Elote, Mexican Street Corn, is one of my favorite sides to make in the summer, and it’s perfect for Tostada Tuesdays or when you want to shake things up from your tradition BBQ spread.
The smokiness of the grilled corn and the chipotle mayo, the natural sweetness of the corn, the brightness from a squeeze of lime, and the saltiness from the queso fresco make this corn dish one of my favorite summer sides of all time.
It’s not only easy, but it’s also only 2 WW SP for an ear of corn and 3 WW SP for two!
Elote is one of the last signs of summer beginning. I love the summer. My wife teaches, so we have off all summer to spend it with our family and we live it to its fullest. Starting at the end of March, we start getting stir crazy and try to will it to be summer.
Summoning Summer Step 1: OCNJ Day Trip
First, we do a day trip to Ocean City, New Jersey. We live about 1.5 hours from Ocean City, New Jersey and it is our ultimate happy place. My girls love the water even when it is ice cold, and we love walking the boardwalk.
When the school year is getting very stressful and we are at our breaking points (typically a week or two before spring break), we inevitably look at each other and then at our napping child/children in the back seat of the car and then decide we need to go.
Crossing the bridge and rolling the windows down to get that first feel and smell of saltwater air is such a cathartic experience. We typically park at 11th street, walk the boardwalk down to 6th street, and hit up some of our favorite stores along the way. Of course, we get Manco and Manco Pizza, Kohr Brothers, and so many other iconic stops along the way.
Summoning Summer Step 2: Eating Outside
We have a great covered deck that my daughter always wants to eat at. When we go out to eat, she begs to eat outside even if it is raining, snowing, hailing. Doesn’t matter--the girl loves her food al fresco. We usually so eventually cave and eat a meal outside way before it’s warm enough.
It’s that first real meal outside though. The one where you kind of decide as you’re about to sit down at the table, “you know what, let’s do this outside.” The kids eat faster so they can squeeze in some more time playing outside and my wife and I get to eat a meal together while we watch from a distance.
That first meal, no matter what the food, is the second step to summoning summer. Last night we ate outside and ate grilled corn. It’s summer. It’s official.
Summoning Summer Step 3: Grilled Corn
Grilled corn is the easiest thing to cook, especially if you’re already grilling. Unlike boiled corn, the flavor of corn stays pure and gets concentrated as you grill it. First of all, there’s this intoxicatingly-summery smell that grilled corn has that reminds me of county fairs and nights by a fire.
If this was a candle, I’d buy it and burn it year-round… while eating grilled corn. The direct heat of the fire takes that natural sweetness of the corn and concentrates it, so the sweet corn flavor really shines.
My favorite part though, that char, gives corn that added texture and flavor that’s unlike anything else. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again--food needs texture.
Corn is just now starting to reappear in grocery stores which signifies the return of spring and summer produce. Sure, the corn right now isn’t peak corn, but grilling corn and making elote can make even the earliest corn shine like late July corn. Warning, making elote using late July corn is EVERYTHING.
Mayo on Corn
Yeah, it sounds like the stuff of nightmares. I don’t hate mayo, and I use it a lot. Mayo just slathered on corn though does not sound appetizing, but you’re incorrect.
Mayonnaise is just oil, egg, dijon, and lemon juice and none of them is horrifying; it just sounds weird at first. Now, if you Google Image elote, you’ll see that there are varying degrees of mayo thickness.
I get these all the time at street fairs, but I still prefer a thinner shmear of mayonnaise instead of a thick opaque coating. This is, of course, personal preference and feel free to lay it on thick and adjust the points.
My Chipotle Mayo is legit. It is so good, I eat it on burgers and sandwiches, dip fries in it, mix it into burrito bowls, and now I use it for my elote. The chipotle mayo whips up in no time.
For six pieces of corn, you’re only going to use about 6 tbsp of the chipotle mayo leaving 4 servings (6 tbsp) which is plenty to complete your Southwestern Turkey Burgers or Tostadas. You can find my recipe for my chipotle mayo below the elote recipe.
Dwardcooks Elote - Mexican Street Corn
Ingredients
- 6 ears corn
- 6 tbsp chipotle mayo recipe below
- 2 oz crumbled queso fresco
- 1/4 cup cilantro finely chopped
- 1 lime (optional) sliced in wedges
Instructions
- Preheat grill to medium high heat. Place corn directly on grill and cook for 7-10 minutes. Occasionally turn the corn to have even cooking and char. The corn will be done when the kernels are tender.
- Once the corn is done, quickly spread 1 tbsp of chipotle mayo on each ear of corn. sprinkle the queso fresco over all the corn, and finish with cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.
Dwardcooks Chipotle Mayo
Ingredients
- 1/2 c lite mayo
- 1/4 c fat free Greek yogurt
- 3 tsp adobo sauce the sauce in the can of chipotles
- 1 tsp chipotle peppers minced
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients. Reserve the chipotle peppers until last, and taste after adding half to have better control of your spice preference.
debbie
I made your Mexican street corn, chipotle mayo and southwestern turkey burgers this past weekend and they were delicious! My question is what to do with the rest of the can of chipotles after making the burgers and mayo. What do you do with yours? One can of diced chipotles would make like 15 batches of the mayo so I am hoping you have another recipe that uses more of the can? Thanks in advance for any ideas and suggestions.