Embodiments of the present invention provide methods for transmitting and receiving a control channel, a base station, and a user equipment, which relate to the communication field, and can solve a transmission problem of available changing transmission resources caused by introduction of an E-PDCCH. A method for configuring a control channel resource includes: determining, by a base station according to a system configuration and/or user configuration, resource elements REs included in an extended control channel element E-CCE, and transmitting an extended physical downlink control channel E-PDCCH to a user equipment, where the E-PDCCH is carried by the E-CCE; and receiving, by the user equipment, the E-PDCCH, and obtaining the REs included in the E-CCE, and receiving, over the REs included in the E-CCE, the E-PDCCH transmitted by the base station. The embodiments of the present invention are used for configuring and detecting a control channel resource.