Mexican Street Corn Salad (Esquites)

This Mexican Street Corn Salad (elote salad) is a creamy, smoky, and zesty side dish made with grilled corn, cotija cheese, lime, and a touch of spice. It's perfect for summer meals and gatherings! If you love elote, this Mexican Street Corn Salad also known as Esquites, is about to become your go-to summer side! It’s creamy, smoky, tangy, and packed with bold flavor. But, without the mess of eating it off the cob.

Author: Food with Feeling

Meal Type: Peanuts Free

Cuisine: Mexican

Difficulty: EASY

Prep. Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 4 Servings

Calories: 420 kcal per serving

Ingredients

4 ears - corn*
2 tablespoons - Crema Mexican Agria Sour Cream*
2 tablespoons - mayonnaise
2 cloves - garlic
¼ tsp - fine sea salt
1 - lime
½ tsp - chipotle chili powder
1 - bell pepper
1 - jalapeno
⅓ cup - cotija cheese
¼ cup - Cilantro
optional for garnish:

Instructions

Heat your grill to roughly 400 degrees F.
You can grill the corn with the husks on or off. I took the husks off to ensure that I got some nice grill marks on the corn and because I feel like it gives it a nice grilled flavor. FOR HUSKS ON: let your corn soak in water for 10 minutes before grilling. FOR HUSKS OFF: lightly spray spray each cob with cooking spray.**
Place the corn on the grill and grill for roughly 12 minutes, turning the cobs 1/4 turn every 3 minutes. Let the corn cool enough to handle and then carefully cut the corn from the cob and place in a large bowl.
Make the sauce by stirring together the sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic, salt, lime zest and juice, and chili powder.
In a large bowl, combine the corn, bell pepper, jalapeno, cilantro, cotija cheese, and cream sauce. Toss to combine so that all of the corn is covered in the sauce.
Garnish with additional cheese and cilantro and ENJOY!
For the corn: you can also use 2 cans of corn to make the recipe a little easier. I suggest getting “fire-roasted” canned corn if you can find it!
For the sour cream: Cacique makes a great Mexican sour cream and is my preferred brand. It’s a little thinner than regular sour cream HOWEVER regular sour cream will work as well in this recipe if that’s what you have.
To cook the corn: You can also make this by cooking the corn in the oven. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly spray the husked corn on the cob with cooking spray and wrap in foil individually. Roast for 20-25 minutes
To store leftovers: store leftovers in an air tight container in the fridge for a few days.
To make this VEGAN: to make this vegan simply swap the mayo and sour cream for vegan versions. For the cheese, I highly suggest using a vegan feta. I’ve made this recipe with Violife’s crumbled feta and it’s SO GOOD!

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