Mexican Street Corn Salad (Elote Salad)

Mexican Street Corn – but in a bowl. This Elote Salad is so easy & so hard to stop eating. It’s delicious, and easy!

A couple weeks ago, I drove to Charlotte to meet some of my best friends for a short little girls trip and we had SO. MUCH. FUN. We rented a small apartment and we cooked & ate – and went to go see NKOTB in concert. This mayyyyy have been my 7th New Kids concert but seriously who’s counting?

From left to right is Crystal B, Merissa, yours truly, and Leandra, You have probably heard me talk about Leandra for a long time. She’s not only my bestie but her kids are my kids besties. Even though we now live 5 hours away from each other, we make it work!

When we do the NKOTB concerts, we meet up with our ‘crew’ afterwards.. a group of friends who we met at a past concert several years ago. They sat beside of us, and we just clicked. So whenever there is a NKOTB concert coming to town, it’s a given that we will all be there – and we have to meet up to reconnect. We usually do all of our reconnecting as we stand outside the back entrance of the coliseum for 3 hours waiting for the tour buses to leave, with the hope that someone will wave at us. I know it sounds silly, heck… I’m hitting 40! But, it’s loads of fun. LOADS.

While ‘tour bus stalking’ – we’ve met several of the NKOTB members who have came out to say hello, give hugs, and talk to us – along with a few members from other bands that have toured with them. This time, Pepa from Salt & Pepa came out and said hello – and she even took a selfie with me. And no, I wasn’t hot – sweaty – or excited – AT ALL.

To save money, we brought a ton of food to cook while we were hanging at the apartment. The older I get, the more I enjoy nights in, eating food, & chatting with those closest to us. Isn’t that the best?

One of the things that we feasted upon was this Mexican Street Corn Salad. The first night, we ate sooooo much of it! The next day, we ate the rest of it and even though it was delicious the first day – it was even better the second day. So good, that I may have run my finger across the inside of the container to get the very last bit out & into my belly!

Several years ago, Leandra and I were in Wilmington, NC and we stopped for lunch at a little Mexican place that we had heard good things about. We ordered the elote aka Mexican Street Corn, because we had never had it before and it sounded super interesting. First bite in and it was all over for us. We were addicted. We could have probably eaten 2 dozen ears of it. Our stomachs would have probably been hurting after 2 dozen ears of corn, but I mean… cmon now. Some things in life are worth it 😉  So bringing this Mexican Street Corn Salad to our little get-together made total sense.

And it got totally devoured.

Print Pin

Mexican Street Corn Salad (Elote Salad)

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Mexican

Ingredients

• 6 whole corn cobs
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 small lime, juiced
• 1/2-3/4 cup cojita cheese crumbled
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup minced cilantro
• 1 jalapeno minced

Instructions

• Shuck, rinse and dry corn. Cut kernels off. Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add corn and turn heat up to medium/high. Cook for 3 minutes. Mix to turn over and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Corn will begin to caramelize, but don’t let it burn, so stir occasionally and lower heat if you need to. Turn off heat and allow to cool.

  
  
  

  
  
  
• In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients except for corn & cilantro. Stir to combine. Add corn, stir to combine. Mix in cilantro, if using. Refrigerate to chill, serve cold. This is better the day after!

  
  
  

Notes

Alternatively, you can roast or grill the corn beforehand instead of sautéing the kernels in the pan.