This Mexican Street Corn Salad is quick, fresh, and totally addictive! Summer is here and that means before you know it the grocery stores and roadsides will be full of fresh corn on the cob. One of my most favorite summer corn recipes is Elote, or Mexican style corn on the cob. It’s hot corn off the grill, slathered in a tangy and creamy lime-chili dressing and then rolled in Mexican cheese. The cheese melts into the sauce from the hot corn and it’s just all kinds of delicious. But it can also be a bit messy to serve. So a long time ago I started cutting the corn off the cob and turning the whole thing into a salad. I’ve seen recipes like this floating around lately and I thought I’d add mine to the mix! This is one of those recipes where if you have all the ingredients, you can kind of eyeball and add more or less of things depending on your tastes.
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Fresh corn – This salad is at its best when fresh, in season corn on the cob is used, but you could certainly use frozen corn kernels in a pinch. Avoid canned corn.
- Olive oil or butter
- Fresh garlic
- Mayonnaise – Regular or low fat. Avoid fat free.
- Sour cream – Full fat is best.
- Fresh lime zest and juice
- Chili powder
- Smoked paprika
- Black pepper
- Kosher salt
- Mexican cheese – Such as queso fresco or cotija, which both come in round blocks. Feta, or even parmesan, would also work.
- Cilantro
How to Make Mexican Street Corn Salad
- You’ll cut the corn off the cob and cook it in a hot skillet and it will kind of pop around like popcorn. Since corn is so sweet, it tends to char easily. You want those nice blacked spots, but you don’t want it to burn so just keep an eye on it. You’ll toss some garlic in there at the last minute.
- When that’s off the heat you’ll mix up a quick dressing of sour cream, mayo, chili powder, lime zest and juice, salt and pepper, and a little smoked paprika for smokiness.
- When it comes to cheese, look for Mexican cheese like cotija or queso fresco at the grocery store. You’ll mix all of that into the hot corn, along with some chopped cilantro, and mix it all up.
Storing and Other Tips
- The great thing is that this salad can be served right away, warm, or it can be chilled in the fridge and served cold. I personally like it warm, but it’s great cold as well!
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 3-5 days for best results.
- This is such a great summer side dish to go along side grilled meats, or taken to a pot luck for something unique.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, feel free to make the salad up to 12 hours in advance. I’d recommend adding the cheese right before serving, along with an additional fresh squeeze of lime juice.
Toasting the corn brings out the sweetness of the corn and adds overall depth to the flavors of the salad. Traditional Mexican street corn is grilled as well! That said, if you prefer to just toss everything together, I’m sure it would still be delicious. You may want to blanch your corn to cook it a bit, or use thawed frozen corn, which has already been blanched.
Nope, you can just put it in your pan frozen; it defrosts really quickly! Frozen corn won’t get quite as caramelized/charred as fresh corn (sometimes not even a little bit) but it will still taste great!
Mexican Street Corn Salad
Ingredients
- 5 ears fresh corn about 4 cups corn
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil or butter
- 1 large clove garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons mayo
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- zest from 1 lime
- juice from 1 large lime about 2 tablespoons, more if desired
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- kosher salt to taste
- ¾ cup crumbled Mexican cheese like queso fresco or Cotija
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Cut corn from cobs. Heat an extra large skillet to medium heat and add butter or oil. Cook corn, tossing occasionally, until toasted and slightly brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
- Combine mayo, sour cream, lime zest and juice, chili powder, smoked paprika and pepper. Toss to combine and then gently stir in cheese and cilantro. Taste and then add kosher salt to taste. Optional: Add additional lime juice to taste.
- This salad can be served warm, or chilled and served cold. If served cold, I find it usually needs an extra squeeze of lime juice right before serving.
Notes
- If you don’t have access to the Mexican cheeses (which should be available at most normal grocery stores) you could use feta, or even fresh Parmesan. If you use feta, you may want to do a little less than the recipe calls for since it’s so strong.
- The great thing is that this salad can be served right away, warm, or it can be chilled in the fridge and served cold. I personally like it warm, but it’s great cold as well!
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 3-5 days for best results.
- This is such a great summer side dish to go along side grilled meats, or taken to a pot luck for something unique.
Questions & Reviews
Delicious!!!!
Excellent recipe! My son who never really liked Mexican corn loved this recipe!!!
Making this dairy free and will obviously keep out the cheese (I’ll let others add theirs in) but wondered if you thought it’d be good to use all mayo to sub out the sour cream. Have made this many times as is and it’s one of my favs! Hoping to modify to fit my current dairy free diet!
Yes, I think you could do that- you could also try a dairy-free sour cream or yogurt sub (if you know of one!)
Do I cook the corn before cutting it off the cob to put in the pan?
No, you are cutting the corn off raw and sautéing in the pan.
This recipe is very good! I used Queso Fresco and hot sauce (I didn’t have jalapeños) for some added kick. The original recipe is mild, but you can adjust the seasonings to taste. I also did a mix of fresh and canned corn since I didn’t have enough fresh corn.
I absolutely love this recipe!! I made it as a side for my tacos. I topped it off with tons of cilantro (I love cilantro so much) and ended up chilling it as a cold side. I loved it!
I would recommend tasting it as you go and adjust everything. Adding extra lime was good too.
I will warn you – it is VERY rich. I couldn’t finish 1/2 cup! I definitely will make this again with added chilis or peppers for a slight kick. 10/10 recipe!!
I added the spices and chopped fresh jalapeño with the garlic to mellow the jalapeño and wake up the spices. It tasted closer to street corn this way.