elote pasta salad
This elote pasta salad one of my most recreated recipes from my blog and for GOOD REASON. It’s a unique spin on everyone’s favorite Mexican side dish – elote. Using the same great flavors, your favorite pasta shape, and a creamy citrus + chili dressing, this will quickly be your favorite summer side dish.
When I created this recipe, I was on this kick of believing that any dish transformed into a pasta salad is going to be good. So far, I’m correct. That concept is probably my favorite things about cooking – that there aren’t really any RULES in the kitchen (except that ketchup does NOT belong on mac-n-cheese). It is sheer creativity and flow.
For this elote pasta salad, I found that frozen, fire roasted corn works great. It gave it the flavor I was looking for and it’s quite convenience. You could also char up your own corn by sautéing it with some butter, but the char is *definitely* necessary. I love the Trader Joe’s frozen fire roasted corn, but you should be able to find it frozen at most grocery stores.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS ELOTE PASTA SALAD
- THE FLAVORS – the flavor combinations just WORK. It’s creamy, tangy, and herby, with a hint of chili and it’s just perfect.
- THE SIMPLICITY – this dish comes together very quickly. It is something you can whip up an hour before your event and requires minimal prep
- THE CONVENIENCE – a lot of these ingredients may be things you already have in your fridge and pantry, only having to grab a couple things from the store if you need!
TIPS FOR MAKING AHEAD OF TIME
If you’re making this pasta ahead of time, here a couple quick tips
- Cook your pasta, and add in just the corn and toss. Have all of your other ingredients chopped and set aside (in baggies or Tupperware if bringing somewhere).
- Do not toss in your dressing until you’re ready to serve. The dressing will get soaked up as it sits, so adding this as close to serving as possible will make the pasta salad creamier and fresher!
If you’d like a more in depth look on how to make my elote pasta salad, I featured this recipe on Twin Cities Live. Enjoy!
Elote Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 12 oz. rotini pasta
- 3 cups fire roasted corn I love the Trader Joe’s frozen fire roasted corn
- 3/4 cup cotija cheese, crumbled
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 tsp Tajin just to sprinkle on top
For the dressing
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/8 tsp of cayenne
- 1/4 tsp of salt and pepper
- 1 tsp lime zest (zest from 2 limes)
- 3 tbsp lime juice (juice from 1 lime)
Instructions
- Get a pot of water boiling and cook pasta as called for on package, drain and drizzle with olive oil in the strainer (this keeps it from sticking together while it cools).
- In a small bowl, make your dressing by mixing your sour cream (or greek yogurt), mayo, chili powder, garlic powder, olive oil, cayenne, salt & pepper, lime zest, and lime juice. Whisk together and set aside.
- Strain your pasta and run cold water over it to stop it from cooking. Drizzle it with olive oil and mix (this is so it doesn’t stick together while it cools) and place in the fridge.
- While your pasta is cooling, chop up your fresh cilantro and crumble your cotija cheese, set aside.
- Once your pasta is cooled, add it to a large bowl. Take your full bag of frozen roasted corn and add to a strainer and run warm water on it to thaw it out. Add about 2.5c of this corn to your pasta (save a bit for topping).
- Add 1/2c of your cotija cheese (save the rest for topping), add 1/3 cup cilantro (save the rest for topping). Add about 3/4 of the dressing to the pasta. Mix well. Save the rest of your dressing because you’ll want to add a bit more as it sits and soaks some up!
- Garnish your pasta salad with a bit more corn, cotija cheese, and cilantro and sprinkle with tajin. Enjoy!
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