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.

Here’s what you’ll need to make it




How to make mexican street corn salad
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.
The cheese 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.
For street corn salad, we used diced green chilies, from a can, but you could substitute a spicier jalapeño pepper if you want. I was just trying to make it a little more kid friendly. I normally try not to shy away from spices for Ellie, but I didn’t want to make it super hot either. It’s totally up to you. You can also add more chili powder if you want.
More great Mexican inspired sides: Refried Black Beans / Mexican Quinoa

frequently asked questions: mexican street corn salad
You could technically eat corn raw, if you wanted. You will get more nutrients from cooked corn and it will be much more easily digested when it is cooked.
Elote is a style of corn which is popular in Mexico, typically served by street vendors. It consists of mayo, chili powder, lime juice, cilantro and cotija cheese sprinkled and slathered on a grilled corn on the cob.
More summer salad recipes:
- Strawberry poppyseed salad
- Tomato salad recipe
- Farro salad recipe
- Easy macaroni salad
- Spicy cucumber salad
- Grilled peach salad
- BLT pasta salad
More corn recipes:
- Tequila Lime Chicken with Corn Salsa
- Spicy Poblano Potato Corn Chowder
- How to make popcorn on the stove
- Dairy free cornbread


Mexican Street Corn Salad with Cucumbers
This easy Mexican street corn salad with cucumbers is made with frozen corn and cucumbers. It’s served cold with fresh cilantro and vegan parmesan cheese and spicy, canned jalapeños. The creamy dressing is naturally dairy free, but it can be made vegan with one simple swap.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
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.
- Category: Sides
- Method: Mixing
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Diet: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 229
- Sugar: 7.4 g
- Sodium: 365.6 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 37.5 g
- Fiber: 4.3 g
- Protein: 5.5 g
- Cholesterol: 2.9 mg
Keywords: dairy free, vegan option, easy, summer
Published: September 26, 2016. Updated: May 10, 2022.
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