It’s getting hot here in California and I can feel summer just around the corner! One of my favorite things about summer has always been the delicious food. Potlucks, bbq, popsicles, and carnival food. We took our favorite Mexican Street Corn Salad and added a couple extra ingredients, bringing your favorite carnival street corn to your next summer potluck!
The trick to making this salad taste like “street corn” is roasting your corn. I used a frozen bag of corn for this recipe, but fresh corn off the cob works just the same. You’ll want to heat your skillet and oil pretty hot, so the corn gets the burnt brown edges like authentic grilled street corn. I heated my frozen corn up first so this process was a lot faster. It can take a while to go from frozen to roasted. The larger the skillet the better to keep a thin layer of corn.
I mixed in chopped cilantro, onion, and jalapeno in this salad. You can add any other vegetables you want, or leave out the jalapeno if you don’t like a little kick. I chopped mine up really small, without the seeds, so they mostly just added flavor.
The sauce on this salad is a simple four ingredients! Garlic, mayonnaise, chili powder, and fresh lime juice. Light mayo can also be substituted as an alternative to the mayonnaise.
Related Recipe: Love Mexican Street Corn?! Try our new Mexican Street Corn Chicken Tacos!
Here are some of our favorite potluck salad recipes!
Loaded Broccoli Salad
Strawberry Poppyseed Pasta Salad
The Best Grape Salad
7 Layer Vegetable Salad
Chicken BLT Pasta Salad
Street Corn Pasta Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 ounces bow tie pasta
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups frozen corn
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- 4 ounces Cotija Cheese, crumbled
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice
- ⅓ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- 2 Tablespoons red onion, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon jalapeno pepper, chopped (optional)
Equipment
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to directions on package. Set aside to cool.
- Heat oil over medium heat. Add frozen corn and let cook until corn starts to char, stirring occasionally (it took about 7-8 minutes before my corn was lightly charred).
- While the corn is cooking, mix together mayonnaise, cheese, lime juice, cilantro, red onion, garlic, chili powder, and jalapeno pepper (optional).
- When corn is done, gently fold together pasta, corn, and mayonnaise mixture. Top with additional cilantro and cotija cheese as desired.
Notes
- Light mayo can also be substituted as an alternative to the mayonnaise.
- You can add any other vegetables you want, or leave out the jalapeno if you don’t like a little kick. I chopped mine up really small, without the seeds, so they mostly just added flavor.