Brown Buttered Corn Recipe [with Canned Corn]
This Brown Buttered Corn Recipe is a tasty way to turn canned corn into a delicious side dish perfect for a weeknight meal!
Get dinner on the table fast with one of the easiest side dish recipes ever. With brown butter, garlic and a little thyme, this tasty treat is ready in just 15 minutes.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Truly Grass Fed. All opinions are 100% mine.
Why this recipe works
I go through phases where I love to cook. I like spending time in the kitchen and I try out all kinds of new recipes.
But other times, I just need to get dinner on the table fast. This delicious corn side dish is perfect for the latter.
With just 5 ingredients, this Brown Buttered Corn is flavorful but so so easy. It takes basic canned corn and makes it feel extra special. I love to serve this on busy weeknights, but it’s delicious enough to make for company too.
The star of the show in this recipe is the butter! By browning it up before adding the corn, you develop a rich, almost nutty flavor. I mean, buttery corn is good. But brown buttery corn is even better!
This buttered corn recipe is great for quick dinners but delicious enough to serve for any holiday gathering! This side dish pairs perfectly with your Thanksgiving turkey or your Christmas ham.
Ingredient Notes
I love this recipe because it uses canned corn. I try to always have canned vegetables on hand in case I have a dinner emergency and don’t have a fresh vegetable to grab.
I haven’t tried this recipe with fresh corn but I am sure you can use it. You may just need to adjust the cooking time. Canned corn is already cooked so it really just needs to be heated through. I would not use canned cream corn as it would hide the flavor of the browned butter.
Salt, pepper and garlic are things you probably already have in your kitchen making this a good recipe to make if you haven’t been to the store in a while. (I always have a tube of garlic in my fridge, or the frozen garlic cubes, to keep things extra easy.
While this recipe is finished with fresh thyme, you can leave it out if you don’t have it or use powdered.
As I mentioned, butter is the stand-out ingredient. I love to use Truly Grass Fed Salted Butter. Truly Grass Fed is an Irish dairy brand that has super high animal welfare standards and an incredible taste!
Their cows are 95% grass-fed and live outside for the majority of the year. Because of this, their products have a higher concentration of nutrients (like beta carotene and vitamin A omega fatty acids) that only come from grass-fed cows.
Thanks to the dedication of Truly Grass Fed, who holds a number of certifications like rBST-free, non-GMO project verified, the products are minimally processed and taste amazing!
While I used their salted butter, you can use their unsalted if you prefer.
How to Make Brown Butter Corn
This Brown Buttered Corn recipe is made in a medium saucepan right on your stovetop.
This is just a quick version of browning butter. It’s a French technique that has a lot of rules (it’s really an art). To keep this recipe quick and easy, I have shortened the time spent on the browning part. You’ll still get a lovely flavor but it’s way less fussy.
Heat the Truly Grass Fed Butter over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Stir often. You should be able to see the color changing as it cooks. If you have a few extra minutes, you can continue cooking for a few extra minutes to really bring out the flavors.
Just know that brown butter can burn, and it happens quickly, so keep your eyes on it, especially during those last few minutes.
Even if your butter doesn’t get all the way brown, it still will taste delicious in this corn side dish. This recipe is virtually fool-proof!
Add the garlic to the butter and stir until fragrant, about a minute.
When the garlic smells amazing, add the two cans of corn (drained and rinsed). Then add the salt, pepper and stir to combine.
Cook for 5 minutes, stirring once in a while. I didn’t cover the pan, but you can if you want to as the steam will help to warm the corn and keep it from getting too dry.
Add the fresh thyme and give it a quick stir. Garnish with a fresh thyme sprig if your family cares about that kind of thing :) or if you are serving guests.
What to Serve It With
A canned corn side dish makes tons of sense for a quick weeknight dinner idea for the family. Flavor-wise, this Buttered Corn recipe goes with pretty much anything!
I like to serve this side dish with a whole roasted chicken. You can make it yourself (although it takes hours, you can make multiple at one time for meal planning purposes), or pick a rotisserie chicken up at the store.
Serve as is or jazz it up and it makes the best, fast main dish for dinner. A simple bagged salad (they are so versatile – I’ve even used them in fish stick tacos!) and a re-plated veggie tray round out the menu!
I’m not sure if your kids are like mine, but if I set out a tray of veggies, they will eat them all day long. If I physically put them on their dinner plate they go untouched.
It would also go well with:
Tips and Tricks
- Does browning butter feel to overwhelming to you? This recipe is still delicious with regular old melted butter! Just melt it in the saucepan then add the garlic as noted above. The rest of the instructions would remain the same.
