Dolly Parton’s Southern Corn Pudding Is My New Favorite Side Dish

Whether you know it as corn casserole or corn pudding, this side dish is a staple on tables throughout the South, and for good reason. Not only is it simple to prepare—most recipes use canned corn along with a cornbread mix—but it is also a fluffy, sweet, salty, and comforting dish that’s just as welcome alongside fried chicken as it is with turkey and gravy.

My Southern family has a go-to corn pudding recipe we rarely deviate from, but when I saw Dolly Parton share her family recipe for Southern Corn Pudding, I knew I needed to try it. Here’s why I think Dolly’s six-ingredient corn pudding should be on your holiday table this year.

How To Make Dolly Parton’s Southern Corn Pudding

Many corn puddings have a familiar mix of creamed corn, cornbread mix, sour cream, eggs, and butter. Where Dolly’s recipe differs from others is that she also calls for frozen corn (most use canned corn) and specifically calls for her own brand of cornbread mix—Duncan Hines Dolly Parton’s Sweet Cornbread & Muffin Mix—which is twice the volume of cornbread mixes like Jiffy corn muffin mix. You can find it at most big-box grocery stores like Walmart and Target.

Dolly’s recipe has you mix all these ingredients in a large mixing bowl and pour the batter into a greased 9×13-inch baking pan. It’s really that easy.

After 40 minutes in a 375°F oven, this corn pudding is wonderfully caramelized along the sides while still tender and moist in the middle. You can serve it hot, at room temperature, or anywhere in between.

Having made this recipe a few times now, I’ve found that mixing the batter is a little easier if I melt the butter in the mixing bowl by popping it in the microwave, then add the other wet ingredients (can of creamed corn, sour cream, eggs, and salt), and mix those all together before adding Dolly’s cornbread mix and the frozen corn.

This small step saves a dish (no need to melt the butter separately) and prevents overmixing. Also, follow Dolly’s advice to add salt to the batter, because her cornbread mix is on the sweeter side, and the corn makes it even sweeter. You need the salt to balance the sweetness.

One of the things I love most about corn pudding is that it is so simple to make, and all of the cooking is hands-off. During the holidays, it takes advantage of an already hot oven when you’re cooking for your family while making a dish that does double duty as a vegetable and a carb. Thanks to Dolly’s cornbread mix, her Southern Corn Pudding is the fluffiest, moistest version I’ve ever eaten.