A corn on the cob recipe that is perfect for Christmas or Thanksgiving! Deliciously festive and easy to make in the oven, with blue cheese crumbles and a simple cranberry sage butter adding tasty holiday flavors.
Introducing the perfect corn recipe for your Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner
Corn isn’t the obvious vegetable to incorporate into your holiday meal, but if you’ve got some frozen corn or you’re in a warmer climate where corn on the cob is a year round delight, you should absolutely include it in your festive meals! Or in my case, since it’s a vegetable my kids actually like, I will be working into in any and all family feasts forevermore!
This recipe gives it a little festive flavor twist with cranberry sage butter and blue cheese crumbles bringing extra sweetness and more complex savory flavors.
When you’re feeding a family, flexibility is important! I like to cook this corn plain, and add the flavored butter and blue cheese toppings afterwards. This means we can take away some of the corn for those who don’t want the toppings, or maybe just want the butter without the blue cheese, for example.
Ingredient Notes & Recipe Tips
- This recipe is written for four medium sized pieces of corn on the cob. But you can scale it up if you have a bigger group to feed. You can also just cut those pieces into 2-3 mini cobs, to allow for lots of people to have a smaller piece, which may make the most sense for a large gathering.
- My recipe assumes that you are baking the corn in the oven, but if you live in the Southern Hemisphere or anywhere it’s hot at Christmas time, you can cook your corn outdoors on the grill. Since we prepare the corn plain and add the toppings afterwards, you can just prepare the corn your preferred way and then slot it into the recipe.
- Let’s talk about the sage! I love how sage works in this recipe, it really helps to bring balance to all the sweetness and it’s just one of my favorite herbs. If you want to leave it out, feel free, or even try making two batches of cranberry butter if you think a sage-less version would go over better with some of your family, particularly kids.
- And let’s talk about the cheese! I use stilton, a crumbly blue cheese which is popular at Christmas time in the UK so feels very festive to me. If you’re in the US, don’t buy an imported cheese just for this – you can use any crumbly blue cheese. You can also pivot towards a feta or cojita style cheese if you prefer.
More Holiday Veggie Recipes
Festive Corn on the Cob
Ingredients
- 4 cobs corn, trimmed with husks removed – leave whole or cut in half depending on how large you want the servings to be
- 4 tbsp blue cheese, crumbled
- 1 tsp butter, approxomate
Cranberry Butter
- 1 tbsp cranberry sauce, whole or smooth – either is fine
- 2 tbsp salted butter
- 4 sage leaves, finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F.
- Prepare the cranberry sage butter. In a small dish or ramekin, microwave the butter, sage and cranberry sauce until the butter is melted. Place in the fridge – it will thicken up a little while you cook the corn, but it will stay soft and scoopable, rather than turning into a hard block.1 tbsp cranberry sauce, 2 tbsp salted butter, 4 sage leaves
- Rub some plain butter over the corn ears, and add salt and pepper to taste. Place on a baking tray lined with foil or parchment paper.1 tsp butter, 4 cobs corn
- Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, turning occasionally, until the corn is soft and browned in places.
- Remove from the oven and add to a serving dish. Spoon the cranberry sage butter over the top (you may wish to use a brush to spread it around), and add blue cheese crumbles on top as desired.4 tbsp blue cheese
- Serve immediately.
