Oven Roasted Corn with Honey Chili Butter

Roasting vegetables in the oven is one of my all-time favorite ways to prepare them. The roasting process seems to concentrate the flavors and makes everything just a tad sweeter. Corn is no exception to this rule.

Roasting corn in the husks traps the moisture and, in effect, steams the corn in its own juices. The end result is super moist, super sweet kernels that burst forth with flavor when you bite into them. Yeah, I know that sounds dramatic but the experience really was quite exceptional. Boiling corn yields a juicy kernel as well, but during all of that boiling, the flavor kind of gets diluted out. Roasting definitely takes the crown.

Not to mention, it’s insanely easy. Just heat up the oven and then pop them in there. You don’t even need to dirty any dishes!! Seriously.

Oven Roasted Corn with Honey Chili Butter

5 from 2 votes

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Oven Roasted Corn with Honey Chili Butter

Oven roasted corn is surprisingly sweet and juicy, and is only made more delicious with a slathering of honey chili butter.

Total Cost $1.70 recipe / $0.43 serving

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 4 ears fresh corn in husks $1.33
• 4 Tbsp butter $0.16
• 1 Tbsp honey $0.11
• 1/2 tsp chili powder $0.05
• to taste salt $0.05

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once the oven is warm, place the corn directly on the oven rack and bake for 35 minutes.
2. While the corn is roasting, prepare the honey chili butter. In a small bowl, combine the butter, chili powder, and honey. Either mash together with a fork or whip with a mixer. This is easiest if the butter is room temperature or close to it.
3. Once the corn is done roasting, carefully remove it from the oven with an oven mitt, clean kitchen towel, or tongs. Carefully peel back the husks and remove the corn silk. Slather the kernels with honey chili butter. The husks can serve as a handle while eating.

Step By Step Photos

Buy corn that is still completely wrapped in the husks. This will keep the steam inside while cooking. I’ll admit, this wasn’t even the best quality corn but by the time it was done, it was so delicious that I could have eaten all three! Oh yeah, I only made three despite the recipe being for four… and I have no explanation for this.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then place the corn directly on the rack. Cook for 35 minutes.

While the corn is cooking, prepare the butter. Combine 4 Tbsp of butter, 1 Tbsp of honey and 1/2 tsp of chili powder. You don’t even really need to measure if you don’t want to. This recipe is very flexible. But, I would prepare about 1 Tbsp of butter per ear of corn.

Whip the butter with a mixer or just mix it up really well with a fork. This is easiest if the butter is room temperature. Give the butter a taste and see if you want to adjust the flavor.

After the corn is done roasting, carefully remove them from the oven with a mitt, towel, or tongs. They will be very hot.

Carefully peel back the husks and remove the silk (it wipes off easily after it has been roasted). Slather with the flavored butter and sprinkle with salt if desired!

If you have trouble eating corn off of the cob, simply slice the kernels off with a sharp knife. I held onto the husks and placed the tip of the ear down on the cutting board and then just slid the knife DOWN (away from me) from base to tip.

This butter is also really delicious on other things, like cornbread. Another option would be to make a cilantro cumin butter by chopping up some fresh cilantro and mixing that into the butter with about 1/2 tsp of cumin. Yummmm. Corn is good.