Smoky, spicy, and irresistibly creamy—this Mexican charred corn salad is loaded with flavor. Sweet corn is flame-charred until golden and tossed with finely diced jalapeño, a squeeze of fresh lime, creamy mayo, a pinch of chili powder, and crumbled cotija cheese. It’s the perfect balance of heat, tang, and richness in every bite. Great as a side or scooped up with chips.
This salad is basically a side dish form of Mexican street corn. This is one of my favorite ways to eat corn as it has sweetness, tang, spice and a creamy, salty backdrop. Fresh cilantro adds a boost of fresh flavor too. There are a few easy substitutions for this dish so that you can make it with what you have. You can use sour cream instead of mayo, but if you do, just use a bit less and use less lime juice. You can also use grated parm instead of cotija if that is easier to find.
We had this with some taco bell copycat chicken quesadillas (recipe to come), and rice. I could eat buckets of this honestly. This would also be great with green chile chicken enchiladas or weeknight carne asada tacos.
Mexican Charred Corn Salad
Ingredients
- 4 ears corn
- 2-3 tbsp mayo or sour cream
- 1 jalapeno seeded, stemmed and diced small
- lime juice to taste I probably used about a tbsp
- chili powder to taste, I probably used 1/2 tsp
- cayenne optional to add more spice if you like
- cotija or parmesan to taste, I like a lot and probably used about 1/4 cup
- fresh cilantro leaves
- salt to taste you often don't need much if you add a decent amount of cheese
Instructions
- Char the corn either on your stove top (if you have gas burners) or on a grill or using the broiler of the oven. I have a hot gas burner so I placed my peeled corn directly in the flames to get a nice char. Cool.
- Slice the kernels off the cobs and combine with the mayo, cheese, lime, jalapeno, spices, salt and cilantro. Stir and taste. You should get a little creamy, little salty, little spicy, little sour. Adjust as needed until it tastes great 🙂