Corn Cooked in the Husk (3 Ways)
Three ways to cook corn in its own husk so it steams in its own juice and stays sweet and tender. Microwave it in minutes, roast it hands-off in the oven, or grill it for char. Finish it elote style with butter, chili, cotija, and lime.
Cook the corn in its husk and it cooks in its own moisture. The husk traps the steam, so the corn stays sweet and juicy with no pot of water needed. Boiling does the opposite, it adds no flavor and just waters the corn down. The husk concentrates the sweetness instead.
Sweet corn is basically edible raw, so it only needs to heat through, which means it cooks fast. Pushing it too long is the main mistake, the sugars turn starchy and the kernels toughen. Fresher corn is sweeter too, since the sugars turn to starch the longer it sits after picking. Here are three ways to do it: the microwave for speed, the oven for hands-off, and the grill for char.
Method 1: Microwave (about 4 minutes, fastest and cleanest)
- 01Microwave the whole unshucked ear for 3 to 4 minutes. Add about a minute for each extra ear.
- 02Let it cool for a minute, then cut off the fat stem end (the bottom).
- 03Squeeze from the tassel end and the ear slides right out, with no silk attached. Fastest and cleanest, juicy with no char.
Method 2: Oven (about 30 minutes, hands-off)
- 04Put the whole unshucked ears right on the oven rack at 400°F.
- 05Roast for 30 minutes.
- 06Peel back the husk and silk, which pull off clean. Totally hands-off, no pot and no grill, juicy with a light roast.
Method 3: Grill (about 15 minutes, the best flavor)
- 07Grill the ears in the husk over medium heat for about 10 minutes, to steam them tender.
- 08Take them off, cut off the fat stem end, and slide the ear out of the husk. It comes out clean with no silk, the same trick as the microwave method.
- 09Melt the butter and mix in the Tajín or chili powder. Put the husk-less ears back on the grill to char. A few minutes before they are done, baste the butter and Tajín mixture all over for a final sear. Do not baste too early, a lot of it drips off and the butter burns before the corn gets a chance to caramelize and char.
- 10Finish with a sprinkle of cotija, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. Juicy inside, charred outside, the best of the three.
The Elote Finish
- 11For the microwave and oven, brush the hot corn all over with the melted butter, dust with the chili powder or Tajín, then sprinkle on the cotija and cilantro and squeeze lime over the top. For the grill, you already basted the butter and Tajín on while it charred, so just add the cotija, cilantro, and lime.
- Do not overcook it. Sweet corn is nearly edible raw, so it only needs to heat through. Push it too long and the sugars turn starchy and the kernels toughen.
- Fresher is sweeter. Corn's sugars turn to starch the longer it sits after picking, so cook it as soon after buying as you can.
- Never boil it. Boiling adds no flavor and waters the corn down. Cooking it in the husk does the opposite, it concentrates the sweetness.
- The clean-shuck trick (microwave). After microwaving, cut off the fat stem end and squeeze from the tassel end. The whole ear slides out with no silk attached. It is the cleanest way to shuck corn there is.
- On the grill, baste late. Brush the butter and Tajín on only in the last few minutes, so it caramelizes and chars onto the kernels. Too early and a lot of it drips off and the butter burns before the corn takes on any color.
