When I toured the Southern Living Test Kitchen a couple of years ago, one of the other bloggers on the trip asked the Test Kitchen Director, Robby Melvin, how they continue to come up with new recipes month after month. His answer really resounded with me. He said that it’s not about reinventing the wheel and coming up with completely new recipes, it’s about taking ideas and recipes that have been around forever and putting a new spin on it (like our white chicken chili with caramelized corn). Just because someone has made fried chicken a million times doesn’t mean that there can’t be another fried chicken with its own twist. And just because there are tons of corn puree recipes out there, not to mention all sorts of yummy side dishes, it doesn’t mean that I can’t share my own! After the trip, I went home and gave my husband that challenge and he immediately came up with the idea of making fried chicken tenderloins with a sweet corn puree. And you guys, they turned out AMAZING, probably one of the best meals we’ve had at home in the past few years. I’ll be sharing the fried chicken tenderloins soon but here’s the corn puree for now!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Smooth and creamy – unlike mashed potatoes that have a little texture to them, this corn puree is smooth and silky because of the cream and butter content. It’s perfect for enjoying with a little almond chicken or the fried chicken I’ll be sharing soon. Simple – if you can cut kernels off of a corn cob, you can make this recipe! Complements everything – you probably haven’t had a lot of corn purees in your lifetime but it’s the perfect complement to so many things. Eat it with almond chicken, pulled pork sliders, or really any main dish!
Ingredients
For this sweet corn puree, you’ll just need a few ingredients that are readily available at the grocery store:
Sweet corn on the cob – you want to use fresh sweet corn if at all possible, otherwise this won’t taste nearly as good!Chicken broth – we typically use low sodium chicken broth but any works. If you use regular sodium chicken broth, I would probably cut down on the added salt. Butter – unsalted butter, you really want this to be at least soft, if not melted. Heavy whipping cream – while you would leave this out, it’s what gives this corn puree it’s super silky texture. Salt – I recommend salting this last if you use either salted butter or full sodium chicken broth as the added salt can be too much.
How to Make Corn Puree
I don’t even have step by step pictures of how to make this because it’s so easy! All you have to do is cut the kernels off the cob first. Place them in a medium pot along with the chicken broth. Cover the pot, heat to high, and bring it to a boil. Once it’s boiling, turn pot to low and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Once it’s done simmering, add the hot corn mixture (with the chicken broth) to a blender with the butter, cream, and salt. Puree until silky smooth, typically about five minutes in a high powdered blender. Remove from the blender and serve immediately with your favorite entree!
Expert Tips
Puree all of the ingredients together other than the salt at first if you’re using regular chicken broth or salted butter. Then add salt to taste. Use an immersion blender to puree all of the ingredients together if you don’t have a high powdered blender. This will take longer and may not get quite the silky smooth texture, but it’ll still be delicious! Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to five days before tossing. Change it up and make this cauliflower puree instead of corn! Same method, just using cooked cauliflower instead of corn puree!
more Delicious Side Dishes
If you like this corn puree, you’ll love these other simple side dishes!
Roasted root veggies – lots of colorful root veggies roasted to perfection in the oven! Best Thanksgiving stuffing – our go-to sausage stuffing recipe that combines stuffing with traditional Thanksgiving ingredients! Air fryer brussels sprouts with parmesan – the easiest way to cook brussels sprouts ever, plus they’re delicious! Easy smashed potatoes – these potatoes are boiled then smashed and baked into a perfectly crisp potato side dish! White corn succotash – white or yellow corn doesn’t really matter, this succotash is a delicious side to any of your favorite meals!
Recipe Update: This post was originally written in 2015 and featured both a corn puree and fried chicken recipe. The post has since been updated to include better tips and also split the fried chicken into a separate post. If you’re looking for the fried chicken recipe, you can still get a printable version here.
