Best Canned Corn, Ranked [Taste Test]

The best canned corn is sweet, salty, crunchy, crispy, and buttery. It’s a sweet treat that’s great to keep stocked in your pantry for soups, salads, sides, and the like. Great canned corn should be delicious all by itself, though. We found five we’d happily eat right out of the can.

The biggest surprise in this canned corn taste test wasn’t flavor, but texture. The texture of canned corn varies wildly. The best stuff, in the opinion of Sporked, is soft yet crisp. Most canned sweet corn is overcooked, mushy, and textureless. Those didn’t make the list. We want canned corn to feel fresh, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t—canned corn does a pretty good job at retaining nutrients throughout the canning process. And because of its long shelf life, canned corn is a great thing to have on hand. So what’s the best canned corn? We tasted over 20 to bring you the top six:

Best of the Best

Del Monte Golden Sweet Whole Kernel Corn

Instacart

Del Monte, a trusted brand in the canned-corn universe, has everything you want in a great canned corn. The kernels are surprisingly crispy—this isn’t mushy, textureless, cooked-to-oblivion corn. It’s al dente, in a way. And the flavor is just excellent. Buttery, salty, and sweet, Del Monte canned corn is a real treat. I was delighted to eat this straight out of the can, but, obviously, there are many ways you could deploy this corn in your at-home cooking. Firm, crispy, and naturally sweet, Del Monte corn is best canned corn in the biz.

Credit: Merc/Instacart

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best Organic

Green Valley Whole Kernel Corn

Amazon

Green Valley is a good, healthy option because it has less sugar and salt than Del Monte without sacrificing too much in the way of flavor and texture. The kernels are smaller (I tend to prefer big hunks of corn), but still the taste here is quite savory and buttery. Although there is 130mg of sodium per serving compared to Del Monte’s 320mg, this still tastes quite salty to me. I love Green Valley, and it’s an organic product, too!

Credit: Merc/Amazon

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best for Creamed Corn

Happy Harvest Whole Kernel Sweet Corn

Instacart

Aldi brand Happy Harvest touts that its corn was “picked and packed” on the same day. These kernels have a delightful crunch, an excellent antidote to the textureless and mushy corn other brands are canning. It’s also very sweet—six grams of sugar in just half a cup—and the kernels are big, to which I say hell yeah. Big kernels of corn just seem to have a crispier bite to them. These big hunks of sweet corn would be great for any stew, soup, salad, or creamed corn situation. It’s all-purpose canned corn that you’ll regularly use at home.

Credit: Merc/Instacart

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Smoky

Del Monte Whole Kernel Fire Roasted Corn Blend

Instacart

This Del Monte corn has the classic taste of Golden Sweet corn but with an added bit of fire-roasted flavor. It’s quite nice, and the built-in smokiness makes it great for salsas and salads. Beans seem to be this canned corn’s natural partner. Del Monte has more salt than its competitors, but I think that works in its favor. The sweetness and the salinity balance each other out and make for a delicious, savory experience.

Credit: Merc/Instacart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Sweet

Libby’s Whole Kernel Sweet Corn

Instacart

This was the sweetest canned corn we tried in our taste test, and the taste is pretty undeniable. Also, the back of the can has a recipe for “Citrus Corn Shrimp Wraps,” which sound delicious. Personally, I like it when products suggest recipes—it’s fun and you don’t see it enough these days. Libby’s is sweet but not saccharine, making it the best canned corn option if you’re looking for something on the sweeter side.

Credit: Merc/Instacart

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Other products we tried: Kroger, Kroger Sweet White, Simple Truth Super Sweet, Green Giant Mexicorn, Bird’s Eye Sweet, Great Value Golden Sweet, Great Value Organic, O Organics Whole Sweet, Green Giant Niblets, Sprouts Super Sweet, Bird’s Eye Golden, Goya Golden Corn, Happy Belly, Green Giant Sweet, Green Valley.