Mexican Street Corn Salad with Cucumber
This easy, spicy Mexican street corn salad with cucumbers is served cold with fresh cilantro and vegan parmesan cheese. The creamy dressing is naturally dairy free, but it can be made vegan with one simple swap.
Why you’ll love this Mexican street corn salad
Have you seen the recipes for Mexican street corn salad on Pinterest? It’s one of the many things I drool over when I’m pinning, but I’ve never made it. I’m not sure why, but it seems really intimidating – even though it shouldn’t be. So I decided to make a salad instead.
For some reason, I kept putting it off, even though I already had all the ingredients. But, we ended up having tacos one night, so I threw it together at the last minute.
If you like this recipe, you have to try this za’atar cucumber salad, and this creamy corn pasta and these cheddar bay biscuits.
Searching for more dairy free salad recipes? Strawberry poppyseed salad / Tomato salad recipe / Farro salad recipe / Easy macaroni salad / Spicy cucumber salad / Grilled peach salad / BLT pasta salad
Ingredients & substitutions
- Cucumbers – I added the cucumbers that I had in the fridge that I needed to use up. It was a great addition to the salad, especially since they don’t overwhelm the flavor of any dish.
- Dairy free cheese – The cheese for this salad is an normally an aged Mexican version of parmesan called cojita, but we used our favorite dairy free cheese substitute for parmesan and it worked really well. You could easily leave it off, but I think it gives it a little extra umami that completes the salad.
- Diced green chilies – We used a can of mild diced green chilies, but you could substitute a spicier jalapeño pepper if you want. I was just trying to make it a little more kid friendly. It’s totally up to you. You can also add more chili powder if you want.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
The following is a detailed overview of the recipe steps with added tips and tricks for recipe success. For a simplified and printable version, including ingredient amounts and more formal instructions, see the recipe card below.
How to make mexican street corn salad
Combine ingredients. Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl, except the vegan parmesan cheese. Stir until everything is well combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Garnish and serve. When ready to serve, remove from fridge and stir in vegan parmesan cheese. Top with additional cilantro for garnish and serve.
More great Mexican inspired sides: refried black beans / Mexican quinoa / tequila lime chicken with corn salsa / spicy poblano potato corn chowder / dairy free cornbread
Frequently asked questions
Ingredients
- 1 16- ounce packages frozen corn (thawed (or equal amounts fresh corn))
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1 cucumber (seeded and sliced)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (or vegan mayo)
- 1 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoons diced green chilies or jalapeños
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Vegan parmesan cheese (optional for garnish)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together all the ingredients (except the vegan parmesan).
- Stir to combine. Allow salad to sit for about 30 minute too let flavors develop.
- Garnish with cheese before serving.
Can this be made 24 hours in advance?
If you make it in advance, I would recommend NOT adding the dressing until you are going to serve it. Cucumbers tend to lose their water as they sit in dressing and that will make the salad lose it’s flavor.
Melissa – I love this! I had something similar at a restaurant and was immediately in search of the recipe. I found yours and I made it the next day! I like this better than the version I had at that restaurant! I was also excited to see that you mostly focus on dairy-free recipes, as I do have a problem with lactose. I can’t wait to try more of the things you post! Of course, this recipe is NOT dairy free with the addition of the cheese. But since cheese doesn’t seem to be a problem with me, I made it as written.
Since I have now made this several times, I will add a couple things I’ve discovered: This recipe is very forgiving. I have subbed lemon juice for lime juice and even though I do prefer the taste of using fresh lime juice, the lemon juice was really good in it, too. I have also mixed up the spices and I accidently added cayenne pepper to it one time. It gave it a kick, but it was good. I love the cojito cheese in it, but don’t be afraid to use parm. But use the finely grated canned kind instead of fresh, it blends better. And, one time I didn’t have very much cilantro, so I added what I had (about half of what is in the recipe). It was still really good. I actually can’t wait to try this recipe with fresh corn – but we aren’t quite in sweet corn season yet! But my favorite way to make this continues to be exactly how you wrote it.
Another thing I will add is that I have made this 24 hours in advance. I just make sure to remove most (not all) of the seedy area in the cucumbers. That prevents it from getting too wet. The nice thing about using frozen corn is that it actually absorbs the liquid quite well and it doesn’t get too soggy. I was surprised, but it was really good.
Thank you for a great recipe. I get so tired of the same potato and pasta salads in the summer – and this is so easy it has become a favorite really quickly!
Needed something else. I think next time I will use jalapeño instead of or in addition to the green chili’s. But it was good. Nice summer salad.
Great recipe, very easy. I used fresh corn cut from the cob and sautéed lightly. Used feta instead of cotija cause its what I had on hand. Excellent flavors, comes together nicely. Fresh and easy summer side.
What brand of dairy-free parmesan do you use for this recipe?
We normally use Follow Your Heart!
I just need to leave a comment that this looks so good and amazing. I will make it to go with tacos. Thanks! amazing photography and presentation.
This is a good idea for a recipe. The pictures are making me feel ravenous! I will not cut out the seeds because I believe in eating the natural stem cells from seeds. I will use regular organic mozzarella because this is less processed. I will probably skip the mayonnaise.
great way for us to use the abundance of cucumbers we have. Ty for the idea!
Hi! I made this tonight with our dinner. I’m always looking for new dishes and have a huge love for corn salads. This was absolutely delicious. I didn’t have any of the green chilies on hand, but it was still so good. I can’t wait to see how much better it is with the chilies. Thank you!!