25 Ways to Use Corn
Matt Armendariz, 2013, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved.
Corn is an iconic staple of summer — The season has truly arrived when farm stands on the side of every road are selling local fresh corn. It’s served at backyard barbecues and family cookouts, and brought to every picnic all summer long.
It’s easy to be lazy with your corn-cooking techniques because a good ear of corn is so juicy and sweet on its own. Corn can be so much more than just grilled on the cob and topped with some plain butter; it can also be salsa, salads, slathered with lime butter, and even turned into waffles and pancakes. In the off season, you can pretty much always substitute frozen or canned corn, but make use of fresh produce while you can with these corn-centric recipes.
Matt Armendariz, 2014, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved.
- Serve Ginger Coriander Corn Salad as a hot or cold side dish, keeping in mind that the coriander called for is what we know as fresh cilantro.
- Grill up corn on the cob and brush a chili-lime mayo over Mexican Street Corn or Mexican Grilled Corn.
- Get in touch with your Southern side at breakfast with Bobby Deen’s Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Cakes, made lighter with whole-wheat flour, just a bit of cheddar and a reduced-fat sour cream topping. Or go in another nontraditional breakfast direction with Corn Waffles, topped with chili, grated cheese and sour cream.
- New corn-grilling technique: Wrap soaked, shucked corn in a piece of husk before grilling. Then top Grilled Corn with jalapenos, lime zest and crumbled Cotija cheese.
- Kelsey Nixon’s Charred Corn Salad with Basil Vinaigrette (pictured above) makes the best of summer’s bounty.
- Tired of the same old tomato salsa? Shake things up with Grilled Corn Salsa.
- Bring the county fair to your backyard with Alton Brown’s Corn Dogs.
- No fish fry is complete without Creamy Corn Hush Puppies. Use canned creamed corn, or make your own Creamed Corn on the stovetop or try out Slow-Cooker Creamed Corn, which cooks all day without heating up the whole house.
- Giada adds Italian flair to her boiled Corn on the Cob with Parmesan Cheese.
- Grilled Picnic Corn is a classic picnic or barbecue side dish. Kelsey adds in some party serving tips, like cutting the cobs of corn in half for a large party (or a kids’ party) with lots of other side dishes.
- Tyler Florence soaks shucked corn in water for an hour before grilling his Grilled Corn on the Cob with Lime Butter and then sprinkles everything with an ancho chile rub. Chervil, also known as French parsley, is related to Italian flat-leaf parsley. If you can’t find any chervil, substitute a mix of parsley and tarragon.
- Rustic Potato, Tomato, Corn and Basil Salad is dressed with a simple lemon vinaigrette.
- Arepas are a type of flatbread that is made with corn flour and popular in Colombia and Venezuela. Make your own Arepas with Cheese and Corn and serve with some stewed Black Beans.
- Winner winner Grilled Chicken with Creamy Corn Risotto dinner is spiced up with coriander, cumin, turmeric and paprika.
- Summer isn’t complete without chowder. Prep the base of Rachael Ray’s Spicy Clam and Corn Chowder up to five days in advance and use several-day-old English muffins as the croutons. For a more-elegant take on the classic, try Michael Symon’s Corn and Lobster Chowder.
- Not in the mood for something hot? Go for chowder in salad form with the Beekman Boys’ Corn Chowder Salad. To easily remove the kernels from a shucked ear of corn, slice off the tip and, working in a large bowl, stand the cob on the flat side you just created to cut the kernels into the bowl.
- Grilled Corn Skewers with Chipotle-Cilantro Butter, a.k.a. corn lollipops.
- Ellie Krieger’s Creamy Corn and Vegetable Soup gets its thick, rich texture from blending corn with nonfat milk.
- Charred Corn Salad with Creamy Tomatillo Dressing is exactly what your barbecues have been missing.
- Grillades make up a traditional Creole breakfast of sliced medallions of meat, either pan-seared or fried, served over grits. Bobby Flay’s Beef Grillades with Cheesy Fresh Corn and Sweet Onion Grits may not be swimsuit-diet friendly, but they sure will improve your brunch game.
- Bobby Deen’s Corn Waffles with Ratatouille are light yet filling, and can be served any time of day.
- Summer days may be steamy, but every once in a while we get a cool evening. Warm up with Mexican Corn Soup.
- Corn pudding, custardy and thick, two ways: Vietnamese Sweet Corn Pudding (Che Bap) and Nigella Lawson’s Sweet Corn Pudding.
- Practice the classic French technique of cooking fish “en papillote” (in parchment paper) with the under-200-calorie dinner Flounder with Corn and Tomatoes.
- Get back to basics with a quick oniony spread for easy grilling and entertaining: Corn on the Cob with Butter Rub.