Char the corn. Start by either grilling the corn on the cob until it is browned or cut the corn off the cob and brown it in a heavy skillet with butter. If you grill the corn, cut it off of the cob after it has colled slihtly.
Season the corn. Season the corn with salt and pepper.
Toss with dressing. Add the browned corn to a bowl and add the sour cream, mayonnaise, lime juice, and cheese to the bowl. Toss to coat. If you are adding in any of the extra veggies you can add them now as well.
Garnish. Garnish with extra cheese and minced cilantro.
Serve with. Serve with extra cheese, diced serrano peppers, and hot sauce.
RECIPE TIPS
Ingredients Notes
Fresh corn. Fresh corn works best in this recipe. You can char the corn on the cob on the grill and then cut it off or you can cut the corn off the cob and then char it in a pan with butter. You can substitute frozen corn.
Sour Cream and Mayo. I like to use Mexican crema instead of sour cream when I can find it.
Cheese. Traditionally Mexican corn salad is made with Cotija cheese which is a hard salty cheese that crumbles. Some substitutions for cotija cheese would parmesan and/or feta cheese.
Limes. Freshly squeezed lime juice.
Hot sauce. I really like to use Cholula or Tapatio brand hot sauce in this recipe. Serve on the side and add it for a little extra spice.
Cilantro and serranos. Fresh minced cilantro and serrano peppers for garnish.
Easy Substitutions:
Crema. Use sour cream, add a squeeze of lime to thin it out, and a little bit of salt.
Cotija Cheese. Pecorino or Parmesan Reggiano would be suitable stand-ins.
Recipe VariationsLighten in up. If you want to lighten up the dressing in this recipe you can reduce the amount of sour cream and mayonnaise to 2 tablespoons each. You can also use reduced-fat sour cream.Change up the veggies. As I mentioned earlier you can add in diced red onion, diced red pepper, and green onions. I like the color that these veggies add to this corn Mexican street corn in a cup.