Street Corn Pasta Salad
Published 7/25/2022 • Updated 3/17/2024
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If you love Mexican Street Corn Salad then you are going to swoon over this delicious Street Corn Pasta Salad!
It’s made with corn, cilantro, cotija cheese, bell pepper, noodles, and tons of flavorful spices.
Easy Mexican Street Corn Salad
This Mexican-inspired street corn salad recipe is a fusion of pasta salad and elote. Combined they make one wicked Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad recipe that is seriously so good served at any party or gathering.
Our Street Corn Salad is one of our most popular salad recipes on Fit Foodie Finds and we know you’ll love this twist too. It’s made with bursting sweet corn, tons of spices, cotija cheese, your favorite noodle, and a creamy cilantro lime dressing.
Why you’ll love it!
Serves a Crowd
So Flavorful
Easy to Prepare
Vegetarian
Featured Ingredients
- Pasta: the best kind of pasta salad noodles are shorter/bite-sized. Feel free to pick your favorite.
- Corn: Corn is the star of the show. We’ve made this with both frozen corn and fresh corn.
- Bell Pepper: any color bell pepper works.
- Greek yogurt: Greek yogurt is thick and creamy. Make sure to use plain Greek.
- Sour cream: sour cream adds a delicious tang to the sauce.
- Lime juice: citrus adds brightness to this salad.
- Red onion: just enough minced red onion is perfect in street corn pasta salad.
- Spices: spices needed for the sauce include chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper.
Types of Corn You can Use
Frozen corn: frozen corn is definitely the easiest corn to use for this recipe.
Grilled corn: grilled corn on the cob is the most delicious, but most work. Honestly, it’s worth it if you have the time to use fresh corn!
Canned corn: don’t have frozen or fresh corn? Use canned corn. Just make sure to drain and rinse it.
Simple Instructions
- Cook corn: Heat avocado oil in a cast iron skillet and add corn. Season the corn with the spices and pan-fry until the corn begins to turn golden brown.
- Make the sauce: combine Greek yogurt, sour cream, starchy pasta water, cotija cheese, lime juice, lime zest, and salsa.
- Prep veggies: finely dice the red onion and dice the bell pepper.
- Toss: combine corn, noodles, veggies, and sauce. Mix to combine. Add fresh cilantro and mix again. Serve and enjoy!
Latest Salad Recipes
Variations
Add a protein: toss in any of your favorite cooked proteins to make this a complete meal.
Add more veggies/beans: got more veggies in your fridge? Try adding tomato, green onion, black beans, hominy, or jalapeño.
Switch up the noodle: don’t limit yourself to conchiglie noodles. Feel free to use what you have!
Serving Suggestions
Storage
Store leftover Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-5 days.
Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 16 oz. dried pasta, we used conchiglie noodles
- ½ cup reserved starchy pasta water
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 8 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 cups frozen corn, canned corn or fresh corn cut off the cob work too
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1.5 teaspoons flaked sea salt, separated
- 1 cup Greek yogurt, any % fat works
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 4- oz. Cotija cheese, crumbled
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- Zest from 1 small lime
- 3 tablespoons salsa
- 1 large red bell pepper, matchstick or chopped
- ½ medium red onion, minced
- 1 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook the pasta until al dente. Remove ½ cup of starchy pasta water from the pot and set aside for later. Strain the pasta and set it aside for later.
- Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium/large heat. Add avocado oil to the skillet. When the avocado oil is fragrant and hot, add the minced garlic to the skillet. Let the garlic sauté for 1 minutes.
- Add the corn to the skillet and toss with the garlic. Sprinkle the chili powder, cumin, paprika, pepper and 1 teaspoon salt over the corn and toss. Cook the corn until it begins to brown (about 10 minutes). Be sure to toss the corn periodically so it does not burn on the bottom of the pan. Remove the skillet from heat and let cool briefly.
- Once the corn has cool a bit, add the Greek yogurt, sour cream and ¼ cup of the starchy pasta water to a large bowl and whisk them together. Add the remaining salt, cotija, lime juice, lime zest, and salsa and stir to combine.
- Add the pasta to the sauce and toss and then add the cooked corn, red pepper, and onion to the pasta. Toss again until all of the ingredients are coated. If you want it a bit saucier, you can add a little bit more starchy pasta water.
- Finally, add the cilantro to the pasta salad and toss one last time. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.
Tips & Notes
- If the pasta salad sauce is still too thick after adding ¼ cup of the pasta water, add another 1-2 tablespoons until it reaches the desired consistency.
- We used frozen corn but we have tested this with fresh corn, too.
- The flavor of the sauce will determine what kind of salsa you use.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Ashley McGlaughlin from The Edible Perspective.
great side dish for crowds! My group loved it and all went back for seconds!
Fun noodle choice, Ashley!!
Loved this recipe! Added grilled chicken and homemade corn tortilla chips – perfection!
Tortilla chips! Great idea 😀
What a delicious meal! I had to cut myself off at 3 helpings. Yum. For around $30, we got dinner and 5 meals for my wife and I for the rest of the week. Highly recommend. We added ground turkey and whole wheat pasta to add a little protein and high quality carbs.
Yum! A fun, new way to use fresh corn. I loved having the leftovers to bring as a lunch too. The flavors were even better the next day
Hello! I am excited to make this for a birthday get-together tomorrow. May I ask how many ears of corn are needed if grilling/roasting? Thank you!
How many ears for corn if using the grilled or roasted corn?
Made this for my daughter’s first birthday party and I’ve never gotten so many compliments on something I’ve made! REAL crowd pleaser! We had it with smoked pulled pork.
Aw, happy bday to your daughter! So happy to hear this was a hit 🙂
What would you serve this with? Looking for some good ideas to feed a large group!
We love serving this with any of our fajitas or tacos! Would also be delish served with chips, salsa and guac. Hope this helps 😀
Useful post and delicious recipe. Thanks for sharing it. Amazing. Have a more successful day. Amazing write-up always finds something interesting.
So excited for this one! If you are using fresh corn do you boil it before grilling it?
This pasta salad is GREAT with grilled fresh corn! If you’re grilling in the husk, you’ll want to soak them before grilling to prevent the husks from burning. If you’re grilling without the husks, you can put directly onto the grill without boiling. You can follow our recipe step by step here: https://fitfoodiefinds.com/grilled-corn-on-the-cob-recipe/