Esquites turns all the flavor of grilled Mexican street corn (elotes) into an easy-to-eat Mexican street corn salad that makes for a perfect snack or side dish!
What is esquites?
What is esquites?You may have heard of Mexican street corn (elotes), a tasty grilled corn that is served with numerous toppings. It is typically served on a stick or with the corn husks pulled down to form a handle. (That’s the way we often eat or grilled sweet corn in Wisconsin!
Esquites (pronounced es-KEET-ae) is the same grilled corn dish, just cut off of the cob and served in a cup, for easy eating with a spoon.
What toppings go on Mexican street corn?
Typically street corn carts in Mexico will offer many toppings for their grilled corn.
- Lime juice
- Mayonnaise
- Cheese (typically queso fresco or cotija)
- Chili powder
- Butter
- Hot sauce
And more!
What is queso fresco?
Queso Fresco is a soft and crumbly Mexican cheese that has a light flavor and slight saltiness. It typically comes pressed into a disc, from which you can pinch off what you need and crumble it as a topping or add in to your dish.
We love its light flavor and wonderful creaminess. In this Mexican street corn salad, it lends the perfect texture complement to the crisp and juicy corn kernels.
What corn to use for street corn
Traditionally, Mexican street corn is prepared with white Mexican corn (or elote blanco). This particular variety of corn is more firm and more earthy than the sweet corn that we often think of grilling in the Midwestern US. It typically has larger kernels and less sugar content, so it is much less sweet.
To make esquites with this traditional corn, the raw corn is cut from the cob and boiled in chicken or vegetable broth until tender.
Often the Mexican herb epazote (pronounced eh-pah-ZOH-teh) is added as seasoning to the broth.
This does mean that any Mexican street corn or esqutes that you eating in Mexico will likely taste very different from a same-named dish in the States. Simply because the corn (and use of epazote) will most likely be different.
Either way, the dishes are delicious!
Our esqutes Mexican street corn salad recipe
For our recipe, we are using more common to us Midwestern US sweet corn and we have omitted the epazote leaves. So, we know that the flavor of our street corn salad is going to be a bit sweeter and slightly different than the traditional recipe.
We suggest grilling your corn over a charcoal grill (or open fire, if available) to impart the best, smoky flavor to your corn. (Who doesn’t love that flavor?!)
If you’re not using a grill, you could broil the whole ears of corn in the oven. However, if we’re not getting the flame grilled aroma, we find that skipping the grilling or broiling step doesn’t hurt much. In that case, we simply cut the raw corn off of the cob and move straight to sautéeing it in a cast iron skillet with the onions.
More corn side dish recipe
- Southern Corn Pudding
- South African Sweetcorn Bread (yes, there are whole corn kernels in this cornbread)
- Homemade Creamed Corn
Esquites (Mexican Street Corn Salad)
Esquites turns all the flavor of grilled Mexican street corn (elotes) into an easy-to-eat Mexican street corn salad that makes for a perfect snack or side dish!
Ingredients
- 6 ears of sweetcorn, shucked and cleaned of silk
- 2 Tbsp butter
- ¼ large onion, minced
- 6 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 3 Tbsp lime juice (about 1 large lime, juiced)
Toppings (add to taste)
- 6 oz queso fresco
- Chili powder
- Hot sauce
- Cilantro to garnish
Instructions
To Grill The Corn
- Soak the corn in water for 10-20 minutes.
- Preheat your grill to a medium heat. (You should be able to hold your hand an inch from the grates for 5-7 seconds.)
- Drain the corn and grill for 5-10 minutes on a side, until the corn kernels start to turn golden.
- Remove from the grill and let cool to touch.
If Not Grilling The Corn, Start HERE
- Cut the corn from the cob using a sharp knife. (You should get roughly 1 cup of corn per large ear.)
- Heat the butter in a large skillet (preferably cast iron). Add onion and sauté until soft.
- Add the corn to the onion and sauté until bright yellow and lightly golden.
- Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the mayonnaise and lime juice.
- Spoon the corn into individual serving cups or bowls and top as desired.
Notes
While you could hypothetically use a thawed bag of frozen corn for a very easy version of this recipe, we would encourage you to use fresh corn. The flavor and texture of fresh corn definitely adds a wonderful dimension to this dish.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1/2 cAmount Per Serving: Calories: 109
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Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.