Grilled Corn With Chile Lime Butter

An excellent play between spicy and sweet.

Corn with chili lime butter and lime wedges on a paper plate.

Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

Why It Works

  • Cleaning the corn and then wrapping it in foil—as opposed to soaking it in water and then grilling it right in its husk—provides a balance between protecting the corn while also lightly charring it.
  • The natural sweetness of the corn is complemented by the spicy, acidic butter.

There are some things so common on my grill that I never think about them as "blog worthy." Take corn for example. Grilling it to perfection has become second nature, but I still like to toy around with new ways to gussy it up. My latest tasty incarnation: grilled ears slathering in a chile-lime butter.

For a long time I've been grilling corn in their husks, and while that certainly is the most attractive way to prepare them, I always found the process—of removing the silk, tying the husk, then soaking the ears—rather arduous. Instead, try removing the silk and husk completely, rubbing on some butter, salt, and pepper, and foiling it up—then it's off to the grill. Foil seems to provide the right balance between protecting the corn while transferring enough heat to lightly char the kernels (a must for my grilled corns).

Right off the grill, corn prepared this way is mightily tasty, but slather on a butter mixture with chile powder, cayenne, lime zest and juice like I did on these ears, and it's taken to a whole new level. The sweetness of the corn puts the spicy butter in check, and together they create a flavor that's incredibly well-balanced. This hasn't been the first, and won't be the last time that excellent ears come off my grill.

August 2010

Recipe Details

Grilled Corn With Chile Lime Butter

Prep 35 mins
Cook 20 mins
Cool 0 mins
Total 55 mins
Serves 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 6 ears corn, husked

  • 1/4 pound butter at room temperature, plus 3 tablespoons

  • 2 teaspoons chile powder

  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

  • Zest of 1 lime

  • Juice of 1/2 lime

  • Kosher salt

  • Freshly ground black pepper

  • Lime wedges for serving

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 pound of the butter, chile powder, cayenne pepper, lime zest, and lime juice until thoroughly combined Set aside.

  2. Lightly butter the corn with the remaining butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Wrap ears individually in aluminum foil.

  3. Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread the coals evenly over the charcoal grate. Alternatively, set all the burners of a gas grill to high heat. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill, and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate. Place the foiled corn on the grill and cook until tender and slightly charred, about 20 minutes, turning 4 times during cooking. Remove from the grill and let cool for 3 to 5 minutes.

  4. Open the foil, slather each ear in the chile-lime butter, and serve with the lime wedges.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
203 Calories
15g Fat
19g Carbs
3g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 203
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 15g 19%
Saturated Fat 9g 43%
Cholesterol 36mg 12%
Sodium 490mg 21%
Total Carbohydrate 19g 7%
Dietary Fiber 3g 10%
Total Sugars 4g
Protein 3g
Vitamin C 11mg 54%
Calcium 16mg 1%
Iron 1mg 3%
Potassium 219mg 5%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)