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I grew up on corn that was just shucked and plopped in a big pot of water, cooked, then topped with butter, salt and pepper. Pretty standard, nothing wrong with tradition. If you want to take your corn on the cob to the next level, give this Grilled Corn with Chile Butter, Lime & Queso Fresco recipe a try!
Grilling corn is so delicious! And so easy. You might think you have to soak the husks before grilling corn on the BBQ but you don’t have to do it that way. I just remove the husks and silk just as if I was going to plop them in water, but instead, spray them with a bit of Pam or brush lightly with oil and put them on the grill. They don’t take long to cook, only about 10 minutes, depending how hot your grill is. What your looking for is nice grill marks all around, keep turning them so they don’t get over charred.
What makes this Grilled Corn with Chile Butter, Lime & Queso Fresco extra special is the flavored chile butter that’s slathered on the cobs after they’re grilled. The butter can be made with either ancho chile powder or chipotle chile powder. Heck, you could probably make it with regular ol’ chile powder if you really wanted, but I recommend trying the ancho or chipotle. Ancho chili powder is ground ancho (poblano) chiles. It has a deep, rich, smokey flavor and is a mild to medium heat. Chipotle chili powder is made from the chipotle chili, which is actually a jalapeño that has been smoke dried. Chipotle chili powder is hotter than ancho, and both are fantastic in this butter. After buttering the corn, top with some fresh squeezed lime juice, chopped cilantro and crumbled queso fresco or Cotija cheese. Queso fresco is a fresh, salty cheese that can be crumbled, but also melts. Cotija is an aged cheese which makes it a little drier, it’s stronger, saltier and crumbles but doesn’t really melt. Either cheese works well for this dish, so just use whatever you are able to find.
PrintGrilled Corn with Chile Butter, Lime & Queso Fresco
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter, room temperature*
- 1 Tbls. ancho chile powder or chipotle chile powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. honey
- Corn, as many ears and you want to eat, shucked
- Crumbled Queso Fresco or Cotija cheese
- Chopped cilantro for garnish
- 1 lime, sliced in wedges
Instructions
- In small bowl, combine butter with spices and honey and stir well to combine. Set aside or chill if using later.
- Heat grill to about 350. Spray the cobs with Pam or brush lightly with oil. Grill corn, turning frequently to prevent them from burning. Takes about 10 minutes to cook.
- When finished cooking, remove to platter and spread cobs with chile butter, squeeze some lime, and top with cilantro and crumbled cheese of your choice.
Notes
* If using unsalted butter, you may want to add a little salt to this. Just depends on your salt preferences but it needs a little to enhance the butter.
Also, if you don’t have an outdoor BBQ, don’t let that stop you… I’ve made this with my cast iron grill pan too!