Grilled Mexican Street Corn
Enjoy the last few weeks of summer with this tasty Grilled Mexican Street Corn. This fresh corn is covered in crema, grated Parmesan, lime juice and feta cheese…and it’s delicious!
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Officially, there are just about two weeks of Summer left for those of us here in the Northern hemisphere. I don’t know about you, but I feel like Fall started this past weekend. School buses are back out in full force, and I think our thermometer dipped into the upper 40’s last night. I even have a light scattering of leaves on my front lawn already. I absolutely love Fall (it’s my favorite season), but I feel like Summer was way too short this year. Maybe I’m becoming a true upstate New Yorker. Either way, I’ve been grilling away lately. Soon enough that grill will be covered in snow…so I need to get my fix in while the weather is still nice!
Our latest obsession around here has been this Grilled Mexican Street Corn. I’ve had this recipe on hold for a while now, but I finally decided to get out there and grill up a batch. And then we promptly turned around and grilled another batch the very next night. It was that good! Imagine fresh corn, grilled to perfection and then covered in crema, grated Parmesan, lime juice and feta cheese. It’s messy, but it’s delicious!
So I don’t know about you, but the thought of putting mayo on grilled corn just didn’t appeal to me when I first heard about it. But here’s the thing–it’s not straight mayo. The mayo goes into an awesome crema sauce that is tart and full of flavor. It’s legit, folks. Trust me on this one.
True Mexican Street Corn uses crema and queso cotija (cheese). Unfortunately, both the crema and queso cotija were nowhere to be found in upstate New York (imagine that!). So I took to Google and ended up using Alton Brown’s recipe for making homemade crema. Then I remember reading somewhere that feta could be used as a replacement for queso cotija. Huh? Feta cheese…on grilled corn? Yeah, it doesn’t sound quite right, does it? My wife looked at me with a raised eyebrow when I pulled the feta out. But go with it. Just do it. The taste is absolutely amazing, and I promise that you’ll be going back for more!
Grilled Mexican-Style Street Corn
Ingredients
For the Grilled Corn
- 3 ears of corn husks on
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter softened
- ½ Tbsp lime juice
- ½ Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp chipotle chili powder or chili powder
For the Crema Sauce
- 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 3 Tbsp Mexican crema or sour cream
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
- ½ cup crumbled queso cotija can use feta cheese if queso cotija is not available
- ½ tsp chipotle chili powder or chili powder
Instructions
- In a large bowl, soak the ears of corn (husks on) for 30 minutes.
- Using a small bowl, combine the softened butter, lime juice, salt and chipotle powder. Stir until well combined.
- Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
- Carefully pull the husks back from the corn, but do not entirely remove husks. Remove silk from corn.
- Rub the butter mixture evenly across the corn. Pull the husks back into place and tie closed with string.
- Grill the corn for 17-20 minutes, turning frequently to prevent burning.
- Meanwhile, make the Crema Sauce by stirring together the mayonnaise, crema, lime juice, salt and cilantro.
- Remove corn from grill and allow ears to cool slightly.
- Discard husks from corn and cut each ear of corn in half. Insert a skewer into the cut-side of each ear of corn.
- Brush corn evenly with Crema Sauce; sprinkle queso cotija and chipotle powder across the tops of corn before serving.
This looks like the perfect way to hang on to the end of summer! We wanted to fire up the grill this past weekend, but the rain kept interfering. Hoping to get one or two good grill sessions before the snow flies…LOL
The weather may be getting chillier, but I’m determined to keep that grill going as long as possible!!
I think this tops the list as “Not First Date Food”! There is just no graceful way to eat that…
But it looks amazing! As if corn weren’t delicious enough on it’s own you went and grilled it and then topped it with cheese and creamy goodness!!!
Well, look at it this way, Lindsey. If you eat this on the first date, and then there is still a second date after that…then you know it’s going to last! Seriously, though, it might be messy to eat, but this corn is amazing!!
Upper 40’s?!?!? You’re killing me!
Beyond jealous of the New York weather and this delicious corn!
Haha I know right! You guys are probably still hotter than heck down there. But here’s the thing…we’ll be buried in snow before long, and you’ll be out enjoying the nice weather instead. I remember grilling out on New Year’s Day one year down there…crazy!!
I ate so much of this when I was in Mexico. Thanks for the reminder, I am going to try making it myself 🙂
Oh, and it is cold here in the UK 🙁
Oh man, it’s already cold in the UK? And here I thought it was too early to be cold over here in New York! I think some of this corn might fool your brain into thinking it’s warm again…at least for a few minutes! 🙂
It still feels a bit like summer here in NYC, although there’s a cool breeze that seems to be whispering “Fall is coming”
But it doesn’t really matter if it’s still summer or if it’s already fall, any season is a good season for that awesome Grilled Mexican Street Corn!
Apparently now we can tell the difference that a couple of hours makes! It’s beautiful up here this week, Mike. Of course, you live in the city…and I’m eternally jealous about that. And I couldn’t agree with you more…I’m fairly certain I could eat this corn sitting on a snow bank and still be a happy camper!
OMG. Want to eat this! Obsessed with corn.
Haha! I’ll send you some, Courtney! Or better yet, I’ll make you an entire batch just for you…but you have to bring the Dragon to visit!! (Yes, that is a bribe. Haha.) 🙂
Good gosh – it dipped into the 40s up there already! Yesterday it was a bone chilling 70 degrees here – even the mosquitoes were confused – to bite or not to bite!!! 🙂
I know if this corn was in front of me I would definitely bite! All manners would be out the door as I chomped away – feta cheese on corn??? Feta doesn’t bother me as much as mozzarella does – so definitely gotta try this!!
I know! I love the Fall weather, but I’m struggling with the fact that it’s here already. If you’re able to handle the crema (and you can probably just buy real crema down there…) then I think this recipe might be safe for ya, Shashi! And it is oh so delicious, too…we really did make it 2 nights in a row because it was so darned tasty. You get messy for sure, but it’s worth it!
This corn looks amazing- loving the cream sauce! I can’t wait to try this recipe out! 😀
Thanks, Jess! I was a little skeptical of adding the feta cheese…but it works so well! I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Yea man, love Mexican Street Corn! You silly upstaters… no queso fresco or cotija cheese?!?! Lol… feta is a great substitute for it. It’s equally salty and crumbly. I hope grilling season can go long into the fall this year… I’m not ready to pack it away yet!
Tell me about it, Chris! I’m planning on using my grill to the very last moment this year. Forget a few flakes…it’s going to take many, many inches of snow to keep me away. Haha.
I’ve seen a lot of recipes like this but have never tried…this is the one I’m trying though, anything with a mayo sauce is good in my book! I think we had leaves covering our lawn here in jersey by mid-august. Crazy.
Thanks, Dan! This recipe is one of our absolute favorites. It’s a bit messy, but oh man is it delicious! And you’re not too far away from me here in upstate NY. I’ve got to get my leaf blower out this weekend and make sure it’s working. How is it already leaf season??
David, I’m making this tomorrow!
YES! This really is one of my favorite summer grilling recipes, Alice! We haven’t made it yet this year, but now that you reminded me about it…then we clearly need to grab some corn and get going. Maybe for Monday’s picnic on the grill! 🙂 I hope you have an awesome long weekend!
Oh my! This is going on our grill tonight! Hopefully, I can find the corn. Not quite corn season in Buffalo yet.
Looking forward to trying this!
Awesome! I hope you enjoy this corn as much as we do, Patty! I posted this at the end of last summer, and we’re just now getting to where we can get corn over here in the Albany area. I can’t wait to make another batch of this corn soon! Happy grilling! 🙂