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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
What 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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Husband said it’s good but needs something
Excellent!
I made this to go along with burgers; it was a HUGE hit. We finished it off the next night as a side for chicken and I’d almost say it was better the second night!
A great twist on pasta salads! And tajin is a new wonderful taste for me. I couldn’t char the corn as much as I would like due to smoke and no vent. One could do this outside on grill or burners.
My family didn’t care for this recipe at all.
Very tasty salad! I made this for my lunch for the week as a “meal prep” I added some bacon and fresh jalapeno. It was great! It would make a great potluck dish too!
I really enjoyed the unusual flavors of this pasta dish. I’ve never used tajin or cotija cheese before. I couldn’t find the ditalini pasta and used mini elbow macaroni instead.
i dont like pasta salad!
I wasn’t thinking we were gonna like this,we hadn’t had anything like this before. But i went ahead and made it.I’m glad i did, it surprised me, I did like it! I had some kiddos not care for it and some that loved it.We made it with your suggestions of BBQ drumsticks and I’ve made it again but with tacos.Good side for both!
This was the perfect addition to our church potluck! Fun and different and DELICIOUS!