When you have a large crop of corn from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include it in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use it up before it goes bad without getting sick of it. You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.
The uses below refer to corn kernels unless otherwise stated.
Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple! Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve corn:
- Steam it with asparagus. Drizzle with an herbal vinegar.
- Steam it and stir in pepper jack cheese.
- Boil it and serve with butter. This is the classic corn on the cob.
- Make your own corn tortillas or tortilla chips.
- Make a corn patty with corn, cilantro, and chives. The patty can then be added to sandwiches, served as a naked patty, or crumbled into a salad.
- Add it to quesadillas, tacos, and enchiladas.
- Grill it with cilantro and cojita or parmesan.
- Slow-cook it with cream cheese and honey.
- Slow-cook it with jalapeños, bacon, and cilantro.
- Bake it with chicken, cheese, and chives.
- Bake it with spaghetti squash, onions, and tomatoes. Add beef and/or additional spices if desired.
- Bake it with ground beef, tomatoes, and rice.
- Stuff bell peppers with corn and your cheese of choice and bake.
- Make a casserole with corn, tomatoes, and beans or chickpeas.
- Use it as a topping for nachos.
- Use it as a base of an Interesting Hot Cereal. See our Interesting Hot Cereal article here for more information.
- Add it to egg dishes like quiches and omelets. Corn is particularly tasty in quiches and egg cups.
- Add it to macaroni and cheese, baked or stovetop, or other cheesy pastas.
- Add it to other pastas, stovetop or baked. Zucchini and tomatoes make great additions to corn+pasta dishes as well.
- Make a simple soup. Corn makes a great simple soup alongside any of the following:
- Amaranth and carrots
- Amaranth and bell peppers
- Sweet potatoes and bell peppers
- Sweet potatoes, carrots, and bell peppers
- Add corn kernels to other soups and broths. Learn how to make a basic soup here.
- Add corn silk to broths.
- Use it as a topping for crackers, toast, or crostini. Corn can be a great topping for these on its own or when used in any of the following combinations:
- Avocado and cayenne
- Cream cheese and peppermint
- Cream cheese and cilantro
- Toss it with other produce and serve it as a side. This is similar to a Simple Salad (or depending on your perspective, it could be considered a Simple Salad). A few ideas for combinations with corn in this way are as follows:
- Lovage and fennel
- Jalapeños and cilantro
- Cucumbers, topped with an herb-infused vinegar
- Cucumbers and avocados
- Amaranth grains and leafy greens. This could include amaranth leaves, spinach, orach, lambsquarter, chard, or any other leafy greens.
- Blueberries and feta
- Tomatoes and tortellini
- Peas and basil
- Cojita and cilantro
- Poblanos, dried cayenne, and garlic powder
- Dill, garlic, feta, and a cayenne-based hot sauce
- Buckwheat, tomatoes, and cilantro
- Tomatoes, avocados, and peppers of choice
- Mix it with cottage cheese.
- Use it as a Frame of an Interesting Salad. (Wondering why I capitalized those letters? Read more about Interesting Salads here!)
- Add it to pasta salad.
- Add it to other salads.
- Make street-corn-style dip with corn, cilantro, bell peppers, and cojita cheese.
- Make a spread with corn, cream cheese, garlic, and chiles or cayenne.
- Make a tea with the silk. Corn silk tea is best prepared as an infusion.
- Make a tincture. An herb:solvent weight ratio of 1:3 at 95% alcohol is suggested for a tincture made with fresh (not dried) corn silk. An herb:solvent weight ratio of 1:5 at 60% alcohol is suggested for a dried corn silk tincture. Learn more about tinctures here.
- Freeze it to save it for later. Learn more about freezing your produce here.
- Dry or dehydrate it as another preservation method.
Further Reading
Growing corn? Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
Corn is also featured in these articles:
- Quick Facts: Growing Corn
- The Interesting Hot Cereal: How to Make Your Hot Grains More Fun
- The Interesting Salad Protocol: How to Build an Interesting Salad