How to Cook Frozen Corn on the Cob

How to cook frozen corn on the cob on the stove boiled, in the microwave, Instant Pot or slow cooker. Tender kernels cooked on the cob or niblets to tender.

How to Cook Frozen Corn

You don’t have to buy it still on the cob either. Sometimes, especially if you have smaller kids at home kernels are better. We will go over them all because I make both. First off these stay for quite some time if packaged up properly in freezer bags. SO if you find them on sale you should definitely load up!

Removed from the cob is quicker, but not always as fun to eat right? You can either buy both of these fresh, package them up and freeze or buy packaged. There isn’t a difference really in the outcome of either as long as they are stored properly in appropriate packaging. Let’s talk about a few different cooking methods.

How to Cook Instant Pot Frozen Corn on the Cob

You can follow our Instant Pot frozen corn instructions for that one. We have used our Ninja Foodi to do this too. The latter gives you the option to air fry it too though. If you want it as tender as possible though steaming is the way to go. Probably use this the most often in our house.

How Long to Cook Frozen Corn on the Cob

Boiled frozen corn takes less than 10 minutes, but that is once your pot full of water reaches a rolling boil. That in itself will take about 15 minutes or so you should keep that in mind. Once it does carefully set them inside and boil 5-7 minutes or until hot and the kernels are fork tender.

Corn in Pressure Cooker only takes 3 minutes but that too takes 10 minutes or so to reach pressure and the timing doesn’t start until then. You can use any brand you might have at home for this method. Doesn’t matter whether it is frozen or fresh actually to make it this way. Surprising but true.

Air Fryer Frozen Corn on the Cob

Now you would need to add about 2 minutes to the cook time for frozen air fryer corn to get this done. Know that the texture will be different than boiled or under high pressure. Not a huge change but the outside will be slightly firmer if you air fry your cobs. Only takes 5 minutes to preheat and then 10ish minutes from there.

You will need to do a bit more paying attention to this as after 5 minutes turn them over and cook until tender. It is faster than dealing with filling a large pot and waiting for it to boil for sure, we prefer this method to that for sure. When done you can cool and then continue with seasoning for how to cook corn ribs.

From there you can put those little cob handles on either end so you can hold it without burning your fingers or cut off the pieces. Your best bet if you have a child with braces or little ones is to hold one end and place the other into a bowl. Slice kernels off so when they fall off they don’t go everywhere and make a mess.

Boiled Frozen Corn

If you want to boil corn kernels you will do the same as if it were left on. You don’t need nearly as much boiling water so it won’t take as long. Salt it, wait until it is a constant boil and then pour it in. Boil for 3-4 minutes or until as tender as you’d like. Drain, add butter and salt and then enjoy.

You could do the same thing in a pressure cooker with a cup of water in the pot, a vegetable basket, and this is how to steam vegetables for about 2 minutes. You won’t need to drain this since the food isn’t submerged, just steamed.

Frozen Corn on the Cob in a Slow Cooker

You need some water or milk, salt and butter to make frozen slow cooker corn. Again you will be steaming these this way but it takes longer. I always suggest slow cooking rather than putting it on the high setting because that is the whole point of this machine.

1. Set husked 4-8 ears of corn in pot
2. Pour 3/4 cup of water or broth inside
3. Slice or melt 1/2 cup of butter
   • lay pats on top
   • or pour melted butter over the top
4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Cover your pot and cook for 3-4 hours on high, or 5-6 hours on low (recommended) until the corn is bright yellow in color and pops when poked with a fork so it’s tender. Use tongs to remove cooked corn and top fresh corn with things like parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and/or more salt.

I have only smoked corn in a husk but would imagine you could follow the same instructions but wrap them in aluminum foil. I would throw some butter in there too since they would be steaming and need a bit of liquid of some kind to do so.

Alternatively you could use our cast iron skillet corn recipe and set it on your grate if you wanted to use kernels. This creates a honey sweet corn dish that everyone seems to love. You can put this on alongside your proteins, stir every time you lift up the lid and remove once it’s warmed. Doesn’t take long.

How to Microwave Frozen Corn on the Cob

Ok so this would be the last method you could try. How Long to Cook Corn on Cob in Microwave is quite easy. You would want a microwave safe dish where you could pour a bit of water into the bottom. Place pieces on top and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Heat for 8 or so minutes for ears – or until tender.

I hope we were able to help you learn how to cook frozen corn today. Our favorite method is listed below in the recipe card but feel free to try them all and decide for yourself.