Let me just put this out there for you all: I was never a big fan of corn until I had this Mexican street corn dish. In fact, Mexican street corn is now one of my all time favorite dishes. That's how delicious it is!! The first time I had Mexican street corn was after my dad got back from visiting my sister in Chicago. One of the things he talked about when he got home was how good the corn was that he had eaten at a restaurant in downtown Chicago. My mom, being the wonderful wife (and devoted foodie) that she is, did her research and found out how to recreate this dish that my dad was raving about! The rest is history.
As much as I love the Mexican street corn, my mom recommended that I create a cilantro lime sauce to drizzle on top of the corn for a fresh flavor. This is what I came up with...
Ingredients
- Mexican corn
- 2 packages of frozen corn or 5-6 ears of corn
- 4 tbsp. sour cream
- 3 tbsp. mayo
- lime juice to taste
- 3 tbsp. cotija (or parmesan) cheese
- salt to taste
- chipotle powder to taste
- smoked paprika to taste
*note: my family devours this corn which is why we use two packages of corn as opposed to one. One package of corn serves about 3-4 people, so if thats the amount you are cooking for then I would only make one package. If you decide to make the dish with one package of corn be sure that you cut the amounts for the remaining ingredients in half, too.
- Cilantro lime sauce
- 1 bundle of cilantro
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp. lime juice (about 4 small limes or1 big lime)
- 1 garlic clove
- <1 tsp. honey
- salt & pepper to taste
How to make it
- Mexican corn
- thaw 2 packages of frozen corn/use 5-6 ears of corn on the cob if available
- fry the corn with 2 tbsp. of butter in a frying pan at medium-high heat
- stir the corn until it starts to pop and brown
- while the corn is frying, create the cotija cheese sauce
- in a bowl, combine 4 tbsp. sour cream, 3 tbsp. mayo, and 3 tbsp. cotija cheese
- juice 1.5 small limes and add to mixture
- lastly add salt to taste
- once the corn is done frying, take it off the heat and mix the corn and sauce together
- if desired, sprinkle chipotle powder and/or smoked paprika on top
- Cilantro lime sauce
- cut off the bottom stems of one bunch of cilantro and add to blender
- add 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 tsp. honey, and 1 clove of garlic to the blender
- add the lime juice from 4 limes (or one large lime) to the blender
- blend together and add salt and pepper to taste
- drizzle sauce over Mexican street corn
Finished product
For next time...
I'm going to be honest, there isn't much I would change for next time. My mom perfected this recipe before she shared it with me. That being said... I do think that this dish would taste that much better with fresh corn when it is in season!
Variations
As mentioned, parmesan cheese works great as a substitute for the cotija cheese in the recipe. In fact, I ran out of cotija cheese when making this dish, so I substituted parmesan for the remainder of cheese needed and it worked just fine! I do recommend using the cotija cheese over the parmesan cheese because I love the unique flavor it adds. Also, if you are sensitive to heat and spices, the chipotle and paprika seasoning can be done without.
All in all
What I love so much about Mexican street corn is the unique combination of flavors from the lime, creamy cotija cheese, and chipotle seasoning. This dish is a family favorite that everyone enjoys. When creating the sauce for the corn, if it doesn't taste like you want it to with the recommended ingredient amounts, add more of what tastes good to you. When my mom and I make the sauce for the corn, we usually taste it many times and add more of one ingredient or another in order to make it just how we like it. I hope you enjoy this summer dish!
