Food and Recipes Recipes Scalloped Corn Casserole Timeless comfort food at its finest. By Karen Schroeder-Rankin Karen Schroeder-Rankin Karen Rankin is a chef, recipe developer, and food stylist with over 25 years experience cooking, developing recipes, styling food, and entertaining guests at her table and in restaurants. During the past 11 years, Karen has been styling food for various publications such as Cooking Light, Southern Living, Eating Well, Real Simple, as well as creating instructional videos for Southern Living Magazine's Tips from the Test Kitchen, featured on select television programming, and on websites. With an interest in the use of color, texture, and presentation, she develops recipes that are intended to surprise and delight the recipients of these dishes, both from a visual standpoint and a flavor experience. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on February 25, 2022 Print Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Photography: Caitlin Bensel, Food Styling: Karen Rankin Active Time: 15 mins Total Time: 85 mins Servings: 8 The term scalloped might sound old-fashioned, but this creamy corn casserole with a crisp crumb topping is timeless comfort food. The tempting combination of cream cheese and melted Monterrey Jack acts as the sauce in this recipe, but with none of the work of making a traditional cream sauce. We know that the best part of many casseroles is a crunchy topping, and that's what we get here thanks to generous handfuls of crushed Ritz crackers and panko tossed with melted butter. This casserole emerges from the oven bubbling and golden. Ingredients Cooking spray 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature 3 large eggs 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper 5 cups frozen corn (from 2 [16-ounce] packages), thawed, divided 1 (8-ounce) package shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, divided 1 ½ cups half-and-half 1 cup crushed round buttery crackers (such as Ritz) (from 20 crackers) 1 cup panko (Japanese-style breadcrumbs) 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted Directions Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly coat an 11-by-7-inch baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. Whisk together cream cheese, eggs, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl until smooth. Fold in 4 cups of the corn, 1 ½ cups of the Monterey Jack, and 1 tablespoon of the thyme. Set aside. Place half-and-half and remaining 1 cup corn in a blender; process until smooth, about 15 seconds. Add pureed corn mixture to cream cheese mixture in bowl; stir until well combined. Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake in preheated oven until sides are set but center is still undercooked and jiggly, 35 to 40 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together crushed crackers, panko, butter, and remaining ½ cup Monterey Jack and 1 tablespoon thyme in a bowl; set aside. Remove baking dish from oven; sprinkle evenly with cracker mixture. Return to oven, and bake at 325°F until set in the center and topping is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Let stand 10 minutes. Serve. Print