Mexican Street Corn (Elotes)
Mexican Street Corn, or Elotes. This grilled corn recipe is coated with a cooling lime Crema, spiced with some Chile powder, and topped with crumbled Cotija and diced cilantro. The perfect side dish or appetizer!
Mexican Street Corn
This recipe is a classic. It’s always one of my favorite ways to prepare fresh corn. Unlike the esquites, which is Mexican street corn in a cup, this corn is eaten right off the cob!
Placing the corn on a hot grill or skillet quickly cooks the corn. Then a creamy lime sauce is slathered on the cooked corn. Add your choice of toppings. Some crumbled cotija or queso fresco, fresh cilantro, sprinkle of chili powder, and a squeeze of lime juice are favorites.
How to Make Mexican Street Corn:
Remove the husk and silk from the corn. Cook the corn either on a grill or in a hot skillet.
- If using a skillet, pour a small amount of olive oil in the skillet and heat on medium heat. Then cook the corn about 3 minutes, then turn and continue cooking. Do this until all sides are cooked.
- If using a grill, heat the grill, place the corn directly on the grates and cook about 3 minutes, then turn the corn and continue cooking the other sides. If you cook the corn on the skillet, you won’t get as much color to the corn as you would on a grill. If you’re looking for blackened corn, you will need to use a grill.
While the corn is grilling, prepare the lime Crema in a small bowl. The ingredients for the sauce are: mayonnaise, Mexican Crema, lime juice, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and chopped cilantro.
Once the corn is grilled, simply brush the sauce all over the corn. Sprinkle with crumbled Cotija or Queso fresco, a little extra cilantro and a pinch of Chile powder.
If you haven’t used it before, Cotija is a salty, crumbly cheese that is mostly used as a topping or mixed into sauces. Queso fresco is very similar, but has a more mild flavor. Both should be able to be found in most local markets in the cheese section.
Some Notes about this Recipe:
- If you would prefer to make this as more of a dip or a salad you can check out this Mexican Corn Dip recipe. This particular recipe can be made with fresh, frozen or canned corn.
- To make Elotes en vaso like you would find at a lot of taco shops, this Esquites recipe is what you are looking for! It’s very similar, but involves cutting the corn off the cob, mixing with a similar sauce, and toppings.
- This recipe is easily customizable, if you would prefer to not use mayonnaise, you can cut it out and use just crema. I have seen recipes that use yogurt instead of either options. And you could also use veganaise if you are wanting to make this dairy free.
More Recipes you may enjoy:
Mexican Street Corn
Ingredients
- 4 corn cobs, husks and silk removed
- ¼ cup Mexican Crema
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ⅛ tsp ground chili powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
- Juice of 1/2 a lime
- 2 tsp cilantro, chopped
Toppings
- Cotija cheese or Queso Fresco, crumbled
- cilantro, chopped
- Chili powder
Equipment
Instructions
- Remove the husk and silk of the corn. If grilling, preheat the grill. Place the corn directly on the grill and cook for about 3 minutes, then turn the corn to continue cooking other sides. Continue this until all sides are cooked. If using a skillet, preheat the skillet over medium heat, add a small amount of olive oil, about 1 teaspoon. Add the corn and cook for 3 minutes, then turn to continue cooking the other sides of the corn. Continue this until all sides are cooked.
- While the corn is cooking, prepare the sauce. Add the Mexican Crema, mayonnaise, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, salt, lime juice, and chopped cilantro into a small bowl. Stir together until combined.
- After the corn is cooked, remove to a plate. Brush or spread the sauce onto the entire corn cob.
- Add toppings as desired, Cotija or queso fresco, cilantro, Chile powder, additional lime juice.
