Grilled Elote Corn Salad takes all the colors and flavors of the infamous Mexican elote street corn turns it an easier to eat summer salad. It’s great paired with some leftover grilled steak or chicken. Grilled peppers round out the salad, and the poblano pepper gives it a little extra kick! It’s such an easy and fun way to eat fresh summer corn. Don’t we wait all year long for this?
Throw the shucked corn straight on the hot grill. Add on the peppers while you’re at it. Char to your heart’s content. A longer grill time adds the smokiness of this dish. Combined with the chipotle pepper in the dressing, it’s a great flavor, but still light and refreshing.
Need more corn recipes? Try these:
I hope to have a few more corn recipes coming up this week! The season is short, don’t hold back! In the meantime, check out these tips and tricks to buying and storing corn on the cob. Tip number one: freeze it right on the cob!
Side note:
Did you see my Strawberry Bang recipe (and a few more tips and tricks from yours truly!) have been featured on The TakeOut website? Always fun when writer friends give me a little toot-toot! Thanks, Julie!
Elote means corn on the cob in Spanish, who knew? Don’t want to fire up the grill for your elote? No problem, just get a pan screaming hot, cut the corn from the cob, and char right on the stovetop. Use a good heavy pan to achieve this though.
Grilled Elote Corn Salad
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: American
Description
Take a break from measuring! Make life easy on yourself for once. This Elote Salad is meant to be easy for summertime. For a quarter cup, use two dollops, one cup of herbs is a good stuffed handful. Cheese, well, it’s always to taste anyways, am I right? 🙂 Taste and season as you go, always, please.
Ingredients
- 6 ears of fresh corn on the cob, shucked
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 red bell pepper, in large strips (so they won’t fall through grill, or use a grill pan)
- 1 poblano pepper, cut in large strips
- 1/2 bunch scallions, white part (see below)
- 2 oz. Cotija cheese, crumbled (or finely crumbled feta)
Dressing
- 1/2 bunch scallions, green part (see above)
- 1 Serrano chili, (or jalapeño) thinly sliced (or any chili paste would work, use about 1-2 tablespoons)
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise (or you may use Mexican crema)
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- 1 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1–2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (from a can), finely minced
- Juice of 1 lime + zest* (zest is optional)
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
Prepare a grill for medium-high heat.
Shuck corn on the cob and remove silk. Rub the corn and peppers with oil, sprinkle the veg with a little salt.
Put the corn and peppers directly on the grill** (or if using grill pan for the peppers) turning occasionally, until kernels and peppers are charred all around, 12–18 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and leave until cool enough to handle.
Use a sharp knife to remove kernels (you should have around 6 cups). Return corn to a large bowl. Chop the peppers into small pieces and toss with corn and white part of scallion.
To make the dressing: In a medium bowl, add scallions (green part), serrano chili, mayo, garlic, cilantro, chipotle pepper (+ a little of the sauce), lime juice (and zest if using) and mix well. Season with kosher salt (affiliate link) and pepper as needed. Drizzle over the veg and top with cotija cheese.
This salad will happily store in your fridge for a few days. Nibble and enjoy the taste of summer, all week long!
Notes
*always zest citrus before cutting and juicing. It’s almost impossible (or darn near!) to zest once cut.
**no grill? place under a broiler until well charred
Omg..this looks fabulous and we are in the height of corn on the cob season which really, in my opinion, can’t be beat!
Excited to try this Shelagh!
Hey Yay! Let me know what you think! Take a photo and Insta it! 🙂