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About This Fire Roasted Corn-on-the-Cob
Fire roasted corn is easily accomplished in a few easy steps, as we describe and show in pictures below.
Where things get exciting is how the delicious kernels and their toasty char get treated after roasting. Layering flavor upon flavor is a lot of fun with a cob that has just been treated to the radiant heat of lump charcoal and has absorbed its appetizing smoke.
How to Make Fire Roasted Corn: Step-by-Step
To make fire roasted corn begin by preparing ears of corn for the grill and setting up the grill. We recommend that you use lump charcoal wood such as Fogo's Eucalyptus (our favorite) or similar for best results. Regular charcoal works too and of course, gas, but the imparted flavor is not as decadent.
NOTE: How far the grates are positioned over the actual charcoal and the intensity of the radiant heat emanated from the charcoal have an impact on how fast the corn will char and cook through. There is no recipe that can replace sound judgement and observation - use yours.
- Begin by cleaning the corn on the cob - remove the outermost husk but leave enough husk to fold backward and use as 'handles' while manipulating the corn over the grill grates. This also adds visual appeal to the corn you will end up serving. Remove all silk.
- Do not soak the corn in water or brush it with butter. Do not do anything to it. Simply place it over the direct heat of charcoals (it is possible that you might have to place the cobs near the actual charcoals and not directly on top if the heat is too intense initially so they do not burn, use your judgement).
- Rotate each ear of corn every 3 to 4 minutes or as needed to ensure equal exposure to heat all around and even charring.
- Keep turning the ears of corn until they are perfectly charred all around and cooked through, then serve.
Perfect Charred Corn
Perfectly charred corn has a balanced composition of some blackened kernels (cooked a little bit over the edge, with a caramelized flavor), a majority of perfectly cooked through kernels and a good amount of golden brown, not fully blackened kernels. The overall moisture of the ingredient is retained and its surface is infused with a range of appetizing flavors.
The picture below illustrates what you are aiming for.
Toppings for Fire Roasted Corn
Once you have the fire roasted corn prepared to your liking, pile up the cobs over a baking sheet or a suitable platter and get busy dressing each one for immediate enjoyment.
For easy on-the-cob-bliss, consider the ingredients pictured below and the two ways of enjoying fire roasted corn we love the most.
Traditional Seasoning
A simple treatment of melted butter and a seasoning mix to your liking such as - Za'atar mix, OR kosher salt, smoked paprika, onion powder and dried parsley, OR (our favorite) Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute which has an array of flavors mixed together... Just use your preferred seasoning.
Elote Seasoning
Elote, the popular Mexican street food, is corn-on-the-cob smeared with mayo or Mexican crema and treated to various toppings. In its classic version elote is sprinkled with Tajin or chile powder and topped with crumbled cotija cheese.
Below see the pictures of how to properly prepare Elote seasoning fire roasted corn.
Variations to Love
- To make Elote cup or Elote en vaso, check out this post. When served in a cup and with a few extra ingredients added, the street food is known as esquites.
- To make a salad from fire roasted corn check out these two posts on Mexican Street Corn Salad and Oven Roasted Corn Salad.
- Shave the corn off the cob and douze it with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, add finely chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, chives, or Greek oregano, season with kosher salt and pepper, mix and enjoy it as a side.
Storage and Reheating
Store leftover fire roasted corn in an airtight container (freezer bag with the air carefully expelled will work great) in the refrigerator. Better yet, shave it off the cob and store in the same manner.
To reheat fire roasted corn-on-the-cob, wrap it in aluminum foil with a knob of butter and place it direclty onto the grates of a pre-heated 350 F oven for 5 minutes. Shaved kernels are easily reheated in a skillet with a bit of butter over medium heat.
You Might Also Like
Smoked Corn on the Cob | Roasted Corn Salsa | Crispy Fried Jalapenos | Street Corn
Recipe
Fire Roasted Corn with Butter or Elote Seasoning
Ingredients
- 5 corn-on-the-cob ears
- TRADITIONAL SEASONING
- 4 tablespoon butter melted
- seasoning such as Za'atar or 21 Seasoning Salute mix to taste
ELOTE SEASONING
- ¼ cup mayonnaise or Mexican crema
- ½ cup crumbled Cotija cheese
- Tajin seasoning or chile powder to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat charcoal grill to medium-hot. If possible use lump hardwood charcoals.*
- Remove the outermost husk from each ear of corn, fold the rest of the husk over forming bundles you can use as 'handles' while manipulating the corn around the grill. Remove all the silk. DO NOT soak the corn in water.
- When the hardwood charcoal is ready place the cobs above the direct heat, directly onto the grates of the grill. If the heat is too intense initially, you may place them a bit further away to prevent premature burning of the kernels.
- Using the folded over husks slightly rotate the corn every 4 minutes or so, to achieve even charring all around and uniform cook through. When corn is perfectly charred move it to a serving platter and serve it with the topping options suggested** or any others of your choice.
Emily
Zaatar seasoning and butter was great! Pure indulgence.
Rod
Great street corn toppings, even better with fire roasted corn, many times in Mexico the corn was boiled. This is a real treat with little work, fun for the fam to eat together while waiting on ribs to finish grilling.
Sean
Fire roasted over charcoal wood is the way to go! The elote treatment is solid. Looked impressive and the leftover ones were easy to convert into Mexican street corn dip - just took the kernels off the cob gathered the fallen cheese etc and added some mayo. Good deal.