Mexican Corn Salad with Jalapeno Cilantro Dressing
Flavorful, colorful and packed with fresh veggies our Mexican-inspired Corn Salad with Jalapeño and Cilantro Dressing recipe is the ultimate healthy summer side dish. Serve as an easy summer salad with your favorite Mexican food recipes! Serve it for your next barbecue or potluck party. It is also a great make-ahead option. You’ll love the jalapeno, cilantro and cumin seed dressing tossed with sweet corn and juicy tomatoes!
Mexican Corn Salad Ingredients
- Fresh Sweet Corn: For this recipe you will need 8 ears of shucked corn. If you want you can certainly use 6 cups of frozen corn, thawed.
- Cumin seeds: This dressing starts with toasted cumin seeds. Sub in ground cumin if you do not have them on hand.
- Garlic
- Jjalapeño pepper: For spicy flavor we add in a fresh chopped jalapeño pepper. Remove the stem.
- 1 bunch cilantro: Chop off the stems, wash and spin dry.
- Red wine vinegar: Lime juice is a great alternative
- Salt
- Extra-virgin olive oil: For the dressing
- Orange bell pepper: For contrasting color and sweet taste
- Cherry tomatoes: You can use any color cherry tomato. Cut them in half.
- Finely diced red onion
How to Make Mexican Corn Salad
- Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Set a bowl of ice water next to stove.
- Place corn in a large skillet. Pour boiling water over the corn, cover, set over high heat and simmer until just crisp tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the ears of corn from the boiling water and transfer to the ice bath. Alternatively, cook the corn in the air fryer.
- Drain corn well. Pat corn dry with a clean towel, and remove kernels from the corn with a sharp knife.
- Meanwhile, place cumin in a small skillet and set over medium heat. Toast cumin, swirling pan until fragrant, and the seeds crackle and start to smoke a little but, but not burn, 1 to 2 minutes. Immediately transfer the cumin to a food processor fitted with a steel blade attachment.
- Turn food processor on, drop garlic and jalapeno through the feed tube and allow to process until chopped. Remove lid, add cilantro, vinegar and salt. Process until chopped. Scrape sides and turn motor on again. Drizzle in oil and continue processing until the mixture forms a green paste.
- Toss the corn, cilantro dressing, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and red onion in a large bowl.
Menu Suggestions
- Try with Marinated Grilled Mushroom Kebabs and Grilled Garlic Lemon Marinated Chicken
- Our Veggie Tacos and these Black Bean Enchiladas are great main course recipes to pair with it.
- Serve with Chicken Enchiladas, Steak Fajitas or this recipe for Crockpot Beef Fajitas with Pico de Gallo and Guacamole!
Variations To Try
- Add crumbled cotija cheese for a twist on Mexican Street Corn off the cob
- Use a creamy dressing like our Greek yogurt ranch instead of the jalapeno dressing and then just add 1/4 cup chopped cilantro to the salad instead.
- Use a can of drained black beans in place of two of the ears of corn. We love chickpea corn salad, try adding a can of them in this recipe too!
- Add in pepitas for a little crunch!
Make Ahead, Leftovers, Storage
Make Ahead: If you want to make this corn salad ahead, layer all the ingredients into your bowl and keep the dressing separate. For best results, make the dressing just before using. And either way, I recommend that you do not add the dressing until you are ready to stir it together and serve.
Leftovers: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to three days. The corn salad will become watery. It will taste awesome still, but serve it with a slotted spoon.
More Summer Side Salads To Try
At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie
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Mexican Corn Salad with Jalapeño Cilantro Dressing
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
Get read to fall in love with this Mexican Corn Salad with Jalapeno and Cilantro Dressing with cherry tomatoes, red onion and bell pepper. It will totally put you in the mood for easy summer evenings.
Ingredients
- 8 ears corn, shucked
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- 1/2 to 1 jalapeño, stem removed
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 orange bell pepper, finely diced
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup finely diced red onion
Instructions
- Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Set a bowl of ice water next to stove.
- Place corn in a large skillet. Pour boiling water over the corn, cover, set over high heat and simmer until just crisp tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the ears of corn from the boiling water and transfer to the ice bath.
- Drain corn well. Pat corn dry with a clean towel, and remove kernels from the corn with a sharp knife.
- Meanwhile, place cumin in a small skillet and set over medium heat. Toast cumin, swirling pan until fragrant, and the seeds crackle and start to smoke a little but, but not burn, 1 to 2 minutes. Immediately transfer the cumin to a food processor fitted with a steel blade attachment.
- Turn food processor on, drop garlic and jalapeno through the feed tube and allow to process until chopped. Remove lid, add cilantro, vinegar and salt. Process until chopped. Scrape sides and turn motor on again. Drizzle in oil and continue processing until the mixture forms a green paste.
- Toss the corn, cilantro dressing, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and red onion in a large bowl.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Side dish
- Method: Stove top
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 222
- Fat: 15
- Carbohydrates: 20
- Fiber: 2
- Protein: 3
If you substitute frozen corn, how much do you use?
You can use frozen corn. Simply thaw it in a sieve under cool running water and drain well. No need to cook it. You’ll need 6 cups.
Delicious (and easy to make) salad! We had it last night and my family loved it.
That’s awesome! So glad you liked this salad. Thanks for coming back to rate and review! Have a great week!
First, I want to smell corn like that now. Second, I love the idea of toasted cumin seeds in a fresh dish like this. We use them a lot when we cook soups and curries, but I’ve never put them in a fresh dish. Will be doing this very soon.
Hi Kari, It was so strange and wonderful. I am looking forward to having that experience again sometime this summer. And yes the cumin seeds- they add such a great juxtaposition to all that sweet freshness and the herbaceous flavors in the dressing.
That’s so cool that you could smell the corn as you went past! I have never been around enough corn to experience that but what a nice image you’ve painted in my mind. That dressing sounds AMAZING I have to make this vegan delight!
It was wild! I am going to be more aware of it this summer when I drive by corn fields for sure. Thanks so much Fiona. Hope you’re having a great week.
I can’t wait until the corn is ready here! I love corn so much! This salad looks gorgeous!
Same here. Local corn is so good and pretty much synonymous with happy summertime vibes for me. I am counting the days!
Just in time for my BBQ party I’m having this weekend! Can’t wait to try!
Oh Yay! I am so happy to hear that Lisa! Let me know how you like it. Have a fun time at your party!
YUM!! This would make such a tasty summer side dish! That jalapano dressing would be good on anything!
Thanks so much Liz. I am delighted to hear you think so too. Have a fantastic week.
It has been a while since I made a corn salad, and I was looking for a new corn salad recipe to try. This was just what I needed, thank you!
It’s back in season, and I am so excited for this version. I hope you try it! Thanks for coming by Jaclyn Anne
This looks delicious! I’m having a big party on Saturday and this will be the perfect side dish. It’s colorful and the ingredients sound like a wonderful combination. I know my friends and family will love it. Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi Denise! That’s great to hear. I hope everyone enjoys it and your party is tons of fun.