Buttery Sous Vide Corn on the Cob – Fresh or Frozen

Nothing says summer like sweet corn. And what’s corn without some butter. What if you could infuse your corn with butter to make it extra buttery?! You can! Simply try sous vide corn on the cob with butter.

Below, we tell you how to prepare sous vide corn with step-by-step directions. We also give you some added direction to cook your corn on the cob from frozen. And for a deeper corn flavor, we provide instructions for how to sous vide your corn with the husk on.

If you’re really just here for the sous vide corn on the cob temp and time, here you go: 185°F (85°C) for 35 minutes.

Cooking vegetables sous vide does come with a couple challenges. I’ll pass on what I’ve learned from my years of cooking sous vide corn.

Simple Sous Vide Corn on the Cob Recipe

This is a simple and hassle-free corn on the cob recipe that amplifies the buttery flavor by simply using the sous vide to infuse the butter into the corn while it’s cooking. When I’m cooking for dinner guests, I like to add a bit of char. When it’s dinner with my little ones, I don’t bother.

Ingredients

• Corn
• Butter
• Salt

See recipe card for full ingredient list and quantities.

Substitutions

In place of butter, olive oil can be used.

Special Equipment Needed

• Sous vide machine (there are a lot of affordable options)

Step-by-Step Directions

1. Set your sous vide machine to 185°F.
2. Bag the ears of corn with butter and salt. Spread the butter and salt around as best you can. Then try and keep the corn from overlapping in the bag so that they cook evenly.
3. Use the water displacement method to void the bag of air and drop it in to cook.
4. After 35 minutes, remove the bag from the bath and shake it to toss the ingredients. Remove corn from the bag and finish with added salt, or…
5. Put some char on it from a grill or searing torch and then finish with added salt.

From Frozen

Sous vide corn on the cob from frozen works as well. Just add twenty minutes to your cooking time, for a total of 55 minutes.

With the Husk On

Leaving the husk on brings added depth to the flavor of your sous vide corn. Grassy taste notes are brought to life.

I advise trimming both ends for a couple reasons:

1. It makes the corn easier to shuck.
2. We’ve all had to discard tips of corn that were unappetizing. This keeps you from cooking those unsightly tips, sight unseen.

I also like to take a couple layers of husk off as a precaution against pesticides and other chemicals.

What you lose with this method is the butter doesn’t penetrate the corn in the same way, so you’ll have to have add more butter table side. Life’s about trade-offs.

Expert Tips

• Weight the bag down. In addition to being light, vegetables emit gas while being cooked, which makes the bag float.
• I generally like to use use Ziploc Freezer Grade bags instead of vacuum sealed bags so that I can let gas out of the bag if needed.
• Make sure to use high quality bags as seals are more prone to fail at higher temperatures, which we’re using.
• Use a lid of some sort on your sous vide container. It will dramatically cut down the time to get to temp.
• You can cook other vegetables, such as sublime carrots, broccolini, and asparagus at the same time.

If you plan on cooking sous vide vegetables often, the container below is a real help. It removes the major obstacle of keeping bags fully submerged in scalding hot water:

Sous Vide Container with Lid and Adjustable Rack

• Universal Design: Compatible with almost all sous vide cookers (note, it does not accommodate the first generation of Anova Precision Cookers).
• Unique Feature: The adjustable overhanging rack is especially adept at keeping sous vide vegetables cooked evenly without using more water than you need.
• The lid helps you reach temperature quickly.
• The external handles help move the container around, which is especially helpful when cooking vegetables, which require higher temperature.

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Buttery Sous Vide Corn on the Cob – Fresh or Frozen

Rishi

A simple and hassle free recipe for extra buttery corn on the cob.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 3 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Total Time 38 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Servings 4

Calories 150 kcal

Equipment

• 1 Sous Vide Cooker
• 1 Sous Vide Container

Ingredients

  

• 4 ears corn on the cob
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp salt

Instructions

 

• Set your sous vide machine to 185°F.
  
• Bag the ears of corn with butter and salt. Spread the butter and salt around as best you can. Then try and keep the corn from overlapping in the bag so that they cook evenly. Use a high quality bag (e.g. Ziploc freezer grade, vacuum sealed) void of air. Place the bag in the water when it reaches 185°F.
  
• After 35 minutes, remove the bag from water bath and spread the butter and salt all over the corn within the bag. Remove corn from the bag and either serve directly with salt to taste, or…
  
• Put some char on it from a grill or searing torch and then finish to taste with salt.

Notes

Use a high quality bag (e.g. Ziploc freezer bag, vacuum sealed bag, Stasher style bag)

Your bag will need to be weighed down to prevent it from floating. Place a plate over it, use sous magnets or insert a butter knife or two into your bag.

Olive oil can be used in place of butter.

Add 20 minutes if using frozen corn, for a total of 55 minutes.

Leave the husk on for more intense corn flavor. You’ll get some grassy taste notes. I trim the end and remove a couple layers of the husk.

You can cook other veggies at the same time, such as carrots or broccolini.

Keyword corn, corn on the cob, quick and easy, side dish, sous vide vegetable