Gluten Free Corn Casserole

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You don't have to give up classic comfort food just because you are gluten free. This Gluten Free Corn Casserole is a simple side dish that will be a hit on your Thanksgiving or Christmas table, and no one will know it's gluten free.

If you grew up with the corn casserole made from that little blue box of Jiffy corn muffin mix, going gluten free feels like losing a family recipe. It isn't. This gluten free corn casserole is creamy in the center, golden at the edges, studded with sweet corn kernels, and it tastes exactly like the version that's been showing up on holiday tables for decades.

It comes together in one bowl with a whisk in about ten minutes. No mixer, no pre-cooking, no fussing. You can make it with a boxed gluten-free cornbread mix or with a five-ingredient dry mix you stir together yourself. I've included both below, so you're not stuck if your store doesn't carry a gluten-free mix.

It's been on my Thanksgiving table every year since I developed it, and the people eating it have never once guessed it was gluten free.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• One bowl, one whisk, ten minutes of hands-on time. It goes in the oven while you deal with everything else.
• Two ways to make it. Boxed gluten free cornbread mix for speed, or a homemade dry mix from pantry staples.
• Make it ahead. Assemble the night before and bake it the day of.
• It scales. An 8x8 feeds eight; the 9x13 version below feeds a crowd.
• Nobody can tell.

Ingredients for Gluten Free Corn Casserole

The ingredients are so simple!  I just adjusted a few ingredients based on the recipe found on the Jiffy Corn Muffin Box, and it worked out really well.

• 2 large eggs: Bind the casserole and give it its custard-like set.
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled: Let it cool a few minutes before it meets the eggs, or you'll scramble them.
• 1¼ cups gluten free cornbread mix: I use Krusteaz Gluten Free Honey Cornbread and Muffin Mix. See the section below on other brands and on making your own.
• 1 can whole-kernel corn, drained: Drain well. This matters more than you'd think; see the troubleshooting section.
• 1 can of cream-style corn, undrained: This is where the creaminess comes from.
• 1 cup full-fat sour cream: Full-fat, please. Low-fat and fat-free sour creams carry more water and will loosen the casserole.

Which Gluten Free Cornbread Mix Works Best?

I developed this recipe around Krusteaz Gluten Free Honey Cornbread and Muffin Mix, which is on the sweet side and gives the casserole that slightly honeyed edge people remember from the Jiffy original.

No Gluten Free Cornbread Mix? Make Your Own

You don't need a boxed mix at all. This homemade version uses five pantry staples and takes two minutes to whisk together. It replaces the 1¼ cups of boxed mix in the recipe.

Homemade Gluten Free Cornbread Mix

• ½ cup fine yellow cornmeal (certified gluten free)
• ½ cup gluten free 1-to-1 flour blend
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

Whisk everything together in a small bowl. This makes slightly more than 1¼ cups.

Two notes:

• If your gluten free flour blend doesn't already contain xanthan gum, add ¼ teaspoon.
• The ¼ cup of sugar approximates the sweetness of a honey cornbread mix. If you prefer a savory corn casserole, drop it to 2 tablespoons.

You can mix up a batch of the dry ingredients ahead and store it in an airtight jar for up to three months, which makes this a genuinely fast holiday side.

How to Make Gluten Free Corn Casserole

1. Prep. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8 baking dish with butter or cooking spray.
2. Whisk the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, melted and cooled butter, and sour cream until smooth.
3. Add everything else. Stir in the gluten free cornbread mix, the drained whole kernel corn, and the undrained cream-style corn. Mix just until combined. You're not looking for a smooth batter, and overmixing will make it dense.
4. Bake. Pour into the prepared dish and bake 35-45 minutes, until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The center should be set, not jiggly.
5. Rest and serve. Let it sit 10 minutes before serving. It will firm up as it cools, and it spoons out much more cleanly. Serve warm.

Making Corn Casserole for a Crowd (9x13 Pan)

An 8x8 serves about eight as a side dish, which is right for a family dinner and not enough for Thanksgiving. To feed 14-16, double everything and bake it in a 9x13:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2½ cups gluten free cornbread mix
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans whole kernel corn, drained
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans cream style corn, undrained
• 2 cups full-fat sour cream

Bake at 350°F for 50-60 minutes. The doubled casserole is deeper, so it needs longer. Start checking at 50 minutes and look for a clean toothpick in the very center, not just near the edge. If the top is browning faster than the center is setting, tent it loosely with foil for the last 15 minutes.

