Aiming to achieve high-value utilization of corn husk, a steam explosion-assisted microwave hydrothermal process was employed to extract feruloylated arabinoxylan oligosaccharides (F-AXOs). Process parameters were screened by using sugar concentration, sugar yield, and degree of polymerization as evaluation criteria, and the antioxidant and prebiotic activities of the products were investigated. The results indicated that short-duration, low-pressure steam explosion pretreatment significantly promoted F- AXOs formation and increased oligosaccharide yield. Under steam explosion conditions of 1.5MPa for 2min combined with hydrothermal treatment, the F-AXOs concentration peaked at 11.56mmol/ L, and the total oligosaccharide yield reached 76.11%. Mechanistic analysis revealed that steam explosion pretreatment effectively disrupted the hemicellulose structure in the cell wall, promoting the degradation of the amorphous region, thereby enhancing oligosaccharide elution. Functional evaluation indicated that the steam explosion hydrothermal products exhibited antioxidant activity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2, 2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) cation (ABTS?) radicals, demonstrating strong antioxidant activity. The rapid rate of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production during in vitro fermentation confirmed that this extract possessed excellent prebiotic properties. In summary, the steam explosion-hydrothermal process effectively increased the concentration of F-AXOs without the need for additional chemical reagents. The obtained products exhibited good antioxidant and prebiotic activity, providing a theoretical basis for their potential applications in the food industry.