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This easy Corn Salad recipe has a Chipotle-honey dressing and plenty of tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese. It’s light and citrusy, the perfect late-summer side dish.
This Corn Salad flavors the best flavors of late summer: Corn, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Add a splash of homemade honey-Chipotle-lime dressing and a sprinkling of feta cheese, and this is one delicious side dish that will wow at any meal or party.
To keep things easy, this recipe uses frozen corn. But I’ve included conversions to fresh corn if you happen to have a half-dozen of fresh ears on hand.
Toasting the corn and adding it to the salad warm delivers a unique flavor and temperature experience unlike so many other Corn Salads. This one is worth trying at least once, and it may become your new go-to.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Chipotle chiles in adobo sauce: If you’ve never had chipotle chiles in adobo: be warned. It’s spicy! If you shy away from spicy food, add just a little to start or omit it entirely. Reconstitute some dried guajillo or pasilla chilies instead, if you prefer, by soak them in warm water for a few minutes, then purée them with a little vinegar. Use leftover chipotle chiles in adobo to make pinto beans or spicy stuffed peppers.
- Corn: To substitute fresh corn, bring a large pot of water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil over high heat. Add 6 ears of corn and boil for 3 to 5 minutes. Submerge ears in a large bowl of ice water. When the corn is cool enough to handle, cut it off the cob and transfer to a large bowl.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together scallions, lime juice, olive oil, chipotles, honey, and salt and pepper to taste (I like ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper).
- In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil until shimmering. Add corn and cook until brown spots form, about 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, add corn, tomatoes, cucumber, and parsley.
- Drizzle with dressing and stir to combine. Garnish with feta cheese.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This Corn Salad recipe makes about 6 servings, 1 cup each.
- Storage: Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Assemble the salad up to 1 day advance, reserving the feta cheese and adding it right before serving.
- Freezer: This salad does not freeze well. Corn itself does, but the other vegetables will have a soggy texture and the overall salad will be watery.
- Extra corn: Have extra frozen corn on hand? Put it to use in Mexican Corn Salad (aka esquites), an appetizer made with mayonnaise, lime juice, Parmesan cheese, and chili powder. You eat with Doritos! So good. Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili and Corn Chowder are two amazing, hearty soups that also use frozen corn. Or try Black Bean Salad with a flavorful chipotle-honey-lime dressing and lots of avocado.
Recipe FAQs
Ears of corn vary in size, but a general guideline is to assume 1 ear of corn = about 4 ounces, or ½ cup, of corn. If a recipe calls for 24 ounces of frozen or canned corn, you would substitute about 6 earns of corn.
It is perfectly fine to eat fresh corn, straight off the cob. Just be sure to clean it well.
There are many ways to prepare fresh corn. See my post Corn on the Cob 4 Ways to learn how to boil, microwave, grill, and simmer corn to tender perfection.
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Corn Salad
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce about 1 tablespoon (see note 1)
- 1/2 teaspoon honey
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cups frozen corn thawed (see note 2)
- 2 Roma tomatoes seeded and diced
- 1 medium cucumber peeled, seeded, and diced
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- 1 cup feta cheese
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together scallions, lime juice, olive oil, chipotles, honey, and salt and pepper to taste (I like ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper).
- In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil until shimmering. Add corn and cook until brown spots form, about 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, add corn, tomatoes, cucumber, and parsley. Drizzle with dressing and stir to combine. Garnish with feta cheese.
Notes
- Chipotle chiles in adobo sauce: If you’ve never had chipotle chiles in adobo: be warned. It’s spicy! If you shy away from spicy food, add just a little to start or omit it entirely. Reconstitute some dried guajillo or pasilla chilies instead, if you prefer, by soak them in warm water for a few minutes, then purée them with a little vinegar. Use leftover chipotle chiles in adobo to make pinto beans or spicy stuffed peppers.
- Corn: To substitute fresh corn, bring a large pot of water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil over high heat. Add 6 ears of corn and boil for 3 to 5 minutes. Submerge ears in a large bowl of ice water. When the corn is cool enough to handle, cut it off the cob and transfer to a large bowl.
- Yield: This Corn Salad recipe makes about 6 servings, 1 cup each.
- Storage: Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Assemble the salad up to 1 day advance, reserving the feta cheese and adding it right before serving.
- Freezer: This salad does not freeze well. Corn itself does, but the other vegetables will have a soggy texture and the overall salad will be watery.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.