6 Canned Cream Corn Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

With the holidays just around the corner, many of us are starting to plan our menus for Thanksgiving. While the bird may be the star of the show, and there are certainly plenty of expert tips to consider when seeking to produce a restaurant-level turkey, for some of us choosing our accompanying side dishes is an even more daunting task.

While a spruced up green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and stuffing are a must, plenty of other items should be considered, like a classic creamed corn. This dish has it all. It's comforting, luxurious, and it screams Americana. It's the kind of dish that, while perhaps easy to make at home, may just be one extra thing you don't want to waste precious stovetop or oven space on. 

Enter the grocery store and the convenience of the canned food aisle. There are a handful of store-bought, canned, cream-style corn offerings that you can find at your local grocer. Some are manufactured by heavy hitters, like Del Monte or Libby's, while others are produced by store-brand labels. While these may be convenient and ultra-affordable, are any of them worthy of inclusion in your family's celebratory gathering? That's exactly what I wanted to find out. I took my experience as a former professional chef and got my hands on as many cans of creamed corn as I could. After sampling them, I ranked them from worst to best so you don't have to be disappointed this Thanksgiving. 

At the very bottom of this ranking of store-bought, canned cream corn is Del Monte's No Salt Added Sweet Corn Cream Style. Some of us need to follow a low-sodium diet for a variety of reasons. Many canned foods are known for being full of sodium, and creamed corn is no exception to this rule. Unlike a number of the other contenders in this ranking, this product contains only 10 milligrams of sodium, which is negligible in terms of overall daily value. Unfortunately, the lack of salt shows, and not in the way you might expect. 

First impressions of this creamed corn were actually favorable. The purée itself looked custard-like with small pieces and a few whole kernels of corn decipherable. The aroma of the corn was natural-smelling. Once heated, however, the good news ended catastrophically. Upon taking a bite of the heated corn I actually said "blech" out loud and almost spit the entire bite into the garbage. The corn was so excessively sweet that I could barely tolerate it. This wasn't just a little sugar, it was cloying and artificial, like downing a whole package of Sweet and Low. In fact, the salinity of this product wasn't even bothersome. I could have done just fine with the amount of salt present without the added sugar. The only place this canned cream corn belongs is in the wastebasket, which is exactly where I dumped it after tasting it. 

Next to last on this ranking is the Great Value Canned Cream Style Sweet Corn. While there are a number of must-have Walmart Great Value foods out there that you might want to add to your Thanksgiving menu, this is not one of them. It's not altogether awful, but it isn't something you can simply heat and serve, and for this reason I cannot recommend it. 

The aroma of this corn was sweet and nutty, making it appealing to the nose. The texture was creamy and there were plenty of real corn kernels in the can to make me feel like I was actually eating something homemade. In fact, even the mouthfeel of the heated corn was relatively pleasant on my tongue. What was a total disappointment was the flavor. This corn tasted like nothing. No salt, no sugar, no cream, and definitely no corn. I don't know how it is possible to render the taste of actual ingredients completely inert, but this product managed to accomplish the impossible. It was like eating air. 

That said, if you absolutely had to use this creamed corn, you could certainly doctor it up ... a lot. First, you could thicken up this creamed corn by reducing it and augment it with some flavorful additives, including wine, stock, mayonnaise, cheese, or bacon. You could also transfer it to a baking dish, top it with some more shredded cheese and bake it until melted and bubbly for something a little more sophisticated.

Up next is Hy-Vee's Cream Style Golden Corn. Voted the best grocery store in Iowa, Hy-Vee is known for having "a helpful smile in every aisle." Its store-brand creamed corn didn't so much produce a smile as it did a strained grin on my face after sampling it. That said, it was potentially worthy of inclusion in your holiday meal, even if it isn't exactly revolutionary in flavor.

When I opened the can, I was struck by how soupy the contents were. The corn kernels were almost imperceptible and the whole thing was incredibly liquefied. As I heated the corn, I was struck by an aroma that almost resembled the beginnings of the caramel-making process. Like slightly burnt sugar, which wasn't especially off-putting — just weird. Once the soupy corn was hot, it had a texture that I can best describe as akin to wonton soup. It was almost gelatinous in quality, which I don't hate, but is definitely odd for something that should be cream style. 

