Smoked Cheesy Corn
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This Smoked Cheesy Corn is an easy dish loaded with cheese, bacon and corn. It’s a perfect side for ribs, brisket or pulled pork! Plus the Traeger adds that smoky goodness to this creamy cheese sauce!
What You Will ❤️ About Smoked Cheesy Corn
- Cheesy! It doesn’t get any cheesier than this recipe!
- Side Dish or Dip! This is great as a side dish for any BBQ or an appetizer dip!
- Easy to Make! You can put this together in about 15 minutes and then on to the smoker for less than an hour.
Smoked Cheesy Corn Ingredients
This delicious corn side dish has cheese, cheese and cheese – oh yeah – bacon and corn too! Here’s everything you’ll need:
- Bacon – any bacon will do – I like to use thick cut!
- Garlic – a few fresh garlic cloves taste delicious with the smoky corn
- Half and Half – you could also use milk or a mix of milk & heavy cream
- Cream Cheese – I used a whole block but 1/2 would be fine too. I also went with the low fat and it worked fine.
- Land O’Lakes American cheese – you just need 4-5 slices – don’t get the kind in the plastic – get Land O’Lakes – it’s a game changer!
- Cheddar cheese – I like cheddar for this but you could use pepper jack or colby jack as well!
- BBQ seasoning – my go-to is Historic BBQ but use what you like!
- Franks Red hot sauce – you could really crank this up if you like it spicy
- BBQ sauce – my go to is Williamson Bros but use what you like!
- Frozen or Fresh Corn – I recommend using a good brand of frozen corn and or fresh corn off the cob. I used a grocery generic and could tell. Also – be sure to set the corn out ahead of time so it’s fairly thawed out.
- Scallions
Recipe Variations
Even as I made this dish I was thinking of ways to jazz it up:
- Jalapenos – dice up jalapenos and saute them with the bacon for a spicy kick!
- Serve as a Dip – grab some corn chip scoops and serve this as a hot dip!
- Cheeses – swap out Pepper Jack for more spice or smoked gouda for richness
- Onions & Peppers – sauteed onions and bell pepper would be great and add another texture into the corn
- Ham – diced ham would be delicious in this as well in addition to or instead of the bacon. I would saute it lightly before adding in the cheeses.
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How to make Smoked Cheesy Corn Bake
This is a combination stove top & Traeger recipe – but all of it is super simple! Here’s how to do it:
- Preheat Traeger to 275º
- On the stove over medium heat In a cast iron skillet, add diced bacon. Stir bacon often, until it’s starting to get crispy. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel. Let drain and set aside.
- Add garlic to pan with bacon fat and stir for about 30 seconds.
- Lower heat to medium-low and add half and half, cream cheese, American cheese & GRATED cheddar cheese. Whisk until cheeses are melted.
- Remove from heat and add the bbq seasoning, hot sauce and bbq sauce. Whisk to combine. Add corn and half of the reserved bacon and stir to combine.
- Place cast iron pan onto the preheated Traeger.
- Add in the diced cheddar cheese and poke into the corn and close the Traeger. Smoke for 45 minutes.
- Remove pan from oven and garnish with remaining bacon pieces and green onion.
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Tips, Tricks & FAQs
Store leftovers in an airtight container (I like these glass ones) in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can freeze up to three months. Reheat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes on a low heat and stir – heating 30 seconds at a time. You can also heat on a stove and add a little milk or half and half to make cheese creamy.
Nope! The cheese has all those things so no added needed! If you want to leave out the bacon – then you could saute the garlic in 1/3 stick butter.
Sure – I would likely lower the temperature of the Traeger to 225º or 250º so the bottom doesn’t scorch. You could also use a Dutch Oven for this recipe.
There are many flavors of wood pellets that work in your Traeger pellet grill. I keep it simple and always use the Traeger Signature Blend which is a blend of Maple and Cherry. That said if you’re looking for something specific for corn – the best are Pecan, Apple and Cherry.
A cob is about 3/4 cup of corn kernels – so you would probably need 6 ears of corn.
20 Must-Have Traeger Accessories
I absolutely love my Traeger Pellet Grill and you can pretty much use it right out of the box! But over the years I’ve definitely found that there are some Traeger smoker accessories that make everything a lot easier!
More Corn Recipes
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What to serve with Cheesy Smoked Corn?
Smoked Cheesy Corn
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup half and half
- 8 oz 1/2 block cream cheese, diced
- 4 oz Land O’Lakes American cheese diced
- 1 cup grated cheddar
- 1 tbsp bbq seasoning
- 1/2 tsp Franks Red hot sauce
- 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
- 4 cups corn
- 3 oz Cheddar cheese in about 1/2″ x 1/4″ dice (optional)
- 1/4 cup scallions thinly sliced, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat Traeger to 275º
- On the stove over medium heat In a cast iron skillet, add diced bacon. Stir bacon often, until it’s starting to get crispy. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel. Let drain and set aside.6 slices bacon
- Add garlic to pan with bacon fat and stir for about 30 seconds.4 cloves garlic
- Lower heat to medium-low and add half and half, cream cheese, American cheese & GRATED cheddar cheese. Whisk until cheeses are melted.1 cup half and half, 8 oz 1/2 block cream cheese, diced, 4 oz Land O’Lakes American cheese, 1 cup grated cheddar
- Remove from heat and add the bbq seasoning, hot sauce and bbq sauce. Whisk to combine. Add corn and half of the reserved bacon and stir to combine.1 tbsp bbq seasoning, 1/2 tsp Franks Red hot sauce, 1/4 cup barbecue sauce, 4 cups corn
- Place cast iron pan onto the preheated Traeger.
- Add in the diced cheddar cheese and poke into the corn and close the Traeger. Smoke for 45 minutes.3 oz Cheddar cheese
- Remove pan from oven and garnish with remaining bacon pieces and green onion.1/4 cup scallions
