Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

This is an entirely new recipe that I prepared for Cinco de Mayo. It’s my idea of combining Italian pasta with traditional Mexican/Southwestern ingredients and spices. It does sound strange though, in my humble opinion. I mean pasta and Mexican? No matter how odd the name is, I absolutely LOVE this Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad.

Most Italians don’t eat pasta salads nor do they serve pasta salads. You’ll never find them served in Italy. Nor will you ever see this dish in Mexico. Pasta salad is unapologetically American in origin.

Beginning with macaroni and cheese or macaroni salad, pasta salads are said to appear in the early 1900’s when German immigrants introduced mayonnaise-based potato salad and then thought to add it to Italian pasta. The combination took off and American newspapers and cookbooks began printing recipes in 1914. And by the 1960s, pasta salad was a perfect example of American food.

This salad can be served with or without the mayonnaise-based dressing that I created or on it’s own.

This Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad is simply DELICIOUS! I ended up eating it straight out of the serving bowl!

 

So let’s get to the kitchen and have some fun cooking!

Ingredients that you’ll need:

  • Pasta– You can use any “bite-size” shape that you like, such as rotini or fusilli (corkscrew shape), farfalle (bowtie shape), or macaroni (elbow-shaped). Don’t use long pasta shapes such as spaghetti, linguini, fettucini, bucatini, etc.
  • Both Mayonnaise and Sour Cream – You’ll need both for the dressing. Don’t use Miracle Whip (even though we love the stuff), you want the plain base of mayonnaise only to allow the herbs and spices’ flavor to be strong.
  • Fresh Vegetables – Corn (canned or freshly cooked/grilled/roasted), bell peppers, red onions, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, cilantro, onion, avocado, fresh green chili, etc. The fresher the better as well as the more vivid in color the better!
  • Cheese – COTIJA Mexican Cheese! This is a MUST for both the dressing and the salad!
  • LIMES! — Limes add so much to recipes and it’s perfect in this dressing.
  • Garlic — After all this is a quasi Italian-Mexican recipe. And garlic always improves savory recipes.
  • Herbs and Spices: CILANTRO! Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix, Cumin, Chipotle Pepper, Cayenne, Chili Pepper

Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

Choosing the PASTA:  It’s best to select a pasta shape that is ‘bite-size’ or that can be pierced with a fork when digging in! The creamy sauce clings to the curves of fusilli (corkscrew) very nicely. Other shapes that pasta salads work beautifully with are farfalle (bowtie), macaroni (elbow shape), or cavatappi (another corkscrew shape). All of these are easy to fork into.

Cooking the PASTA: Always cook your pasta until al dente only, which in Italian means ‘to the tooth’. This means that the pasta should not be soft or mushy, but cooked until there is a sturdy resistance to biting in. It is not done enough if you can feel the hard uncooked texture. This is something that you get better at with practice.

Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

It’s so-o-o easy!

  • Simply cook the pasta and grill or roast the corn
  • Cut up all of the veggies.
  • Toss all of the salad ingredients together in one very big serving bowl (don’t forget the herbs and spices).
  • Prepare the dressing.
  • Whisk all of the ingredients with the cheesy creamy dressing.
  • Add the avocado chunks on top.
  • Garnish with extra Cotija cheese crumbles.

Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

 

 

More Salads that I Think You’ll Enjoy:  

Corn and Black-Eyed Pea Salad

Grill-Roasted Corn, Black Bean And Avocado Salad With Cilantro Viniagrette

Loaded Cowboy Caviar Salsa Recipe

Classic, Creamy, Loaded Broccoli Salad

 

Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

 

PIN IT For Later!

 

Oh, just a second, please!  

 

Hearing from you means so much to me. I learn from everyone! So please leave a comment if you have a moment and a rating too would be great.

 

Do you enjoy La Bella Vita Cucina?  

We’d love to have you as part of our community!   

Subscribe below to receive the latest recipes, travel tips, and gardening ideas straight into your inbox!  

 

You can also follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. If you make this, please tag me with a photo of your culinary masterpiece! Let’s Connect!