Grilled corn salad that’s packing a little sweet, a little spicy, and all delicious flavors in it. This delicious Mexican Street Corn Salad is made with grilled corn, grilled poblano peppers, queso fresco, fresh herbs, and more.
Corn salad is a great summer side dish for grilled meats like Greek Chicken, Jerk Chicken, and Grilled Salmon. Learn how to make grilled corn on the cob for this salad or just to serve it on the side.
MEXICAN CORN SALAD
Cinco de Mayo is coming this week! Are you ready to get your tacos and margaritas on?
It’s so strange how the outlook on the holidays change over the years and throughout different regions. Cinco de Mayo celebrates a battle victory for the Mexican army during the Franco-Mexican war. It’s a relatively small holiday and it is not even a federal holiday for Mexico. Although, in United States, it’s a major celebration of Mexican culture.
I’m curious as to how this happens. How do holidays like Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrick’s Day, which are not normally celebrated in the original country, become so big in United States? Perhaps History or Travel channel should do a special show about the international holiday evolution in US.
Whatever the reasons for this holiday evolution might be, it doesn’t make it any less fun and delicious. Pour me a margarita and let’s fire up the grill to make some Mexican Street Corn Salad to go with my tacos!
Do you have a favorite or must-make recipe for Cinco de Mayo? Chips and salsa, guacamole, and margaritas seem like they would be the most popular choices. I also like to make beef enchiladas for dinner and chorizo nachos for lunch.
HOW TO GRILL CORN ON THE COB
Prepare the grill so you have a two-zone fire, whether you are using a charcoal grill or gar. Preheat it to medium or prepare the coals, add them to the grill and let it preheat.
Snip the silk whiskers sticking out of the top of the corn husk but leave the rest of the corn in a husk. Lay it on the grill, with the bottom of the husk towards the cooler side of the grill. Close the grill and cook for 13-15 minutes, turning it every 3-4 minutes.
Take corn off the grill and carefully, using tongues, take off the husk and the silk. Brush corn with melted butter and place back on the grill. Close the grill and cook, turning it every 3-4 minutes, until lightly charred on all sides.
Take corn off the grill and let it cool until easy to handle. Now you’re ready to make the salad!
HOW TO MAKE MEXICAN CORN SALAD
Note: grill poblano peppers at the same time at the corn. This way you can either make both ahead of time or use it right away in a salad.
Grilled Poblano Peppers: Place poblano peppers on the hot side of the grill about half way though cooking corn. Let them char on both sides. Once the peppers are nicely charred, take them off the grill. Cut the peppers, take out the seeds, and scrape off the the charred skin. Dice the peppers and add them to a mixing bowl.
Corn Salad: Cut the corn kernel off the cobs and place them into a mixing bowl. Add minced cilantro, mayo, sour cream, lime zest, salt, and chili powder to bowl with corn and peppers. Mix everything well and add crumbled queso fresco.
Refrigerate for at about 2 hours before servings.
CAN I MAKE CORN SALAD AHEAD OF TIME?
Absolutely! It’s actually better made ahead of time because the salad needs to chill and it will taste better once all ingredients had time to “mingle.”
You should make the salad about 2 hours before you need to serve it but you can also make it a day ahead.
Another option is to grill corn and peppers a day or two before you need to make the salad. In that case, you don’t need to refrigerate corn salad before serving because ingredients will already be cold.
Make sure to store corn salad in an air-tight container, in the refrigerator. If you prepare corn and peppers ahead of time, store it in an air-tight container, in the refrigerator as well.
Prepared Mexican Corn Salad should last 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator when stored properly.
MORE CINCO DE MAYO RECIPES:
Spicy Creamy Shrimp Enchiladas
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Mexican Street Corn Salad
Ingredients
- 5-6 corn on the cob in husks
- 2 Tbsp salted butter
- 2 medium poblano peppers
- 2 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
- 1 lime - zest only
- 2 Tbsp mayo
- 2 Tbsp sour cream
- Salt
- 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
- 1/2 cup queso fresco crumbled
Instructions
Grilled Corn:
- Prepare your charcoal until it's ashed over. Move it to one half of the grill so that you have a cooler grill side and a hotter grill side. Make sure the grate is clean.
- Snip the silk whiskers sticking out of the top of the corn husk but leave the rest of the corn in a husk. Lay it on the grill, with the bottom of the husk towards the cooler side of the grill. Close the grill and cook for 13-15 minutes, turning it every 3-4 minutes.
- Take corn off the grill and carefully, using tongues, take off the husk and the silk. Brush corn with melted butter and place back on the grill. Close the grill and cook, turning it every 3-4 minutes, until lightly charred on all sides.
- Take corn off the grill and cut the corn kernel off the cobs. Add corn kernel to the mixing bowl.
Poblano Peppers:
- Place poblano peppers on the hot side of the grill about half way though cooking corn. Let them char on both sides. Once the peppers are nicely charred, take them off the grill. Cut the peppers, take out the seeds, and scrape off the the charred skin. Dice the peppers and add them to the mixing bowl.
Corn Salad:
- Add minced cilantro, mayo, sour cream, lime zest, salt, and chili powder to the mixing bowl with corn and peppers. Mix well.
- Mix in crumbled queso fresco.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on May 1, 2017. Updated on May 1, 2020.
mimi says
This looks and sounds so good. Saving the recipe for when local corn is out – it’s not quite time here where I live. Love the ingredients!
Lyuba says
Let me know how it goes! Thanks, Mimi.