Sweet grilled corn ribs cooked until charred and tender served smothered in crema, spicy aioli, chopped cilantro, tajin and fresh parmesan. These corn ribs are super fun to make and make for a cute little appetizer, side dish or light lunch to serve in the summertime along side a BBQ spread. 

PREP 

By far the most challenging part in making these is the actual cutting of the corn into ribs. The centre is pretty hard to cut through and requires a bit of muscle and patience. You need a sharp knife that can cut through bigger foods and a mallet or even a rolling pin for some extra help. You might have seen these at some point on tiktok or even Pinterest- videos of people cutting the corn into ribs. It always looks easier in a video but it’s a lot harder when you attempt it. You want to make your corn sturdy by cutting off both ends so that it can lay flat on the cutting board. We don’t want any accidents with the knife. The next step is to stand the corn upright and make an incision with the knife so that it can securely sit in the middle of the corn. Once it’s stable I just slowly hammered both sides of the knife gently until I reached the bottom and was left with two halves. This was the best/safest/easiest way to do it. You want to avoid forcing the knife because you don’t want to break it or injure yourself. 

COOKING

We like to cook our corn right on the grill. It doesn’t require heavy seasoning before it hits the grill. All that doesn’t get absorbed into the corn. It’s not made for that and well just a waste of ingredients and time. Think of it like steak- just the bare minimum of oil, salt and pepper and that’s all the flavours you need. Once it’s cooked that’s where you can go crazy with the toppings. Other cooking methods that are popular with corn ribs is making them in an air-fryer and oven baking. So if you don’t have a grill these are great alternatives the only thing is that you lose the charred components which add so much extra taste. 

SERVING

As previously mentioned, this is where you can go crazy with your toppings. We went for an elote style Mexican street corn taste. The corn ribs are drizzled in two types of sauces, a mexican crema, and spicy aioli then we load on the chopped cilantro, tajin and parmesan cheese. The sauces help adhere the rest of the toppings so that each bite you get to taste everything together. We love serving up fully loaded corn and often will just turn to whatever ingredients we have on hand and herbs growing in the garden. 

Looking for more corn recipes? Check out our 
Shiso Butter Corn 

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Print Recipe

corn ribs

Sweet grilled corn ribs cooked until charred and tender served smothered in crema, spicy aioli, chopped cilantro, tajin and fresh parmesan.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time25 minutes mins

Course: Sides

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings: 2

Author: the communal feast

Ingredients

• 3 ears sweet corn quartered
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• cilantro chopped
• 1/2 cup parmesan grated
• spicy aioli see notes
• mexican crema see notes
• tajin for serving or smoked paprika

Instructions

• Preheat the BBQ to 375 degrees F.
• Peel the corn from the husk and remove all the silk. Use a sharp knife to cut off both ends of the corn. Stand the corn upright and insert the knife in the centre. Rock the knife back and forth or use a mallet to help move the knife down the corn. This part is a little tricky and tough so take your time. Once halved, cut those pieces again to make quarters by placing the flat side down and kernels up.
• Brush the corn with cooking oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on the grill and flip cooking until the corn begins to turn a deeper yellow and the kernels start to char. The ribs should be curled once ready. About 10-15 minutes.
• Immediately top the ribs with both sauces, season with tajin, extra salt and pepper and finish with parmesan cheese and lime wedges. Enjoy!

Notes

Mexican crema: Combine 2 TBS plain yogurt, 2 TBS sour cream, 1/2 lime juiced, pinch of salt. Let sit 30 minutes.

Spicy aioli: combine 1/2 cup mayo, 1/4 cup valentina hot sauce, 1 garlic clove minced, 1/2 lime juiced. Stir until well combined.