Creamy Corn Pasta with Bacon and Leek
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This creamy corn pasta is one of the most popular recipes I’ve ever posted on socials! And once you taste it, you’ll understand why. It’s part of my cheap meal prep recipes series, 5 Lunches for £5, where I challenge myself to make five filling, delicious lunches for under a fiver. If you’ve been sleeping on frozen sweetcorn as a pasta ingredient, this is about to change the game for you.
Recipe Summary: Creamy Corn Pasta
- ✅ Recipe Name: Creamy Corn Pasta with Bacon and Leek
- 🕦 Ready in: 40 minutes
- 🤝 Serves: 5
- 🍴 Calories: 657 kcal
- 🧑🍳 Main ingredients: frozen sweetcorn, cooking bacon, leeks, creme fraiche
- ✨ Summary: This creamy corn pasta with bacon and leek is part of my viral 5 Lunches for £5 series. It’s rich, comforting, and ready in under 40 minutes.
Why you’ll love this recipe
Under £1.20 a serving: Five balanced, filling lunches for just over a fiver. Frozen sweetcorn and cooking bacon are two of the most underrated budget ingredients out there, utilising a whole bag of frozen corn, similarly to my viral Mexican chicken salad (you guys loved that one!), proves exactly what they can do together.
Viral for a reason: This recipe has racked up millions of views across Tiktok, Instagram and Facebook, and every time I post it you guys LOVE it! Once you try the roasted corn and bacon combo, you won’t go back.
Creamy without being heavy: Creme fraiche gives you that rich, silky corn pasta sauce without weighing the whole dish down. It’s natural tang means that we don’t need any lemon juice like my creamy salmon pasta.
Perfect for meal prep: Portion it straight into containers and you’ve got lunches sorted for the week. It reheats brilliantly, and actually gets even better on day two.
Minimal washing up: Foil-lined baking tray for speedy cleaning, a frying pan and one pot of pasta water, that’s all you need! The oven does most of the work for you.
Try these other creamy pasta recipes this week: Creamy Bacon Pasta, Creme Fraiche Pasta, Creamy Chorizo Pasta
Table of Contents
Ingredients For Creamy Corn Pasta
What makes this sweetcorn pasta recipe really work is the combination of smoky roasted corn, silky creme fraiche sauce, and soft buttery leeks. Here are the hero ingredients:
Frozen sweetcorn (900g, £1.35) Hands down one of the best budget buys in any freezer aisle. Roasting it from frozen on a hot tray gives you this incredible caramelised, slightly charred flavour that you’d never get from tinned corn. I always find that sweetcorn from a can lacks sweetness/freshness sometimes, so I always opt for frozen.
Cooking bacon (500g, £1) Cooking bacon is cheaper than regular rashers and perfect here because we’re roasting it. It crisps up beautifully alongside the corn on the tray, giving you those smoky, salty bits that run through every mouthful of this leek and bacon pasta. By roasting it, we also need less oil to get a crispier end result.
Leek (1 large, £0.67) The leek is what turns this into a proper creamy leek pasta sauce rather than just pasta with corn. It adds depth and switches things up from your usual onion.
See the recipe card for full information on all ingredients and quantities.
Variations/ Adaptations
Make it vegetarian: Skip the cooking bacon entirely. Add a pinch of smoked paprika to the tray to get some of that smoky depth back. The creamy leek pasta sauce is substantial enough to carry it without the meat. You could add cubes of halloumi in place of the bacon for salty flavour hits throughout.
Swap the creme fraiche: No creme fraiche in the fridge? Cream cheese works beautifully here too. My Creamy Philadelphia Chicken Pasta is a great example of how cream cheese can create an equally luscious pasta sauce if you want inspo on the ratio.
Add some heat: A pinch of chilli flakes on the tray before roasting takes this creamed corn pasta to a fun place. It works especially well if you love that contrast between sweet corn and spice.
Boost the protein: Want to bulk this creamy corn pasta up further? Stir through some white beans or add shredded rotisserie chicken at the end. Both work really well with the leek and bacon base without losing any of that creaminess. Or if you’re looking for a one-pot wonder, my creamy chicken and bacon pasta is great for the macros.
How to make this Creamy Corn Pasta Recipe
Step 1: Add the cooking bacon and frozen sweetcorn to a foil-lined baking tray.
Step 2: Roast for around 30 minutes, stirring half way through.
Step 3: Gently fry your leeks until soft and tender.
Step 4: Add all of the components to form the base of your creamy corn pasta.
Step 5: Loosen with salty, starchy pasta water.
Step 6: Throw in your al dente pasta and continue to cook for a couple of minutes so that it comes together to form a rich and silky sauce.
