This Mexican street corn salad is fresh, spicy, and lightly creamy! It’s an easy and delicious summer side dish and a must for Cinco de Mayo!
If you love Mexican street corn, try my Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad and Mexican Street Corn Soup!
Why You’ll Love Mexican Street Corn Salad
Easy to make – If fresh corn is in season I highly recommend grilling it and using that, however frozen fire roasted corn is a great time saver. You can easily have this salad prepped and ready to eat in less than 30 minutes.
Summer side dish – This summer salad is perfect for cookouts, potlucks, and picnics! It pairs perfectly with grilled steak, chicken, fish, or pork.
Versatile – Not only is this a great salad and side dish, but you can also serve it as an appetizer with tortilla chips or as a topping for tacos or grilled meat.
What is Esquites?
Esquites is also known as elote en vaso and Mexican street corn salad. It’s an off the cob version of elote (Mexican street corn), and a popular Mexican street food. It consists of corn kernels, mayonnaise, lime juice, cilantro, salt, chili powder, and cotija cheese.
I’ve added a little bit of Greek yogurt to the dressing to lighten it up, along with cumin, garlic, green onions, and a jalapeno for a spicy kick.
Ingredient Notes
Corn – fresh or frozen corn works for this salad. If using frozen corn I recommend using frozen fire roasted corn.
Green onions – Green onions have a mild onion flavor and work well in salad.
Jalapeño – Remove the seeds and vein of the jalapeño to cut down on the spiciness.
Cilantro – Fresh, lightly citrusy in flavor. Often used in Mexican cuisine.
Cotija cheese – A hard, crumbly, salty, Mexican cow’s milk cheese.
Mayonnaise and Greek yogurt – Using both yogurt and mayo is a great way to cut down on the amount of fat in the salad without sacrificing the rich flavor and creamy consistency.
Lime – Both lime zest and juice are used for fresh, zippy citrus flavor.
Chili powder, garlic powder, ground cumin – The seasoning blend that flavors the dressing.
Tips for Making Mexican Street Corn Salad
- Use good quality mayo. I like Chosen Foods Mayonnaise.
- Use full fat or low fat plain Greek yogurt for the creamiest consistency.
- If you don’t have a grill or aren’t using frozen fire roasted corn, saute the corn kernels in a skillet with a tablespoon of butter.
- The salad can be served chilled or warm.
- Because the salad contains mayo and yogurt, for food safety reasons don’t let it sit out at room temperature for more than 1-2 hours.
Substitutions and Variations
- Fresh grilled corn, frozen fire roasted corn, or frozen sweet corn all work for this recipe.
- If jalapeño is too spicy, substitute with a 4 ounce can of diced mild green chiles or omit it.
- Cotija cheese can be substituted with queso fresco.
- If you don’t want to use Greek yogurt, substitute with an additional tablespoon of mayo.
Serving Suggestions
This corn salad is a great one to make ahead of time and take to a barbecue or picnic. It pairs excellently with carne asada, grilled chicken fajita skewers, margarita grilled chicken, and cilantro lime shrimp.
You can also use the leftover salad as a topping for these honey chipotle chicken rice bowls, ground chicken taco bowls, or grilled fish tacos.
If you’re serving the street corn salad as an appetizer, pair it with pico de gallo, green chile guacamole, and shrimp ceviche. Use tortilla chips to scoop it up.
Storage
Mexican street corn salad will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. It holds up well if you want to make it a day or two in advance for a party or cookout.
More Corn Recipes
Corn is a summertime favorite and there’s so many ways to use it.
If you want to use corn in a main dish, make this Creamy Chicken and Corn or Pesto Chicken Tomato and Corn Skillet. This Chicken Avocado Corn Salad is delicious on it’s own or you can use it as a filling for tacos or a wrap.
A few of my favorite corn salads are, Avocado Corn Salad, Tomato Corn Pasta Salad, Blueberry Corn Feta Salad, and Black Bean and Corn Salsa Salad.
Did you make this Mexican street corn salad? I’d love if you’d leave a recipe rating and review below.
If using fresh corn, grill it and cut the kernels off of the cob and place them in a mixing bowl. If using frozen fire roasted corn, defrost it and add it to a mixing bowl.
Add the sliced green onions, jalapeño, cilantro, and cotija cheese in with the corn.
In a glass measuring cup, combine all of the ingredients for the dressing and whisk them together.
Pour the dressing in with the salad ingredients and stir everything together until it’s combined. Taste for seasoning.
Transfer the salad to a serving bowl and garnish with extra cotija cheese and cilantro, then serve.
- Crumbled queso fresco can be used instead of cotija cheese.
Calories: 140kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 5gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 277mgPotassium: 281mgFiber: 3gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 343IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 63mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
