Ina Garten’s Corn Pancakes Are an Easy Way to Use up All That Corn on the Cob

TL;DR:

• Ina Garten makes corn pancakes with fresh corn. 
• She takes corn off the cob and mixes it with cornmeal, buttermilk, chives, Sriracha, and more. 
• The Barefoot Contessa doesn’t mix the batter too much to avoid “tough pancakes.” 

Wondering what to do with all that fresh corn come summertime? Ina Garten has the answer. When she stocks up on corn from local farm stands, one of the Barefoot Contessa corn recipes she likes to make is corn pancakes. Ahead, get details on Garten’s corn pancakes, plus what she uses to give them tons of flavor. 

Ina Garten’s corn pancakes start with taking corn off the cob

Garten’s corn pancakes start with what else besides corn. She takes it off the cob. 

“This is how I cut corn off the cobb,” the cookbook author said on Barefoot Contessa: Cook Like a Pro as she made corn pancakes. “Instead of having it all over the kitchen, I take a sheet pan, and I put a towel on top, and I cut the corn right onto the towel. Then I can just pick up the towel and pour all the kernels right into a bowl.” 

“Just run your knife really close to the cob so you can get as much of the kernels as possible,” Garten continued. “So now, instead of trying to collect corn from all over your kitchen, all I need to do is pick up the towel and pour it into the bowl. How easy is that?”

Ina Garten makes the batter using different types of cornmeal

Once the corn is off the cob, Garten gets started on the batter. She puts cornmeal — some coarse and some fine — into a bowl. “I just like the combination of the two. It gives it great texture,” she explained. 

She adds the rest of the dry ingredients — “a tiny little bit of sugar to give it a little sweetness,” baking powder, baking soda, flour, and salt — to the bowl. 

Next, she adds the wet ingredients to the corn. Buttermilk goes into the bowl for “really good pancakes” along with two eggs and sriracha, chives, and jalapeño for flavor. 

Finally, she adds the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until just combined. “You don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour, or you’ll have tough pancakes,” she said. 

Ina Garten cooks her corn pancakes with clarified butter

Garten’s corn pancake recipe doesn’t call for regular butter. Instead, she uses clarified butter because “it has a higher burning temperature.” She doesn’t go the store-bought is fine route either. She makes it herself “by melting butter and allowing the white milk solids to settle to the bottom” and reserving the “golden liquid.” 

From there, she pours clarified butter into a hot saute pan, followed by a measuring cup full (she uses ¼ c.) of batter. Garten’s “pro tip” is similar to how she uses an ice cream scoop to get uniform muffins. Using the measuring cup ensures the corn pancakes are all the same size. 

After a few minutes on each side, when the pancakes are golden brown, Garten’s corn pancakes are done. 

Garten’s full recipe is available via Food Network.