Mexican Street Corn Salad

This Mexican Street Corn Salad takes the flavors from the grilled corn (elotes) that is sold by street vendors in Mexico (and here in parts of Los Angeles) and incorporates them into a delicious salad. 

Mexican street corn is grilled corn that is slathered in a mixture of mayonnaise, cotija cheese, chili, and lime and then sold on the cob. There's also a version of street corn, called esquites, where the food vendor strips the corn from the cob, tosses the ingredients, and serves it in a plastic cup. 

This salad is an ungrilled version of the street corn ingredients made into a salad. It's sweet, creamy, and has just the right amount of kick from the chiles, red onion, and chili powder. Plus, there are tomatoes to help make this a nutitious salad. 

Mexican Street Corn Salad Ingredients:

For the Dressing: 

Cotija cheese: It's an aged cow's milk cheese named after a town in Michoacán, Mexico. It's salty and crumbly, and a great substitute for Parmesan cheese. If you can't find it, you can substitute any salty hard crumbly cheese such as a 50/50 mixture of Parmesan (or Gran Padano) and ricotta (or possibly feta) cheese into the mayonnaise. 

I was able to find Cotija at Trader Joe's. The easiest way to crumble it is to use a coarse grater. It won't look grated... just crumbly but without all of the effort. 

Mayonnaise.

Garlic. 

Jalapeños.

Lime Juice. 

Kosher Salt. 

Chile Powder: I used Chipotle chile powder. 

For the Salad:

Corn: You can use four ears of fresh corn. I used fresh corn to make this salad, but you can also use four cups of frozen that has been thawed when fresh corn is not in season.

Cherry Tomatoes: I love using a medley of various colors. 

Red Onion. 

Fresh Basil. 

Variations:

This recipe makes a lot of dressing. If you don't want to use it all, just serve some on the side for those who want more. If you do have leftover dressing, it is great for topping any salad or mixing into ranch dressing.

For a more traditional Mexican herb, you can definitely substitute cilantro for the fresh basil in this salad. 

If you'd like to make the salad even more hearty, you can add a can of drained and rinsed black beans. Adding crumbled bacon to this salad would also be delicious. Bacon! 

Of course, you could grill the corn first if you like and then make the salad. 

This Mexican Street Corn Salad is so fresh and delicious. It made fabulous leftovers, and would be perfect to take to a potluck picnic. 

More Corn Dishes You May Also Enjoy:

Summer Squash Succotash

Tomato and Corn Chipotle Salsa

Roasted Corn and Zucchini Salad

This week, the Sunday Funday group theme for recipe sharing is "salads!" Be sure to check out everyone's recipes. 

Salad Days!

• BBQ Chicken Ranch Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Caprese Prosciutto Salad from Food Lust People Love
• Mexican Street Corn Salad from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Roasted Beet Salad with Horseradish Dressing from Palatable Pastime
• Strawberry & Green Bean Salad from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Super Delicious Chopped Salad from Sneha's Recipe
• Yam Nuea Yang (Spicy Thai Beef Salad) from Culinary Cam

Mexican Street Corn Salad

Yield: 4 servings as a main, 8 as a side.

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 15 MinTotal time: 15 Min

This Mexican Street Corn Salad takes the flavors from the grilled corn (elotes) that is sold by street vendors in Mexico (and here in parts of Los Angeles) and incorporates them into a delicious salad.

Ingredients

For the Dressing

• 8 ounces cotija cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 jalapeño pepper, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I used chipotle chili powder)

For the Salad

• 4 ears corn, kernels sliced off the cob, or 4 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped basil leaves

Instructions

1. To make the dressing, combine the cotija cheese, mayonnaise, jalapeño, garlic, lime juice, salt, and chili powder together in a small bowl.
2. To make the salad, combine the corn, tomatoes, onion, and basil leaves in a large bowl. Add the dressing one spoonful at a time, and toss until the salad is well coated.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

416

Fat (grams)

23 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

9 g

Carbs (grams)

35 g

Fiber (grams)

50 g

Net carbs

30 g

Sugar (grams)

8 g

Protein (grams)

19 g

Cholesterol (grams)

56 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2018/08/mexican-street-corn-salad.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

corn, street corn

salad

Mexican

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This Mexican Street Corn Salad is from the Simply Vegetarian Cookbook by my friend Susan Pridmore of The Wimpy Vegetarian. I was totally thrilled to participate in her virtual blog party to launch her first cookbook. One of the things I love about this book is that Susan offers suggestions for many of the recipes to adapt them for the non-vegetarians in your life.  Disclosure: I received a copy of the book as part of a promotion. 

Updated August, 2024.