Mexican Street Corn Salad with Black Beans and Avocados

How about a Mexican Street Corn Salad? This is the traditional street corn (aka Mexican corn on the cob) loaded with lime juice, spices and a sprinkle of cotija cheese — in salad form! The dressing is made with just a few ingredients and it’s perfect to serve at all your summer barbecues/picnics!

Quick, delicious, and refreshing! That’s how I like my salads.

Summery, flavorful salads is what my spring/summers are all about. But really, I just love using fresh ingredients like grilled corn, ripe avocados, red onions, diced jalapeños and cotija cheese to make spring mealtime a little more tasty while being light on the waistline. Adding hearty black beans and avocados turns traditional Mexican street corn into a full on salad that’s great to serve with roasted/grilled salmon, grilled or baked chicken, and cilantro lime flavored shrimp skewers.

Trust me, i’ll be making this protein packed salad more than once this year. The dressing for this mexican street corn salad is exactly what you find on roasted mexican corn (or elotes). A hint of mayo, lots of lime juice, a sprinkle of garlic powder, lots of cotija cheese, and a handful of cilantro leaves. And I can almost get away with telling myself that it’s a healthyish kind of salad.

If you haven’t heard of elotes or mexican street corn before, allow me to explain. It’s Mexican corn on the cob that’s been kicked up a few notches. It’s a serious party for your mouth. I kinda can never have a bland corn on the cob after eating mexican style corn. I mean, would you miss a chance to have garlic mayo rubbed all over  freshly grilled corn that’s been rolled around in cotija cheese and chili powder? Is your mouth salivating? Because I know mine definitely is.

This is for all my friends out there that love nontraditional salads. Hey you! We’ve got a lot in common. This salad has none of those traditional salad bases like baby spinach or romaine lettuce. I’m much more of a toppings kinda person. I’ll skip the lettuce and go for more filling ingredients like veggies and beans in my salad any day of the week.

There’s probably a million different ways to make mexican street corn and this salad is heavily inspired by the mexican corn on the cob version. I’m not claiming my recipe for mexican corn is an authentic one, but I will say it’s definitely worth a try and that it’s absolutely delicious. Call it a more gourmet version of the street corn you get at a food truck.

And aren’t you glad to have this little number in a salad form? I don’t know about you, but i’m definitely not the neatest corn on the cob eater. And when I say not the neatest, I mean that I probably  look worse than your 3 year old when they are in charge of feeding him/herself dinner. Corn on the cob is certainly not meant to be eaten in public. And who likes getting corn stuck in their teeth? Not me!

But this ?????? mexican street corn salad is definitely people friendly. You can grill your own corn or purchase it pregrilled. I found 16 ounce bags of pre-grilled sweet corn kernels in the freezer section of Trader Joes. I know most grocery stores carry it too. But if you’d like, you can certainly grill your own corn, and use it in this corn salad too.

P.S. this Mexican street corn salad is perfect for all your barbecues this summer.

Keep the veggies/beans and dressing separate and just toss together when ready to serve! It’s that simple and it sure adds a little variety to the salad rotation, doesn’t it?

Continue to Content

Yield: 10 servings

Mexican Street Corn Salad with Black Beans and Avocados

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

How about a Mexican Street Corn Salad? This is the traditional street corn (aka Mexican corn on the cob) loaded with lime juice, spices and a sprinkle of cotija cheese -- in salad form! The dressing is made with just a few ingredients and it's perfect to serve at all your summer barbecues/picnics!

Print

Ingredients

DRESSING:

• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• ½ teaspoon chipotle powder (or more!)
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• salt and pepper, to taste

SALAD:

• 3 cups roasted corn kernels, (thawed if frozen)
• ½ cup red onions, diced
• 1 large avocado, diced
• 1 jalapeno, seeds/ ribs removed and diced
• ½ cup chopped cilantro
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• ½ cup cotija cheese, crumbled

Instructions

1. DRESSING: Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. I added about ½ teaspoon of salt to begin with and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper.
2. ASSEMBLY: Combine the ingredients for the salad in a large bowl. When ready to serve, add the dressing and stir until the dressing is evenly distributed with the salad ingredients. Check for seasonings, add additional chipotle powder, garlic, or salt and pepper if desired. Allow to cool if you'd like to serve cold.
   
   Salad ingredients and dressing can be prepared and kept separate until ready to serve.

Have you made this recipe?

I’d LOVE it if you could take a second to rate this recipe and leave a comment below. You can also share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #LITTLESPICEJAR 🙂

IS THIS A GOOD CHOICE FOR YOU?

*Please note: the nutritional facts calculated are an estimate based on the ingredients i’ve used. If you’d like a more accurate count, please calculate them using the ingredients/brands you’ve used to prepare the recipe. Nutritional facts are based on 10 servings of Mexican Street Corn Salad.

IF YOU LIKE THIS RECIPE, YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

We are a participant in both the RewardStyle and Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, which are affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com and through RewardStyle.