Chili Lime Grilled Corn

There are a hundred and one ways to make grilled corn. For years we grilled it in the husk after soaking in water. Then we moved on to grilling corn naked (the corn, not the griller) and then smoking the corn with apple wood, Grilled Cheesy Corn and Mexican Street Corn Bar, but this is my new favorite – Chili Lime Grilled Corn. Did I mention the butter and garlic? They’re in this recipe too, but the chili and the lime are such iconic flavors that they got top billing.

Chili Lime Grilled Corn Ingredients:

• 1 stick salted butter
• 1 tsp ancho chili powder
• ½ tsp chipotle chili powder
• juice of 3 limes
• 1 tsp of garlic, minced (not pictured)
• black and white pepper to taste
• 4 ears of corn
• ½ cup shavings of parmesian reggiano cheese, reserved
• ¼ cup cilantro or flat leaf parsley, rough chopped and reserved

First, make the butter sauce that we will be drenching our corn with.

Combine the butter, 2 different chili powders, juice of the 3 limes, garlic and pepper in a small sauce pan:

Special Tip: When juicing citrus fruits, roll them hard with the palm of your hand on the counter to break up some of the membranes inside. It will yield more juice:

Next, shuck the corn by pealing off the outer leafs but not all of them.

Once you peal away the outer ones, just pull the rest down but don’t tear them off.

Remove the silks:

How to Make Chili Lime Grilled Corn

Now prepare the grill for high heat grilling. In this case, I fired up my gas grill to the highest setting and closed the lid to get those grates good and hot. A charcoal grill would work too. Place the corn on the grill with the husks off the edge of the grill so you don’t get grilled husks too:

Now go back inside and prep the accoutrements for the plating by rough chopping the cilantro (or for those like me who hate cilantro, flat leaf parsley) and create shavings from the Parmesian-Reggiano for the corn once it is grilled:

Grab the butter sauce and a pastry or sauce brush and head back to the grill.

Hit the grilled corn with the chili, lime and butter sauce:

You want the grilled corn to brown on a couple sides and look like this:

As you rotate the grilled corn, brush with the chili lime sauce:

Once the corn is browned on couple side (you can go more if you like), take it inside, and place on a platter and cover with the slivered cheese and coarse chopped herbs:

For those that wish to add a little extra lime kick, throw on some lime quarters and serve:

Chili Lime Corn Summary

Simply serve the grilled corn as is and I guarantee nobody asks for any extra butter. But if you have any of the butter sauce left over, drizzle it over the top. When serving to children, lop off the husk handle as they will make a mess, trust me. For the heat averse, I served this to a 3 and 5 year old and they both loved it. If you want more heat, add more of the chipotle chili powder.

If you have any questions about this chili lime grilled corn, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email.

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Recipe Card:

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4 from 1 vote

Chili Lime Grilled Corn

Ears of corn grilled over high heat and drenched with a chili lime butter sauce.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: BBQ

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 8 tbsp salted butter (1 stick)
• 1 tsp ancho chili powder
• ½ tsp chipotle chili powder
• 6 tbsp lime juice (from 3 limes)
• 1 tsp garlic minced (not pictured)
• black and white pepper to taste
• 4 ear corn
• ½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano shaved, reserved
• ¼ cup cilantro or flat leaf parsley rough chopped, reserved

Instructions

• Combine the butter, chili powders, juice of 3 limes, garlic and pepper in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to low and shuck the corn
• Pull the outer leafs off the ears but only pull the rest down to the base
• Remove the silks and prepare the grill
• Set the burners to high heat and place the ears right on the grill, with the husks off the edge
• Brown one side and then rotate and brush with the butter sauce
• Head inside and shave the cheese into slivers and rough chop the herbs
• Brown the other side and brush with more sauce and remove from the grill
• Place on a platter, sprinkle the cheese and rough chopped greens and garnish with lime quarters
• Serve

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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BBQ Grilling

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This article was initially published on: June 9, 2013