Three Flavor-Packed Ways to Showcase Summer Corn

I love corn on the cob, quickly steamed or boiled (the good stuff barely needs to be cooked; some even prefer it raw) and served unadorned—no butter, no salt, nothing. It’s sweet, nutty, and gentle while still being full of flavor. Sunshine on the plate. 

And boiled corn on the cob is easy to dress up with flavored butters, herbs, even hot sauce. But sometimes you crave variety and a different way to enjoy a favorite ingredient. Here are three corn recipes that provide just that. 

If you have a mouth, then chances are I don’t have to convince you how delicious elotes—a classic street food from Mexico consisting of charred cobs of corn coated in a creamy, chile-and-cheese-spiked slather—are. 

For our recipe, we coat the shucked cobs with oil and broil them (although you can do it on the grill, too) until nicely browned. Then we coat the corn with a mixture of mayonnaise, briny feta cheese (cotija is traditional—feel free to use it), cilantro, lime juice, chile powder, and salt. The cobs go back under the broiler for a final blast of char-inducing (and thus flavor enhancing) heat. 

“Delicious” doesn’t do it justice. 

Wait, what?

We have lots of recipes for smoked main courses—whole chicken, brisket, wings, ribs, pork shoulder, pork chops, prime rib, and even a Thanksgiving turkey. But smoked side dishes are something different. 

But they don’t have to be. Most vegetables—including the corn here—take well under an hour to smoke to doneness. Maybe there are nights when you grill chicken outside but cook potatoes inside. This recipe flips that script by cooking the veg outside. 

It’s easy to make. First, stir together a barbecue sauce based on Alabama white barbecue sauce: It’s just mayonnaise, cider vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper, prepared horseradish, and a little cayenne. 

Brush some of this sauce on the husked corn, and lay it on the cooler side of a grill (this recipe works well on both gas and charcoal grills) that you’ve set up to produce smoke by way of chips wrapped in a foil packet. Let that go until the corn is tender and browned, about 16 minutes, and then move the corn to the hotter side to pick up some char. Remove the cooked corn from the grill and give it another loving brush with the white sauce, and you’re done. Smoky, savory, incredibly tasty corn.

While you might say that corn’s best friend is butter, I’m here to argue for basil; the emerald-green, licorice-scented herb provides a fragrant counterpoint to corn’s nutty sweetness. And this pasta recipe makes the argument moot, as it pairs fresh corn kernels with both butter and basil. 

The recipe is easy—it calls for store-bought cheese tortellini and the whole thing is on the table in about an hour. After cooking the pasta according to package directions, you cook corn, shallot, fresh chile, and salt and pepper in butter until the vegetables are tender and then dump the contents of the skillet over the pasta. 

Then you reduce heavy cream for a few minutes in a saucepan, add basil, and blitz in a blender (being mindful of the hot liquid and the steam coming off it) with Parmesan before stirring it into the pasta and vegetables. Done—except for adorning with extra Parm and basil at the table.