I tested 4 corn on the cob recipes by celebrity chefs, and the best was the spiciest

• I made corn recipes by Guy Fieri, Giada de Laurentiis, Trisha Yearwood, and Aarón Sánchez.
• Fieri's chili-lime corn was surprisingly bland, and Yearwood's feta-paprika recipe was easy to make.
• Sánchez's spicy chili-lime corn was a winner because of its delightfully sweet and spicy flavors.

Whether you boil it or grill it, slather it in butter, or sprinkle it with cheese, corn is bound to be delicious.

I tried four recipes from celebrity chefs Guy Fieri, Giada de Laurentiis, Trisha Yearwood, and Aarón Sánchez to find which was the best.

They were all pretty tasty and I found a new favorite, all thanks to one spicy ingredient that I'd never tried before.

Fieri's chili-lime corn recipe has very few ingredients

Fieri keeps the ingredients of his corn on the cob simple and his preparation and cooking process more complex.

This recipe involves making a butter mixture with chili, granulated garlic that I swapped for garlic powder, salt, pepper, lime juice, and lime zest.

This corn on the cob took the longest to make

I started by peeling down the husks to keep them intact.

I removed the silks, pulled the husks back up, and submerged them in water for 45 minutes.

Just before it finished soaking, I whipped up the butter mixture.

Once it soaked, I pulled the husks down and dried off the corn. I slathered butter all over it and brought the husks back up around the cob.

I set a grill pan on the stove to medium heat, placed the corn on the grill pan, and covered it with a cloche.

I turned the corn every eight to 10 minutes until all of the husks had char marks, which took about 35 minutes.

Most of the butter leaked, leaving hardly any flavor on the corn

Lots of butter spilled out when the corn was cooking, so it lost most of the added flavor from that homemade chili-lime butter.

I got hints of spice and lime in some bites, but I mostly just tasted corn.

I'd prefer topping it with the butter after it had cooked. I would have loved an extra squeeze of lime juice or a little cheese to finish it off.

Laurentiis' corn calls for lots of parmesan

I wasn't sure if I'd like this corn, as it seemed strange at first to cover it in Parmesan and parsley.

But the recipe is easy to make and uses kitchen staples like olive oil, fresh garlic, salt, and herbs.

The corn took no time to make

This was the only recipe that required the corn to be boiled rather than grilled.

I started by sauteing chopped garlic in oil for a minute, then poured it into a separate container to cool.

I cut the corn in half and let it cook for about five minutes. I added half of the parmesan cheese, most of the chopped parsley, and salt to the garlic-oil mixture and stirred to create a cheesy paste.

To plate, I topped each cob with the mixture, followed by plenty of grated parmesan and a sprinkle of parsley.

I was impressed with the flavor and presentation

I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe. The savory flavor of cheese and garlic contrasted with the sweet corn, and the parsley added a fresh flavor.

This looked beautiful thanks to the extra cheese and herbs. This will definitely go into my rotation of summer recipes.

Yearwood leaves her corn in the husk while grilling

For Yearwood's in-the-husk corn on the cob, she adds a little heat with smoked paprika - plus butter, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and crumbled feta.

The corn on the cob was ready after 15 minutes on the grill

I put the corn in its husks on the grill, turning it every few minutes for 15 minutes until they were golden with char marks.

In between, I mixed the butter and seasoning.

After grilling the corn, I carefully removed the husks, coated the corn in the spicy butter, and topped it with crumbled feta.

This was pretty good, but a little too heavy on the garlic powder

Overall, this was an easy and tasty recipe. There was a little too much garlic powder in the butter, and I think some queso fresco would've been a good replacement for the salty feta.

I also would've loved a squeeze of lime juice for acidity. Even without any changes, this recipe was good enough to make again.

Sánchez's recipe required several ingredients, including one that was harder to find

Sánchez's corn with chili-lime butter recipe is similar to Fieri's but incorporates fresh garlic and rocoto-chili paste instead.

The paste wasn't available at the nearby stores, but I was able to order it online. The recipe also says it can be found in Latin supermarkets.

This technique uses fresh cilantro, lime juice, butter, cumin, salt, pepper, and cotija cheese.

Grilling and prepping took less than 20 minutes

I grilled the corn, completely peeled from its husks, for 15 minutes.

I turned it occasionally until nearly every part had golden marks.

I combined the chili paste, butter, garlic, lime juice, salt, pepper, cumin, and cilantro.

Once the corn was grilled, I topped it with the butter mixture, plenty of cotija cheese, and a sprinkle of cilantro.

I wished I made more of this corn

This corn on the cob was full of flavor.

I was worried this would be too spicy for me, but it was a perfect amount of heat.

The dish also looked gorgeous with all of the red butter, crumbled cheese, and chopped cilantro. I wished I made extra.

Sánchez's spicy chili-lime corn won this battle for me

Any of these recipes would be fine for a cookout, but Sánchez's recipe is my favorite and will be made repeatedly.

The sweet corn paired with spicy and acidic butter and cheese was such a flavor explosion in my mouth. Plus it was ready to go in no time.

The other corns were good, too, and I'd like to make de Laurentiis' recipe again.

Click to check out the other celebrity-chef recipes we've put head-to-head so far.