A sweet summer corn salad that can be made with fresh or frozen corn. This sweet side dish is easy to make and irresistibly delicious. Recipe includes a brief how-to video on how I make this easy summer recipe in my own kitchen.
The warmer it gets outside, the less I feel like turning on the oven, so I hope you don’t mind that I have a handful of not-so-sweet recipes planned over these hot summer days.
First up is today’s simple corn salad recipe. Made with sweet kernels of fresh corn (and tips on substituting frozen if you’re really feeling lazy… we’ve all been there!) and other garden-fresh veggies including juicy cherry tomatoes, ripe avocado, red onion, cilantro, and a hint of jalapeno for a subtle kick.
Let’s talk about the star ingredient here though, the corn:
Right now I have a feeling your local grocery store is probably well-stocked with plenty of fresh corn, and you’ll want to grab 4 healthy looking ears of sweet corn for this recipe. If you can find ambrosia corn, even better!
How Do I Cook the Corn?
Preparing fresh corn for this recipe only takes a few seconds. You’ll remove the husks from the corn and drop each cob (gently, nobody wants to be scalded with a splash of scalding water) into a pot of boiling water. Cook the corn briefly, for just 3 minutes, before removing (I use tongs) to a bowl or strainer and running cold water over the corn to stop it from cooking/over-cooking.
Then, cut the corn off the cob, cutting as close to the cob as possible (you can use the bundt-pan method that I shared when I made my corn chowder recipe to keep corn kernels from flying everywhere!).
Can I use Frozen Corn?
I like to use fresh corn to make this corn salad, but frozen would also work (just make sure you grab a sweet variety). This recipe requires 4-5 cups of frozen corn, I usually use a blend of sweet yellow corn and super sweet white corn if using frozen.
After you’ve combined your corn and the rest of your chopped veggies, the next thing you’ll need is a simple olive oil & vinegar based dressing.
I used red wine vinegar for this recipe, but if you only have white wine on hand you can substitute that instead, and while I haven’t tried this recipe with other varieties, I have a feeling most vinegars would work just as well.
Serving & Preparing in Advance
Corn salad can be served immediately after mixing all of your ingredients/dressing together, but, if you can, I recommend covering it and placing in the refrigerator for at least an hour to give the flavors the chance to really meld together.
This recipe can be made up to a day in advance of serving. I don’t like to make it much before that because if your avocado is particularly ripe it can begin to turn brown if allowed to sit for too long (though the dressing does do a good job of helping to preserve the avocado).
Always make sure to give your ingredients a good stir before serving, as the dressing has a tendency to settle to the bottom of the bowl.
If you like this summer salad recipe, you may also want to check out my other favorite summer side dishes:
- Million Dollar Deviled Eggs
- Macaroni Salad
- Texas Caviar (it’s like a corn salad with beans)
- Broccoli Salad
- Ramen Noodle Salad
Enjoy!
Corn Salad
Ingredients
- 4 ears corn on the cob or 4-5 cups frozen, thawed sweet corn (500g)
- 1 avocado diced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- ¼ cup finely chopped onion (40g)
- 1 jalapeno seeds removed, finely diced
- ⅓ cup finely chopped cilantro (13g)
Dressing
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil (80ml)
- 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 Tablespoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- If using fresh corn, remove husks and bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Carefully drop corn into the boiling water and cook for just 3 minutes. Remove from the water and immediately rinse in cold water.
- Cut the corn from the cob (cutting as close as possible to the cob) and transfer the kernels to a large bowl (if using frozen corn, place this in your bowl now).
- Add diced avocado, cherry tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro and stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl, prepare the dressing by whisking together the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic.
- Pour dressing evenly over corn salad ingredients and toss well to combine.
- For best results, cover the corn salad and refrigerate for one hour before serving. Be sure to stir ingredients well again before serving.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Brookie
Hi there! I’m one of those people that cilantro tastes like dawn dish detergent. Can I leave it out of this recipe or will that affect the overall flavor of the recipe?
Sam
Hi Brookie! I would leave it out so you don’t have that flavor taking over. 🙂
Lisa
Excellent summer salad. My husband loved it too and he normally does not like corn salad. We don’t like jalapenos so I omitted that. Everything I have made from Sam’s recipes have been amazing. Keep them coming!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you both enjoyed it, Lisa! Thanks for the review 🥰