Mimi’s Tips For The Best Result
- Spread the bacon and corn out on a large tray as evenly as possible so that you get that caramelised colour. Stirring half way through ensures any hot patches on the tray cook evenly.
- Reserve your pasta water. This is the most important tip for getting a silky corn pasta sauce. The starchy water is what helps the creme fraiche emulsify and cling to every piece of pasta.
- Season your pasta water heavily with salt.
- Fry the leeks low and slow. Rushing them on high heat makes them stringy. Give them a full 8 minutes over a medium-low heat until they’re completely soft.
- Don’t skip the chives. Fresh chives on top cut through the richness of the creamy leek pasta and brighten the whole dish up.
- Reserve some corn and bacon for topping. The recipe splits the roasted mix, with two-thirds going into the pasta and the rest kept back for each container. Those crispy bits on top are everything.
Serving Suggestions
This creamy corn pasta is filling enough to eat on its own straight from the container, but if you’re serving it as a proper sit-down dinner and fancy something on the side, some air fryer green beans or air fryer garlic bread to mop up the sauce goes perfectly.
If you’re building a full meal prep week and want to sort dessert too, my funfetti cookies are a brilliant batch to bake alongside these as a fun dessert. And my vanilla muffins are another easy grab-and-go option that keeps well in the fridge all week.
If you’re looking for a side that brings a bit of freshness to cut through the richness of the sauce, my prawn salad or rocket salad are both super light and refreshing.
Leftover Storage and Reheat Instructions
Refrigerator: Store in airtight meal prep containers for up to 4 days. So I like to eat one straight away on the Monday, then enjoy the rest for lunch/dinner throughout the week.
Freezer: Due to the creamy nature of the dish and it being a pasta recipe, I prefer not to freeze this recipe.
Reheat: Add a small splash of water to the container before microwaving for 2 minutes, stirring halfway through. The water loosens the sauce back up and stops the pasta from drying out.
Corn Pasta FAQs
You can, but frozen corn is the better option here (and better value for the quantity!). The caramelisation you get from frozen corn on a hot tray is where much of the flavour in this sweetcorn pasta comes from.
Yes, and it’s genuinely one of the best things about it. This recipe was made with meal prep in mind. Cook everything, assemble the containers, and you’ve got lunches ready for four to five days. Browse more ideas over on my cheap meal prep recipes page if you want to build out a full week alongside it.
I use whatever pasta I fancy but love the fork-feel of farfalle with this recipe. Avoid super long pasta like spaghetti as it’s a bit awkward in a meal prep container. Something with ridges or tubes is ideal for catching that creamy corn pasta sauce if you want to get more particular.
As it’s so easy to make and the consistency is slightly less great once frozen (due to the cream and pasta), I prefer to not freeze this recipe.
Absolutely. A handful of grated parmesan or pecorino stirred through at the end would make an amazing addition to this creamy corn pasta recipe.
Are you a pasta lover? Try my Ham Pasta, Creamy Gochujang Pasta or One-Pan Mince Pasta.
If you tried this Creamy Corn Pasta, it would mean so much to me if you could leave a review & a star rating to let me know how you found it! I love hearing about your experiences – it motivates me to keep creating more and more recipes for you guys 💛 Let’s get cooking! – Mimi x
Watch how to make this recipe
Creamy Corn Pasta
Ingredients
- 900 g frozen corn, £1.35
- 500 g cooking bacon, roughly chopped (£1)
- 250 g pasta, £0.75
- 300 ml creme fraiche, £0.85
- 1 leek, washed and thinly sliced (£0.67)
- Fresh chives, thinly sliced to serve (£0.52)
Cupboard Essentials
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic granules
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Preheat oven to 200°C. Pour the bacon and corn onto a foil-lined baking tray and coat with 1 tbsp olive oil, garlic granules and a pinch of salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring halfway through.
- Meanwhile, gently fry the leek with the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil over a medium/low heat. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook your pasta in heavily salted boiling water, setting your timer to the packet time minus 1 minute.
- After around 8 minutes, the leeks will have softened. Add the creme fraiche at this stage and heat through. Then add 200ml of starchy pasta water.
- Add the pasta, 2/3 of the crispy bacon and corn and stir to combine. Loosen with more pasta water if necessary.
- Divide into meal prep containers and top with the remaining corn/bacon. Finish with fresh chives and a crack of black pepper.
Notes
- Distribute the bacon and corn evenly across the tray for the best colour, stirring halfway through.
- Reserve your starchy pasta water to loosen the sauce.
- Cook the leeks on a low heat to prevent them from burning.
Nutrition
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