Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad
This Mexican street corn pasta salad transforms your average pasta salad to a vibrant, crunchy and creamy recipe. This salad will be the first thing to disappear from your next BBQ or dinner table!
What truly sets this pasta salad apart is its incredible creaminess. The luscious dressing is inspired by the tangy and savory elements of traditional street corn elote. The dressing coats every piece of pasta and vegetable, ensuring a harmonious and indulgent experience.
Whether you serve this Mexican street corn pasta salad at a backyard barbecue or as a vibrant addition to your dinner table, its guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser. If you don’t have cotija cheese, you can sub in feta cheese or parmesan cheese.
Its flavors, textures, and vibrant colors make it as appealing to the eye as it is to the palate. This corn pasta salad proves that fresh, simple ingredients can create something truly spectacular and delicious!
For the dressing you can sub in Greek yogurt or pureed cottage cheese for the sour cream. You can also use any medium sized pasta like bow tie, elbow macaroni, casarecce or radiatori.
If you like this recipe, you will also love this Mexican Street Corn Salad or this Mexican Street Corn Chicken Bake. Preferably made with bbq corn but you can also use frozen corn its place.
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Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad
Equipment
- small mixing bowl
Ingredients
Dressing:
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1½ limes, juiced
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Salad:
- 1 lb medium sized pasta
- 2 tbs butter
- 4 ears corn
- 1 small red bell pepper, fine diced
- 1 large avocado, diced
- 3 tbs cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 cup cotija cheese, crumbled + more for topping
- garnish: Tajin seasoning, cotija + cilantro
Instructions
- Cook the pasta al dente according to package directions. Drain and set aside. I drizzle on some olive oil and toss to prevent the pasta from sticking together.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, mayonnaise, zest of 1/2 lime, lime juice, salt, garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne pepper until smooth and uniform. Taste the dressing and make sure it is satisfactory to your preference and palate. Adjust with salt or lime juice if needed.
- Grill or pan sear your corn ears in the butter. Shave/slice the corn off of the corn ears.
- In a large bowl, add in the pasta, corn, bell pepper, avocado, cilantro, cotija, dressing and toss until all is coated. Top with cilantro, cotija and Tajin.
Notes
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days.
- You can sub in Greek yogurt for the sour cream.
- If you don’t have cotija cheese, you can sub in feta cheese or parmesan cheese.
- You can use any medium sized pasta shape like bow ties, elbow macaroni, casarecce or radiatori.
I just made this salad! It’s a keeper for sure! This is replacing the regular macaroni salad! 😍 thank you for the wonderful recipe!
HI Susie, thank you for trying it out and sharing your kind feedback!
sounds amazing but im curious where’s the chicken that’s in the name of the recipe at? im assuming some grilled chicken or lime marinated chicken or even steak would be a great addition but just confused by the name of the recipe
Hi Trishia, yes I have corrected the recipe – thank you for bringing it to my attention!
Recipe looks great and will for sure make it but you’ll want to correct the section that has the actual recipe.
It mentions “chicken” in the title and it was a bit confusing as no chicken is in the recipe itself.
Maybe just a typo?
Hi Ron, yes I have corrected the recipe – thank you for bringing it to my attention! Enjoy the recipe!
Why is chicken in the title when there’s no chicken in the ingredients?
yes I have corrected the recipe – thank you for bringing it to my attention!