Slow Cooker Corn Casserole

If your oven is full, and on Thanksgiving it will be, this works in a slow cooker.

Grease the insert generously. Mix the batter exactly as written and pour it in. Cook on high for 2-2½ hours or low for 3-4 hours, until the edges are set and pulling slightly away from the sides and the center is firm.

A single batch fits a 4-quart slow cooker; a doubled batch fits a 6-quart slow cooker.

Make Ahead, Storing, and Freezing

Can I make corn casserole ahead of time?

Yes, and this is how I handle it every Thanksgiving. Mix the batter, pour it into the baking dish, cover tightly, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Bake straight from the fridge and add 5-10 minutes to the bake time.

Don't assemble more than a day ahead because the baking powder in the cornbread mix starts losing lift once it's wet, and the casserole won't rise as well.

If you want to get further ahead than that, you can fully bake it the day before, refrigerate it, and reheat it (see below). It won't be quite as tender as fresh, but it's very good and honestly, the flavor deepens overnight.

How to store leftovers

Cover tightly or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. A lot of people, myself included, think it's better on day two.

Can you freeze corn casserole?

Yes. Bake it, cool it completely to room temperature, then wrap the dish in plastic wrap and again in foil, or cut it into portions and freeze in an airtight container. It keeps 2-3 months.

Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating. Freezing unbaked isn't worth it because the texture will not be the same.

How to reheat

Oven (best): Cover with foil and warm at 350°F for 20-25 minutes, or 15 minutes for individual portions.

Microwave (fastest): Individual portions, 60-90 seconds. Add a small pat of butter on top before reheating to keep it from drying out.

Why Is My Corn Casserole Runny?

This is the most common thing that goes wrong, and it's almost always one of four things:

1. The whole kernel corn wasn't drained well enough. A 14.5 oz can holds a surprising amount of liquid. Drain it in a colander and give it a shake. Only the cream-style corn goes in undrained.
2. You used low-fat or fat-free sour cream. Reduced-fat sour creams contain more water and stabilizers, and they thin the batter. Full-fat is the fix.
3. It's underbaked. A corn casserole sets like a custard. It needs a clean toothpick in the center, not two inches from the edge. If the middle jiggles, it needs more time. Tent with foil if the top is already golden.
4. You didn't let it rest. It continues to set for about 10 minutes after it's out of the oven. Cutting into it immediately will always look looser than it actually is.

If it's already baked and still loose, return it to a 350°F oven uncovered for another 10-15 minutes.

How to Make This Dairy Free

This adapts well for a gluten-free and dairy-free table:

• Butter → vegan butter sticks (not tub spread, which has more water) or refined coconut oil.
• Sour cream → dairy-free sour cream, or the thick cream from the top of a chilled can of full-fat coconut milk. Coconut adds a subtle sweetness that works fine here.
• Cornbread mix → check the label. Krusteaz Gluten Free Honey Cornbread Mix is dairy-free, but formulations change, so verify. The homemade mix above is naturally dairy-free.

Can I Use Fresh or Frozen Corn?

Yes, for whole-kernel corn. A drained 14.5 oz can equals about 1½ cups of kernels, roughly three ears of fresh corn. Thaw and drain frozen corn thoroughly before using.

The cream-style corn is harder to replace, since it's what makes the casserole creamy. If you want to make it from scratch: simmer 1½ cups corn kernels with ½ cup milk or cream and a tablespoon of butter for about 10 minutes, then pulse half of it in a blender and stir it back in.

Late-summer fresh corn makes a noticeably sweeter casserole, which is worth keeping in mind if you make this outside the holidays.

More Gluten Free Holiday Recipes:

• Baked Brie with Fig Jam
• Baked Brie with Cranberry Sauce 
• Gluten Free Sweet Potato Casserole
• Cranberry Relish
• Five Ingredient White Sangria
• Easy Pomegranate Mojito

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