With all the flavors of Mexican Street Corn, but with zucchini slices as the base, this Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini recipe is sure to be your new favorite side dish.
For ideas on what to serve with it, check out all of our recipes.
I love Mexican Street Corn. And I’m obsessed with our Grilled Mexican Street Corn Salad. I could honestly bring it to every potluck for the rest of eternity.
But it would become too predictable eventually.
So, to keep the flavors, but change the base, I came up with this Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini. It’s the flavors of Mexican Street Corn, but with zucchini as the base instead of corn.
I love the flavors of Mexican Street Corn, so I’m always trying to recreate it. If you are too, you’ll love our list of Mexican Street Corn-Inspired Recipes. There’s soup, chicken salad, and more.
Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini
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Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini Ingredients:
You can get the full list of ingredients with measurements in the recipe card below.
- Zucchini – You want about a pound of zucchini.
- Salt – You need some to draw out the water in the zucchini and some to season it.
- Olive oil – This helps to assure the zucchini doesn’t stick to the pan.
- Pepper – This adds a little flavor.
- Lime – The acid in the lime cuts through the other flavors.
- Tajin seasoning – This chili lime seasoning is the main seasoning in street corn.
- Cotija cheese – You can substitute queso fresco instead.
- Cilantro – You want fresh, not dried, cilantro.
How To Make Mexican Street-Corn Style Grilled Zucchini:
Cut the zucchini into 1/4 inch slices.
Quick note: You don’t have to peel the zucchini. Zucchini skin is really soft, especially after you cook it, so you don’t need to spend any time peeling it.
Plus, if you’re serving this at a party, it looks prettier served with the skin on.
Set them out on a cutting board and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt across them. Let them sit for 30 minutes. This will pull out any excess moisture and the zucchini will be firmer after you cook it.
Quick note: Zucchini has a high water content and when you don’t pull the water out, cooked zucchini gets really mushy.
Salting the zucchini and pulling out some of the excess water results in a firmer zucchini.
You want to salt the zucchini for 30 minutes, but the longer you can do it, the better. When I make our Cheesy Zucchini Cornbread Casserole, I actually salt the zucchini and let it sit overnight.
After 30 minutes, blot the excess water with a paper towel.
Put the zucchini in a bowl and drizzle the olive oil on top.
Add the remaining salt and pepper. Stir until the zucchini is evenly coated.
Put them on a propane grill that’s around 400 F, grilling for three to four minutes on each side. If you grill is holding a lower temperature, keep them on the grill longer.
You only want to flip once or you’ll ruin the look of the grill marks.
Put the grilled zucchini on a serving tray.
Squeeze the lime over the top.
Sprinkle the Tajin seasoning.
Grate the cotija and sprinkle it evenly on top.
Chop the cilantro and add it on top.
Serve warm or cooled.
Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini: Frequently Asked Questions
If you’re grilling all your food for dinner or a party and just don’t have the room to grill it all at once, you can definitely make Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini ahead of time. You can serve this recipe warm or cold.
If you do make it ahead of time, I recommend just grilling the zucchini ahead of time and setting it aside. When you’re ready to serve it, that’s when you want to dress it with the lime juice and other ingredients.
If you dress the zucchini with the lime juice too early, the liquid could seep into the zucchini and make it mushy and soggy by the time you serve it (defeating the point of salting and grilling it in the first place). So definitely make the zucchini ahead of time, but don’t assemble the dish until you’re ready to eat it.
Store any leftover Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini in an airtight container in the fridge for about three days.
To reheat, put the Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini on a cookie sheet and reheat it in the oven at 350 F. After it reheats, grate a little bit of cheese on top.
You can microwave it as well, but it comes out better if you reheat it in the oven.
More Zucchini Recipes:
If you bought too much zucchini for this recipe and now you have a bunch leftover, don’t worry. We have so many zucchini recipes for you to use the zucchini in.
And, if you’re looking at that bottle of Tajin trying to figure out what to do with it, we have a list of recipes with Tajin seasoning to help you use that up too.
Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini
With all the flavors of Mexican Street Corn, but with zucchini slices as the base, this Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini recipe is sure to be your new favorite side dish.
Ingredients
- 2 large zucchini (about 1 pound)
- 1 teaspoon, plus 1/2 teaspoon, salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon Tajin seasoning
- 2 oz. cotija cheese
- 4 sprigs cilantro
Instructions
- Cut the zucchini into 1/4 inch slices.
- Set them out on a cutting board and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt across them. Let them sit for 30 minutes. This will pull out any excess moisture and the zucchini will be firmer after you cook it. After 30 minutes, blot the excess water with a paper towel.
- Put the zucchini in a bowl and drizzle the olive oil on top.
- Add the remaining salt and pepper. Stir until the zucchini is evenly coated.
- Put them on a propane grill that’s around 400 F, grilling for three to four minutes on each side. You only want to flip once or you’ll ruin the look of the grill marks.
- Put the grilled zucchini on a serving tray.
- Squeeze the lime over the top.
- Sprinkle the Tajin.
- Grate the cotija cheese and sprinkle it evenly on top.
- Chop the cilantro and add it on top.
Notes
If you grill is holding a lower temperature, keep them on the grill longer.
Nutrition Information
Yield
10Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 59Total Fat 5gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 6mgSodium 411mgCarbohydrates 3gFiber 1gSugar 1gProtein 2g
Have you tried this Mexican Street Corn-Style Grilled Zucchini? Let us know what you thought in the comments.