This Mexican street corn salad with Greek yogurt is spicy and delicious on its own or as a creamy topping for tacos, arepas, burrito bowls, and tortilla chips! Made with Greek yogurt and feta, it's creamy and satisfying. Perfect to share as an appetizer or whip up at home for some extra flavor!
In case you've never had it, August sweet corn in the Midwest is the absolute best! And when you put it in this creamy, spicy, healthy Mexican street corn salad? Let's just say at our house, it rarely lasts more than a day!
Whether it's a dip for tortilla chips or a simple taco topping (we love it with these easy 15-minute ground chicken tacos), it'll bring some creamy and spicy chipotle flavor to anything you eat. Let's make it!
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If You've Never Had Street Corn...
Here's a little background!
Traditionally, street corn salad is known as esquites or elote en vaso (corn in a cup) and it's a delicious Mexican snack or food sold by street vendors. How street corn salad is made varies across regions of Mexico, but the common denominator ingredients are typically corn (grilled, roasted, sautéed), hot peppers or hot pepper sauce of some kind, cotija, lime, salt, and a creamy factor like mayo.
Key Ingredients & Prep Notes
Sweet corn is the star of the show in this salad, and it's at its peak in late summer. For this recipe's method, I like to roast the corn in the oven to bring out its sweetness, but you can also grill it if you'd like.
While the roasting or grilling part is hands-off, it does add time (and sometimes unwanted kitchen heat on a hot day). So if you want a shortcut version of street corn, take a look at my 20-minute street corn salad, which calls for sautéing corn to reduce time!
Step-by-Step Overview
- Step 1: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and brush ears of corn with olive oil. Sprinkle with chipotle seasoning (or smoked paprika, or another Southwest spice blend) and salt. Roast for 30-35 minutes while you prepare other ingredients, turning ears of corn halfway through to get an even char.
- Step 2: Once roasted and cooled, remove the corn kernels from the ears of corn. Chop up all of the other ingredients and combine them into one bowl with the corn.
- Step 3: Mix everything together, taste testing to see if more salt (or spice!) is needed. Adjust, stir, and taste until it's just how you like it.
- Step 4: Serve immediately with tortilla chips, or on your favorite tacos!
FAQs
You can store spicy Mexican street corn salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a five days.
I don't recommend freezing this recipe, as the yogurt dressing gets a little weird!
To make this a vegan Mexican street corn recipe, sub the Greek yogurt for your favorite vegan mayo or plain, unsweetened plant-based yogurt, or a mix! Ditch the feta, or use a vegan feta instead.
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📖 Recipe
Mexican-Inspired Roasted Street Corn Salad (Creamy + Spicy!)
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: ~3 cups
Description
This wholesome Mexican street corn salad is made with Greek yogurt! It's spicy and delicious on its own or as a creamy topping for tacos, arepas, burrito bowls, and tortilla chips. It gets its spiciness from chipotle seasoning, fresh jalapeños, and a bit of Cholula hot sauce. YUM!
Ingredients
- 4-5 ears of sweet corn, peeled
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- olive oil, for brushing (+ more for Greek yogurt mixture)
- 3 tsp chipotle seasoning, divided
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 fresh jalapeños
- ½ red onion
- ½ cup fresh cilantro
- â…“ cup whole milk Greek yogurt
- 2 tsp Cholula hot sauce
- juice from ½ lime
- ½ cup feta
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Instructions
- Roast sweet corn: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Brush the sweet corn with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and chipotle seasoning, making sure to get all the way around each cob. Brush some olive oil onto the garlic cloves as well and place on the pan with the corn. Roast the sweet corn and garlic for 30-35 minutes (or until the corn starts to get a nice char on the sides), turning halfway through.
- Dice veggies: Finely dice the jalapeños, dice the red onion, and chop up the fresh cilantro.
- Make Greek yogurt dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the Greek yogurt, other teaspoon of Chipotle seasoning, a drizzle of olive oil (~1-2 tsp), hot sauce, and lime.
- Remove corn kernels & dice garlic:Â Once the corn is done roasting, slice the kernels off the cob into a large bowl. Finely dice the roasted garlic and add to the bowl of corn.
- Combine and serve: Add in diced jalapeños, red onions, and cilantro, the Greek yogurt mixture, and feta. Serve warm with tortilla chips, or a topping for tacos, burrito bowls, salads, arepas, or whatever your spice-loving heart desires.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: I don't recommend freezing the entire street corn recipe because the yogurt mixture texture will get weird. That said, you can freeze roasted corn very easily to thaw and make Mexican street corn salad later! Remove roasted corn kernels from the cob, and freeze in a zip-top bag (lay flat in the freezer).
- Chipotle Seasoning: My favorite is this chipotle seasoning from Penzey's, but any kind will work! If you don't have Chipotle seasoning on hand, you can use smoked paprika instead.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 35
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Roast; Combine
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 173
- Sugar: 9.5 g
- Sodium: 1719.2 mg
- Fat: 7.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 24.6 g
- Fiber: 3.2 g
- Protein: 7 g
- Cholesterol: 13.2 mg
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