Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad
Let me start off by saying that this Mexican street corn pasta salad is versatile and you can do a lot with it. You can keep it as a light side or add chicken to the mix for more of a main course. You can make the pasta salad and enjoy it, but if you have a lot of leftovers and need a quick meal, you can cook up some ground sausage or beef, warm up the pasta salad, mix them together and now you have a warm meal. You can also just keep it in the fridge and eat it for lunch every day and eat it cold or warm it up in the micro. This is an easy weeknight meal idea, but it’s also great for weekends too. Make this on a Friday and everyone can enjoy it all weekend long.
I love good food, but gosh dang it, the process of cooking it is not really something I enjoy. This recipe however, is pretty easy and it’s quick. It’s a great recipe that can be adjusted after the fact, to create a whole new meal on a whim…AKA too busy to think. As I am writing this, I am sitting outside, the weather is perfect. The weather is so perfect, it makes me think of a picnic and I think this recipe would lend well to picnicking. One pairing I found delicious was eating this pasta salad with Pringles Harvest Blends in Smokey BBQ. The sweet and smoky flavor of the Pringles mingled very nicely with the tanginess of the pasta salad. No I didn’t get paid to say that, I picked the Pringles up on sale and decided to try them with the pasta salad. I really thought they went together nicely.
I made this salad a few times to determine what ratios I thought were best. For the pasta I think a bite size pasta like farfalle, penne, shells, fusilli etc. are the perfect size. I personally love using dried Italian made pasta or fresh pasta, but any kind will do. Fresh corn would be ideal, but canned or frozen will work too. I love fresh citrus and I am extremely picky about it, because I grew up eating oranges right on the tree. On the tree, not fresh off the tree, still hanging on the branch. Most fresh citrus from the store I stay away from, I have to buy it at the farmer’s market or a fruit stand. My life is so difficult. Hehe. Limes are generally pretty decent regardless of where they come from. If you can’t do fresh lime juice, I recommend Santa Cruz lime juice, it is surprisingly good for jarred juice. Aside from the Santa Cruz lime juice, as citrus juice in a bottle or a jar goes, I can’t and I refuse to buy it. For the Cotija, you can use parmesan. Don’t yell at me, but it’s a decent substitute, if you don’t have access to Cotija or you don’t have the extra funds to buy it.
Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb Bite sized pasta
- 1 T Olive oil
- 3, 15 ounce Cans of corn
- 1 C Cotija or parmesan cheese
- Half Bunch Chopped cilantro
Sauce ingredients
- 1 C Sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 3/4 C Mayo
- 1 T Extra virgin olive oil
- Crushed red pepper to taste
- 1/2 to 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika (the smoked part here is important)
- Juice of 1 lime or 2 tablespoons
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- 1 Lime zest optional but worth it
Instructions
- Cook up the pasta with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Drain and allow to cool.
- Open and drain corn.
- Wash and chop cilantro.
- Dump your pasta, corn, cotija and cilantro into a mixing bowl and mix together.
- In a separate bowl add the sour cream, mayo, olive oil, spices and lime zest if using and mix together thoroughly.
- Drizzle sauce over pasta salad and mix in thoroughly.
- Pour pasta salad into a food storage container and refrigerate overnight.
