Grilled Corn With Spicy Miso Butter Recipe

By
Joshua Bousel
a photo of Joshua Bousel, a Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Joshua Bousel
Joshua Bousel is a Serious Eats old-timer, having started sharing his passion for grilling and barbecue recipes on the site back in 2008. He continues to develop grilling and barbecue recipes on his own site, The Meatwave, out of his home base of Durham, North Carolina.
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Updated June 05, 2019
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Photographs: Joshua Bousel. Video: Vicky Wasik

It's around this time of year that corn is so seasonally cheap that I can't help but add it to each barbecue at my house. Of course, the same thing each week, year after year, isn't much fun, so I'm always thinking of new ways to gussy up these golden ears, which led me to making them with chile-lime butter, Italian-style, and now my current favorite, with spicy miso butter.

Beautifully blistered grilled corn was slathered in a compound butter with miso, Sriracha, and cayenne. While this mixture tended toward the spicy side, when coated on sweet corn, it becomes a nice balance. The distinct and salty flavor of the miso provided a base that become more prevalent when you hit a pocket of heat from the Sriracha and cayenne.

It was an excellent way to finish corn and inject some new life into a tried and true backyard staple.

Recipe Details

Grilled Corn With Spicy Miso Butter Recipe

Active 35 mins
Total 40 mins
Serves 4 servings
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons (110g) butter, softened, divided
  • 2 tablespoons (30g) white miso paste
  • 1 tablespoon (15ml) sriracha
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 4 ears corn, shucked
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Type of fire: direct
  • Grill heat: high

Directions

  1. Whisk together 4 tablespoons (55g) butter, miso, sriracha, and cayenne in a small bowl. Set aside.

  2. Butter corn with remaining butter, season with salt and pepper, and wrap ears individually in aluminum foil.

  3. Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread coals evenly over entire surface of coal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill, and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil grilling grate. Place foil-wrapped corn on grill and cook until tender and slightly charred, about 20 minutes, turning 4 times during cooking. Remove from grill and let cool for 3 to 5 minutes.

  4. Open foiled corn, slather each ear in spicy miso butter, and serve.

Special equipment

Grill

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