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corn salad in a green bowl with spoon
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5 from 18 votes

Esquites | Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad

Esquites is a creamy Mexican street corn salad that is so easy to make and takes about 15 minutes to make. It is an excellent recipe for the kids as well as my boys really loved them.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Course: Salad, Side Dish, Snack, Street Food
Cuisine: Mexican
Diet: Vegetarian
Servings: 3 servings
Calories: 163kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Corn kernels frozen or fresh
  • 1 tablespoon Oil olive oil or vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon Jalapeno deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 Garlic 1 clove finely minced
  • ½ teaspoon Red chili powder
  • 2 tablespoon Sour cream
  • 2 tablespoon Mexican blend cheese
  • 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
  • Salt to taste
  • 4 tablespoon Cilantro finely chopped

Instructions

  • I used frozen corn to make the this Salad. Heat a heavy pan, preferably a cast iron pan on medium high heat.
  • Add the oil to the pan and when the oil starts to smoke, add the frozen corn kernels. Mix it well and let it caramelize / roast on one side. Then mix it well and let it roast on the other side. I left it for 3 to 4 minutes without disturbing and then mixed it and did the same until it was uniformly caramelized all over.
  • At the end of the cooking time add the minced garlic, jalapeno, chili powder and salt and mix well. Let it cook for a minute and then turn off the flame.
  • Add the sour cream, lemon juice, cilantro and cheese and mix it well.
  • Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

  • I used frozen corn kernels to make this. It worked great. You could use fresh corn kernels or canned ones as well.
  • Make sure that you let the corn get a slight char all over. That makes the Esquites very flavorful.
  • We could use mayonnaise or Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. We could skip it altogether as well.
  • The actual recipe calls for crumbly Mexican cotija cheese. Feta would work well as well. I ran out of my feta stock and hence uses Mexican blend cheese.
  • Don't skip the chili powder. It adds a zing to the salad.

Nutrition

Calories: 163kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 309mg | Potassium: 194mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 346IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 129mg | Iron: 0.4mg