Mexican Street Corn Salad
This Mexican street corn salad has the most delicious combination of flavors! It’s the perfect accompaniment to taco night!
Do you have a go-to meal for lazy nights when you don’t feel like cooking? For years ours was tacos. I would make big batches of shredded chicken or ground turkey and store them in the freezer, and it was super quick and easy to pull out a packet of meat, grab a bag of tortillas, and make some quick tacos for everyone. These days my family has decided that only my homemade tortillas will do and they are too much of tortilla snobs to eat store-bought, so taco night takes a little more effort.
Every fall I buy a ton of fresh sweet corn at the farmers market and freeze enough to last all winter, and it is totally delicious in this corn salad. I would definitely say that fresh corn is the best to use, but the salad will still taste great with frozen or even canned corn. (If I had to state a preference, it would probably be fresh corn > frozen corn > canned corn > no street corn salad.)
I love using Cotija cheese in this salad because it’s salty and delicious and flavorful, but if you prefer a milder cheese I’ve also made it with queso fresco with good results. You can experiment a little with the flavorings to make it exactly the way you like it. My husband loves the kick of lime juice in it, so he always adds a full lime’s worth, but if you don’t want it to pack as much of a punch, half a lime will do nicely. (And then you can have some lime leftover to squeeze into your Diet Coke. Or is that just me?) This Mexican street corn salad is one of my favorite side dishes!
Mexican Street Corn Salad
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 ears of corn shucked and cut from the cob
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic
- juice from 1/2 – 1 lime
- 1/3 cup cotija cheese crumbled
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the corn kernels to the skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until soft and lightly browned, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. In a medium bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, chili powder, garlic, and lime juice. Add the corn to the bowl and toss to coat. Add the cotija, red onion, and cilantro and toss to combine.
