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Our Mexican-inspired Street Corn Pasta Salad is your new must-have at all BBQ's and gatherings. It has fresh roasted corn tossed with pasta and a flavorful creamy lime sauce.
We love to serve it with BBQ Chicken Drumsticks, Black Bean Burgers, Steak Kabobs, or Flank Steak.
This Street Corn Pasta Salad Mash-up is Amazing
This Street Corn Pasta Salad Mash-up is AmazingWhat we've got here is the flavor I crave from my favorite elotes/esquites Mexican street corn, in pasta salad form, and I promise it will be the star of your next BBQ! It has SO much flavor, including a crema sauce with hints of chipotle. It's just so good; main dish or side dish worthy, paired with any favorite Summer BBQ recipes.
How to make Street Corn Pasta Salad:
Cook pasta according to package instructions, in salted boiling water. Drain then rinse with cold water to cool it off.
Sauté Corn: Add butter to a large skillet over medium heat then add onion, corn and chipotle peppers and stir. Turn heat to high, cover with lid and sauté, stirring occasionally, until corn is charred and tender, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat then transfer to a plate to cool completely.
Sauce: Mix sauce ingredients in a bowl: mayo, sour cream, tajin, lime and milk.
Combine: Add pasta to a large mixing bowl then add cooled corn. Stir in sauce, and top with cotija cheese and cilantro.
Make Ahead Instructions:
To Make Ahead: Store cooked pasta and corn in a covered bowl in the fridge. Make sauce, but store separately. Mix sauce and pasta just before serving this elote pasta salad.
More Mexican Inspired Recipes:
- Street Corn Dip
- Chicken Street Tacos
- Horchata
- Elotes Recipe
- Tamale Pie
- Crispy Bean and Cheese Burritos
- Esquites
- Chicken Taquitos
Street Corn Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 8 oz dry ditalini pasta, , or elbow macaroni
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1/2 cup white onion, , diced
- 1 large chipotle chili in adobo sauce, , chopped (about 2 Tablespoons)
- 3 cups fresh corn off the cob, , 3-4 ears, (or use frozen corn*)
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup Mexican crema, , or sour cream
- 2 1/2 teaspoons tajin*
- 1 small lime, , juice from
- ½ cup milk
- 1/2 cup Cotija cheese, , shredded
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Sauté corn: Add butter to a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, corn and chipotle peppers and stir. Turn heat to high, cover with lid and sauté, stirring occasionally, until corn is charred and tender, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a plate to cool completely.
- Cook pasta according to package instructions, in salted boiling water. Drain and rinse with cold water to cool it off.
- Mix sauce ingredients in a bowl: mayo, sour cream, tajin, lime and milk.
- Combine: Add pasta to a large mixing bowl. Add cooled corn and stir in sauce. Top with cotija cheese and cilantro and enjoy immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I used TraderJoe’s charred corn because we haven’t been to Farmer’s Mkt. yet but it was still good.
Love this salad! So much flavor and it is perfect as a side dish or even as a meal. I have had it with chicken and salmon and it was filling and delicious!
My husband and I enjoyed this pasta salad so much! We made it 2 weeks in a row, lasting us several days! A great dish on it’s own to add protein to or, a side! Thank you Lauren!
Delicious and so nice to enjoy the different flavors. I used feta and chili powder and it was great.
This was super easy and yet SO tasty! Big hit with our recent family get together. Will definitely be making this one again!
I made this for the July cooking challenge with some taco meat on the side. It was nice and creamy – a different take on pasta flavors. Thanks!
This is a great side to the chicken taquitos. My family likes street corn and loved this spin on it!
AWESOME…..everyone loved it….
This Street Corn Pasta salad was so delicious! It was easy to put together and the chipotle peppers added just the right amount of heat and flavor. It was a great addition to our July 4 BBQ!
This recipe was much easier to make than I thought it would be. It’s extremely flavorful, with a bit of spice and sour (from the lime). Definitely one of the best pasta salads I’ve had.
Elote corn is a family favorite and this pasta salad didn’t disappoint! it carried the classic flavors of elote corn, although, for our palette we did need to add more tajin. We also added rotisserie chicken to turn it into a main dish. Perfect for a summer meal!