- While I have only used canned corn, this recipe should also work with corn off the cob and frozen corn! I would thaw the frozen corn and pour off any extra liquid before adding to the browned butter. And fresh corn may require more cooking time.
- You can substitute the thyme with rosemary (finely chopped) or even basil. Sage would also be quite tasty and would make this a great side dish for Thanksgiving!
- This recipe is super easy to double or triple depending on the size of the crowd you are serving!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes and no. It can have a nutty, delicious flavor that really elevates the dish you use it in. Is it life-changing, maybe not. If you’re pressed for time you can skip it. But if you are trying to make canned corn a little more special, make it with brown butter!
Yes. You can use regular butter instead of brown butter. It will still be delicious.
You can use it in place of regular butter in most recipes. Even in baked goods, using brown butter will add an extra layer of flavor. It would be delicious in waffle batter, on a steak, on popcorn and mashed potatoes, pretty much anything!
Yes! You can make a batch of brown butter ahead of time and use it later to make this brown buttered corn even faster! Just let the brown butter batch cool and store in the fridge. It will solidify so consider pouring it into an ice cube tray to make individual servings. Move to an air-tight container and use in 1-2 weeks.
Let cool completely then store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. To serve, reheat until warmed through. (The butter will become solid once cold). Use within 2-3 days.
More easy side dish recipes
- Sauteed Zucchini with Onions and Parmesan
- Braised Brussels Sprouts with apple juice and bacon
- Caprese Gnocchi
- Black Bean Salad
- Roasted Tomato and Mushroom Polenta
- Brown Sugar Butter for Rolls
- Microwave Applesauce
- Creative Corn Recipe
- Cream Cheese and Corn Crockpot
Brown Buttered Corn Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons butter I like Truly Grass Fed brand
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 30 ounces canned corn, drained and rinsed (2) 15 ounce cans
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stems.
Instructions
- Add butter to a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring occassionally.
- You should be able to see the color change as it cooks. It should take about 5 minutes.
- Brown butter can burn, and it happens quickly, so keep your eyes on it, especially during those last few minutes.
- Add the minced garlic to the butter and stir until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the two cans of corn (drained and rinsed).
- Add the salt, pepper and stir to combine.
- Cook for 5 minutes until the corn is heated through.
- Remove from heat and stir in thyme leaves.
- Serve the Brown Buttered Corn immediatetly.
Notes
- This Buttered Corn recipe is still delicious with regular old melted butter! Just melt it in the saucepan then add the garlic as noted above. The rest of the instructions would remain the same.
- While I have only used canned corn, this recipe should also work with corn off the cob and frozen corn! I would thaw the frozen corn and pour off any extra liquid before adding to the browned butter. And fresh corn may require more cooking time.
- You can substitute the thyme with rosemary (finely chopped) or even basil. Sage would also be quite tasty and would make this a great side dish for Thanksgiving!
- This recipe is super easy to double or triple depending on the size of the crowd you are serving!
- Store any Brown Buttered Corn leftovers in the fridge in an air-tight container. The butter will turn into a solid when cooled. To serve, simply reheat until melted through. Use within a few days.
Nutrition
Use the Truly Grass Fed product locator to find out where to find their products (cheddar cheese, butter and ghee) near you.
What a great way to fancy up a basic canned corn recipe! It looks delicious!
Normally I am not a huge fan of canned corn… I don’t know why. But this brown butter corn recipe was awesome!
Brown butter corn makes regular old canned corn taste so good! LOL! We have actually made this a few times with frozen corn too and it works great.
Oooh! This looks and sounds amazing! My family has never had it this way, so I might make brown butter corn for Thanksgiving!
I can’t wait to try this brown butter corn recipe for Thanksgiving! Corn is always the one side dish that everyone passes over, but this sounds too good to pass up!
Delicious. I substituted can corn for 16oz of frozen corn. Very easy for my 8yr old to help with cooking.
Very yummy side dish. So freakin’ easy with a small hack. I began with a small souffle cup of garlic butter left over from a pizza delivery. I always save these as a ready source of garlic butter. Once that was browned in the skillet, I added a pinch of red pepper flakes and pepper to the skillet. I had drained one can of Green Giant Steam Crisp Mexicorn with diced red and green bell peppers for a nice color. Easy to stir into the browned butter. So good! I can imagine this recipe including chopped mushrooms and onions or whatever leftover veg is hanging out in the fridge. As a vegetarian, why not add some tofu or diced veg ‘chickin’ and have a quick main dish meal?