27 Fresh Corn Recipes You’ll Be Making All Summer Long

Both rich and light, this one-pot meal has a fresh, bright topping of avocado, tomato, cilantro, and lime.

Grilled corn sprinkled with crunchy, spicy Salsa Seca is going to be your new favorite summer party food.

Saucing an Italian dish with the flavors of Mexican street corn is exactly the sort of madcap riff chef Donald Hawk, of Phoenix’s Valentine, specializes in. They make their pasta in-house with ‘00’ white Sonoran wheat and local egg yolk, but you can make this dish with store-bought spaghetti. And while they source their goat cotíja from Crow’s Dairy, normal cotíja works too.

This party-worthy main course is one of the best uses of peak-season tomato and corn we’ve ever tried. It’s a bit cheffy to make corn broth with leftover corn cobs, but it adds a layer of flavor you can’t get otherwise. If that’s one step too many, feel free to skip! You can make the curry the morning of your party or a day ahead.

This crowd-pleaser has everything you want in a fish taco, including a spicy mayo and fresh add-ins like avocado and lightly charred corn.

Use whatever veggies have on hand for this curry—it’s the perfect opportunity to showcase other summer produce.

Chef Alex Seidel of Denver’s Mercantile Dining & Provision simmers potatoes in a bath of melted butter and oil, a twist on a technique best known for duck.

This recipe uses the same fragrant spice mix for the corn and the pork, a shortcut that amplifies the flavors of both. Round out the meal with a green salad.

“My wife is Mexican, so I created the Elote pizza as a tribute to her and her heritage,” chef Daniele Uditi says. “I love that this pizza balances the smoky heat of chipotle in adobo with sweet corn and the salinity of fresh feta. While it’s an unexpected combination, to me it’s the perfect marriage of flavors.”

Deep-frying corn “ribs” enhances the corn’s natural sweetness, according to the team at Seattle restaurant Tomo.

We’ve balanced sweet corn and rich cream here with earthy cumin and a splash of bright Champagne vinegar. You can make the soup a day ahead and chill. Also chill six small, wide bowls for serving, to keep the soup cold. 

In the height of summer, you won’t find a better side dish for ribs than this deceptively simple combination of peak-season produce. Try bringing it to a party, too.

Try these corn cakes as a summertime vegetarian main course, served with a salad—or make them smaller, for an appetizer.

Some of corn’s best partners—medium-hot chiles, chorizo, and basil—join up in this simple dish. It’s substantial enough to call a chowder, but light enough for summer.

Serve a creamy risotto dish that’s perfect for summer. The bite of grilled corn combined with tender, fresh shrimp brings out the best of this risotto recipe.

After cooking the chicken, J. Kenji López-Alt, author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science , throws corn on the still-hot grill to use in this unusual, delicious salad.

Is there any better appetizer than sweet, crunchy Mexican street corn? This version from Bacanora restaurant boasts two cremas.

Chef Russell Moore gave us this technique for grilling chicken breast—and it’s the juiciest version we’ve ever had, protected from overcooking by the bones and skin. “Don’t cook it too fast,” he adds. “You don’t want it burnt outside and raw inside.” We also like his clever way of producing an entire dinner over one fire, grilling everything in sequence. He uses cherry and almond wood, but for the home griller, he suggests a mix of mesquite hardwood charcoal and either fruitwood or hardwood chunks—and lighting more charcoal partway through cooking.

The secret to this hearty soup is its flavorful broth, made with the corncobs. The kernels add extra corn flavor and crunch.

Sweet corn only gets better smeared with one of these easy, flavorful toppings. Each makes enough for 4 ears of corn.

Save this for late August and early September. The last of late-summer’s corn, cooked so it still has a light crunch, accents this silky squash soup.

A refreshing option for dinner on a hot summer night. The ingredients can be prepped and pasta cooked a day ahead of time and chilled (add 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil to the cooked pasta). Toss everything together just before serving.

“Once you’ve tried this recipe, you’ll never go back to plain corn on the cob,” writes Trisha Kruse, who gave us this recipe.

The paprika delivers the smoky flavor, so you don’t miss the char.

This chilled corn soup from Jennifer Milsap of Sacramento-based Shef Madres is the essence of late summer cooking. It’s all about taking the greatest care with the sweetest peak-season corn.

This light salad, based on one our reader had while vacationing in Germany, is great alongside grilled meat or fish. Squeezing out excess liquid from the fruit and vegetables keeps the salad from getting watery.

How to improve on cornbread? Make it snack-size, crisp at the edges and tender inside, with a delicate crunch from corn. Then watch it disappear at brunch or alongside ribs. You’ll need a madeleine or mini-muffin pan.