When late summer rolls around, we’re up to our ears in corn. We love how it swings both savory and sweet depending on the recipe and how adaptable it is to countless cooking methods. Here, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite dishes calling for fresh summer corn that you can really sink your teeth into!
Grilled Watermelon with Corn
This recipe from Love & Lemons is straight out of the farmers market! Fresh corn, onion, and peppers meet feta and avocado as a topping for smoky-sweet grilled watermelon wedges. The corn is raw, so the time it takes to whip up this salsa is minimal. Serve with cookout fare like burgers or barbecued chicken.
Elote-Style Corn Ribs
Ribs + corn sounds like the quintessential summer meal, right? If so, you’re going to love this spin on this tried-and-true dish from Seasoned to Taste that turns the corn into the ribs! The result? Robustly seasoned corn on the cob, quartered and then either air-fried or baked to resemble ribs, served with lots of cotija, lime, and Tajín flavoring!
Mexican Street Corn Hot Dogs
These loaded hot dogs have all the spicy, creamy, and citrusy flavors of elote asado, our favorite Mexican street food. The grilled corn relish comes together in minutes, while the slightly sweet chipotle mayo packs a lot of flavor with only two ingredients.
Creamy Bacon Corn Pasta
Corn is the star of this decadent summer pasta from Simply Delicious. Bacon and fresh corn cook down in a creamy sauce that is best tossed with a short pasta with plenty of nooks and crannies. Small shells are used in this recipe, but it would also be great with rigatoni, penne, or orecchiette.
Grilled Skirt Steak with Cucumber and Corn Salad
This 30-minute weeknight dinner from MyFitnessPal is hearty and healthy. It uses minimal, yet all fresh, ingredients to make a crunchy salad that’s piled over quickly grilled flank steak. Have leftovers? Turn them into tacos for lunch the next day!
Sweet Corn and Brown Rice Risotto
Fresh corn takes center stage in this simple side from Martha Stewart Living. And we love how easy it is to prepare with pantry staples since it cleverly swaps in brown rice for sometimes harder to find risotto. Our tip: After you slice the corn kernels off the cob, run the cob down a box grater and collect the corn “milk” that the grater shaves off in a bowl—you can add this to your veggie broth for an even more pronounced fresh corn flavor.
Mexican Street Corn Salad
Inspired by Mexico’s popular street snack known as elote, this fresh-from-the-cob corn salad from Love & Lemons combines blistered corn kernels with mayo, cotija cheese (or use feta in a pinch), and the perfect amount of spice. Serve as a side or as a bed under some grilled chicken or shrimp for an easy summery main.
Charred Corn and Bacon Pizza
Just when we thought we couldn’t love pizza more than we already do, Spoon Fork Bacon had to go and give us this ultimate bagel-meets-pizza corn pie. A shake of cornmeal gives the crust a nice bite, while the everything bagel spice and cream-cheese-stuffed crust really take it to the next level. Add in char-blistered corn and strips of smoky bacon and it’s basically pizza perfection.
Cheesy Jalapeño Corn Dip
Corn, cashews, and cream cheese form a trifecta of flavor in this spicy hot dip from Minimalist Baker. The recipe is entirely—and surprisingly—vegan, though it’s also easily modified to whatever ingredients you already have on hand.
Corn Pancakes
Corn for breakfast? Absolutely. These crisp-on-the-edges, fluffy-in-the-middle hotcakes combine two very unexpected pancake ingredients into a summery corn-lover’s dream. Top with a generous drizzle of maple syrup, or use the pancakes themselves as a savory-sweet shell for breakfast tacos, as What Should I Make For cleverly suggests.
Leave a Reply