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The Easiest Creamy Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad! This recipe combines everything you love about esquites with a creamy pasta salad recipe! The perfect side dish or main course!
Elote Pasta Salad. Or er, actually, esquites pasta salad, is going to be the hit of your BBQ.
…or potluck, or just regular Monday night dinner.
We’re talking about roasted fresh corn shaved off the cob, tossed with ditalini pasta, fresh cilantro, cotija cheese, and the creamiest mexican crema-inspired dressing.
The corn kernels and pasta just soak in all that goodness and the fresh cilantro, jalapeño, and Tajin give it the best flavor.
Serve alongside brisket, ribs, cilantro lime chicken, and basically anything else that screams summer protein!
You can even toss shredded rotisserie chicken or cubed grilled chicken with the salad – it’s amazing to keep in the fridge for easy lunches throughout the week!
Ingredients for street corn pasta salad
- Pasta: I like to use a small cut pasta like ditalini, anellii, or mini farfalle. This is so that you get a bit of everything in each bite. Larger cut pasta also works, But it does make this a bit more pasta forward.
- Sweet Corn: I use fresh corn that I toss on an outdoor grill or in a grill pan depending on how quickly I want to get this out. You can also use fire-roasted corn from the store, just defrost, drain and use!
- Cotija Cheese: is usually sold in as a disc or even crumbled in a bag in the refrigerated section where you find all the other bagged and shredded cheeses. You can also use crumbled queso fresco if you’d like. If you can’t find cotija cheese, you can also use feta cheese here instead.
- Jalapeños: adds freshness and a little heat. Feel free to use Serranos instead or omit them.
- Cilantro: fresh herbs always add plenty of color and flavor to a salad!
- Sour Cream: is the base of the dressing, we use this instead of Mexican crema, which if you don’t live in the south, might be harder to find in mainstream grocery stores.
- Mayonnaise: adds richness to the dressing.
- Fresh Lime Juice: adds plenty of tang to the crema.
- Tajin Seasoning: is usually sold near the fruit and sometimes in the spice aisle. It’s a combination of citric acid, chili powder, kosher salt, and other ingredients. Feel free to make your own from a recipe or use store-bought. You can also add a sprinkle of cayenne pepper if you want a little more heat.
- Chipotle Peppers: adds a smoky flavor that pairs well with the garlic and the cumin in the dressing.
- Ground Cumin: makes the dressing slightly smoky
- Garlic Powder: gives this plenty of flavor.
- Other add-ins: I’ve done this salad with diced avocados, green onions, amongst other ingredients. My Street Corn Rice Salad uses both of those incase you’re interested.
Elotes-inspired Recipes
Other Pasta Salad Recipes
Street Corn Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) box of ditalini or mini farfalle pasta
- 32 ounces roasted corn freshly grilled or defrosted
- ½-1 cup cotija cheese crumbled (see notes)
- ½ cup cilantro chopped
- 2 tablespoons jalapenos minced (or serrano)
Tajin Dressing
- 1½ cups sour cream or full fat greek yogurt
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 1 tablespoon Tajin seasoning or everything but the elote seasoning
- 1-3 teaspoons chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- COOK: Heat a large pot of water to boiling, salt the water generously and bring back to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook for 1 minute longer than al dente. Drain the pasta once done, but do not rinse. Save a splash of pasta water for later. Cool the pasta on a large plate or baking sheet if time permits.
- CREMA: In a measuring cup, combine the sour cream, mayo, lime juice, tajin, minced chipotle, cumin, and garlic powder. Give it a taste and adjust with tajin, salt or lime as needed.
- TOSS: In a large bowl, stir the cooled pasta with a splash of dressing. Then add the corn, cotija, cilantro, and jalapenos. Taste and adjust with seasonings as desired.
- SERVE: Place the salad in the refrigerator until ready to serve. You can also add cooked, diced chicken to give this more protein or make it a full meal. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
Notes
- Cotija cheese: with soak up a lot of the dressing. So if you like your salad really saucy, I suggest either making a bit more dressing, or using a little less cotija cheese! We typically use the lesser amount because I like a creamier pasta salad!
- Get Creative: I love to play around with this salad a ton! You can crush up hot Cheetos and add it as a crumb topping. Grate jalapeño Colby jack cheese and stir it in. Season the sour cream with some ranch seasoning, or even just add extra ingredients like chopped red onions or avocados! Feel free to make it your own!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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