get to eat it all week
We were going to dinner at a friend’s house and I realized an hour before that I needed to bring a vegetable side. I had a bag of frozen corn in the freezer and was looking up ways to use it when I found this gem. Mexican street corn casserole to the rescue! It was easy to put together, required minimal ingredients and effort, and tasted delicious! Everyone liked it! Thank you for this great recipe!
I’m so glad it was a hit! Thanks for the great review, Amanda!
Brought this to a family gathering and it was an absolute hit! My advice is do not skip the lime juice. It adds a freshness that really just sends all the flavor over the top. Making it again tonight!
I completely agree about the lime juice. So glad you loved it! Thanks for the great review.
Super easy recipe that’s great for all tastes. I added a bit of cumin, cayenne pepper, and some cotija cheese to the bake and garnish. I also finished with fresh lime and zest to add some acid after it was baked. Highly recommend as a holiday side or feature for a family taco night. Thanks for the great recipe!
I made the Mexican Street Corn recipe for a family gathering and the dish was empty! Thank you for an easy and delicious recipe. I added the cumin as one reviewer mentioned and let the corn thaw in 2 colanders. I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
Made this and it was a HUGE hit!!!!
My family loved this recipe!
This was delicious! made a small batch to try it first. then tonight I am bringing it to a christmas party potluck. frozen corn worked fine but seemed a little watery after cooking. my freezer gets way to cold. So I used will be using thawed corn this time. Thank you!