This Mexican Corn and Zucchini Salad recipe is the best way to use those fresh veggies from the garden and grocery store. It’s a great potluck salad that’s great served warm or cold.
For more salad ideas, check out all of our salad recipes.
Summers are for grilling and potlucks almost every weekend around here. Which means that I’m always brainstorming for a new, perfect side dish to make. My rule of thumb is that I can’t do any repeats during the summer.
That’s how this Mexican Corn And Zucchini Salad was born.
This original recipe is a twist on two different recipes that were our favorites from from last summer: Grilled Mexican Street Corn Salad and Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini. Except this version is a little easier than those because none of the ingredients in this version need to be cooked on an outdoor grill. So this one is a lot easier if you need to make it at home and transport it to a backyard barbecue at someone else’s house.
Fresh corn is so good this time of year. And cheap too. So if you’re looking for new recipes to use corn in, check out our list of Fresh Corn Recipes.
Mexican Corn And Zucchini Salad Recipe
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Mexican Corn And Zucchini Salad Ingredients:
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1/2 red onion
- 2 ears fresh corn cobs
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lime crema
- 1 teaspoon Tajín seasoning
- 2.5 oz. queso fresco
- 4 sprigs of fresh cilantro
How To Make Mexican Corn And Zucchini Salad:
Slice the zucchini. Then, cut the zucchini slices into quarters.
Slice the red onion.
Add the zucchini and sliced red onion to a large pan (with a little bit of olive oil, if you want) and cook over medium heat for about seven minutes, stirring often.
While that’s cooking, cut the kernels off the ears of corn.
Add the corn and half the salt to the pan and cook for about five minutes, stirring often.
Remove the pan from the heat.
Add in the lime crema.
And the Tajín seasoning.
Rough chop the queso fresco and add sprinkle the remaining salt on top of it. Add it to the pan. Stir.
Chop the cilantro and add it to the mixture. Give the salad a big stir to combine all the ingredients.
You can either serve this zucchini corn salad straight off the stove or you can cool it in the fridge and serve it chilled.
We always serve this family style in a large bowl because we’re generally serving this at a potluck where everything is family style. But you could spoon an individual serving into a small bowl for each family member, if you’re cooking this for dinner.
Mexican Corn And Zucchini Salad: Frequently Asked Questions
Queso fresco is a creamy, tangy cheese that’s really soft and smooth but not crumbly. It’s often compared to goat cheese, but that really depends on the kind you’re getting at your local grocery store. It’s not very similar to the spreadable, packaged goat cheese you easily find in store. But, there are 15 types of goat cheese, so you can see why there’s one to compare it to.
Cotija cheese is a pretty crumbly white Mexican cheese, which is similar to Parmesan cheese. If all you have is cotija, you can definitely substitute it in this recipe. Cotija is salty cheese, when compared to queso fresco, so you wouldn’t sprinkle it with salt before stirring it in.
If you can’t find either at your grocery store, the closest you can buy, texture-wise, would be a block of feta cheese that you cut into pieces. Choose a plain feta cheese, rather than a seasoned one, because you don’t want to add any seasoning or herbs into this (which is usually how feta is seasoned).
If you’re making this during the summer, sweet summer corn is the way to go. Bright yellow corn adds to the aesthetics of this colorful salad. You can use white corn, of course, but I don’t think it’s as pretty.
Fresh produce is always best. And so, we only make this during the summer months when we can get fresh sweet corn.
But, if you’re making this when fresh corn isn’t readily available at the grocery store or farmer’s markets, you can use canned corn. One can of corn should be enough. Of course, be sure to drain the canned corn (we use a can colander to do that, which is amazing) before adding it to the pan.
If you’re heading to a potluck in the afternoon, you can definitely make this salad in the morning and then store it in the fridge until it’s time to go to the barbecue.
If you’re hosting the potluck, this is a great way to get some of the cooking out of the way before your guests get there so you can socialize when your company comes.
Wait until the salad has cooled down to room temperature. Then, store any leftover salad in an airtight container in the fridge. This salad is best if eaten by the next day.
More Mexican Summer Salad Recipes
If you’re looking for some more Mexican-inspired salad recipes to make with fresh vegetables, try our Cucumber Salad With Tajín And Lime. That recipe is the perfect summer side dish because it uses fresh cucumber out of the garden, which we have an abundance of over the summer.
And, of course, there are our aforementioned Grilled Mexican Street Corn Salad and Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini recipes. Those both use grilled veggies in them, so be sure to allot yourself enough time to make them.
Mexican Corn And Zucchini Salad
This Mexican Corn and Zucchini Salad recipe is the best way to use those fresh veggies from the garden and grocery store. It’s a great potluck salad that’s great served warm or cold.
Ingredients
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1/2 red onion
- 2 ears fresh corn cobs
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lime crema
- 1 teaspoon Tajín seasoning
- 2.5 oz. queso fresco
- 4 sprigs of fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Slice the zucchini. Then, cut the zucchini slices into quarters.
- Slice the red onion.
- Add the zucchini and sliced red onion to a large pan (with a little bit of olive oil, if you want) and cook over medium heat for about seven minutes, stirring often.
- While that’s cooking, cut the kernels off the ears of corn.
- Add the corn and half the salt to the pan and cook for about five minutes, stirring often.
- Remove the pan from the heat.
- Add in the lime crema and the Tajín seasoning.
- Rough chop the queso fresco and add sprinkle the remaining salt on top of it. Add it to the pan. Stir.
- Chop the cilantro and add it to the mixture. Give the salad a big stir to combine all the ingredients.
Nutrition Information
Yield
10Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 54Total Fat 3gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 7mgSodium 463mgCarbohydrates 6gFiber 1gSugar 2gProtein 2g
Have you made this Mexican Corn And Zucchini Salad? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
amy liu dong
Sunday 30th of July 2023
It is such a great-looking salad! It looks absolutely delicious and very healthy! An instant favorite. Loved it!