The flavor of this corn is where I was most disappointed. The vegetables didn't taste especially fresh, nor did they have much seasoning. But at least it did taste like corn, albeit mushy days-old corn. And that burnt sugar aroma carried over into the taste. Again, this wasn't terrible, but certainly not the best can of corn I tried. I'd consider serving this as long as I could upgrade it with some tasty garnishes to balance out the texture and taste.

In third place on this ranking was the budget-friendly Best Choice Cream Style Corn that I picked up at my local Smith's grocery store. This is a brand that you can find at many discount retailers, which is why I didn't think it would do especially well in this ranking. Again, while it wasn't top-notch, it had its plusses, which outweighed its minuses.

At first glance, the texture of this corn looked like a 1950s-era Jell-O mold that had lost its structural integrity; it could only be described as gloopy. The corn kernels, however, were whole and looked fresh, which was a win. The aroma was corn-forward with just a hint of acidity detectable. Again, not bad for a budget canned item. 

Heating this corn helped smooth out the texture to a palatable, smooth mouthfeel, and the whole kernels were just al dente enough to have me believe that the corn was freshly shucked before canning, something I found especially appealing. As far as flavor goes, while this could certainly have used more salt and a dash of actual dairy to drive home the "cream style" moniker, the real corn taste was enough to move this product up in the rankings. Perhaps the only other downfall this product had was that it had a slightly metallic aftertaste, which is common with less high-quality brands of canned food. This could easily be masked with a dash of cream and some shredded cheese. 

In second place on this ranking is the Del Monte Golden Sweet Corn Cream Style. Del Monte has been in the business of canning vegetables for over 135 years, so it's safe to say the company knows what it's doing. This creamed corn is no exception to this rule, even if its no-salt iteration was a bust. 

At the outset, I was struck by the custardy texture of this corn. It almost looked like the batter for a corn pudding, with a combination of chunks and whole kernels of corn in the mix. It also had a pleasant grain-like aroma that was sweet and nutty. 

Upon heating this product, the sauce itself thickened markedly, making it look a bit like corn chowder. Its taste, while not especially complex, was well-seasoned and had a good amount of salt to it. Perhaps the only complaint I had about this corn was that the product was slightly too sweet for my taste, something that is a subjective matter and one that could easily be debated. This was the first product that I could safely say I'd heat up and serve straight from the can without any notable upgrades or additions. Overall, a solid choice to bolster the assembly of side dishes on your holiday table. 

Libby's Cream Style Sweet Corn was hands down the winner of this taste test. Like Del Monte, the company has been around for over a century, and its innovative canning processes and legacy show in its products. From the moment I popped this can open until I sampled it, I was impressed. Right out of the can, the mixture had a custard-like texture similar to lemon curd. Its smell was complex, earthy, nutty, and definitely reminiscent of actual fresh corn. The corn itself was predominantly pulverized, but there were a few whole kernels left intact.

After heating the contents in a saucepan, I was struck by how genuinely creamy and velvety it was, despite the fact that there is no real dairy present on the ingredients list. The flavor was even more impressive. The sophisticated aroma translated to the taste, with every bite being balanced in seasoning. It sounds simple enough to take fresh corn, cream it, and can it, but apparently it's harder than it seems, judging by the failure of a majority of these brands to produce something that's delicious as-is without any added frills. Luckily for those searching for a shortcut this Thanksgiving, Libby's has you covered. 

Ranking canned cream corn may sound like a relatively dull undertaking, but I was surprised at how involved it actually ended up being and how diverse my findings were. After collecting as many varieties as I could find in my Central Illinois neck of the woods, I opened each can and heated the contents in a saucepan. I sampled these as-is, with no additional ingredients. 

My evaluations were based on overall aroma, texture, and — most importantly — flavor. Cost was not a consideration as all of these cans were roughly the same price. 

As a former professional chef I am a bit more discerning in my evaluations as I compare things based on what I would have prepared in-house and from scratch at my own restaurant. If I wouldn't consider serving it to guests, I won't recommend it to you, the reader. The holidays are an important time of year, and only the best of the best will do for any special celebratory gathering.