Mexican Corn on the Cob is a popular street food served on a stick in Mexico, the “elote recipe” is easy to make at home on the grill, on the stove or even making instant pot Mexican corn (my favorite way!) It has a tangy and creamy lime dressing and garnished with a crumbled Mexican parmesan called cotija.
Mexican street corn on the cob is gluten free, vegetarian, and processed carb free. To keep the elote recipe sugar free, you can simply make sure to use mayo that doesn’t have added sugar. 19 net carbs per serving, which makes it ok for a low carb diet too.
A printable recipe card it at the bottom of the post!
Mexican Corn on the Cob
I’ve always been intrigued by Mexican corn on the cob, we always grew up eating simple corn on the cob with butter and salt. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I knew other options were out there.
If you’ve been wondering how to make Mexican street corn and is Mexican street corn easy? You’ll be thrilled to know it only takes a few extra minutes to make elotes, if you prep your ingredients while waiting for the corn to cook.
We have been gobbling up Mexican street corn salad all summer long, it instantly became our new family favorite! So when the kids requested corn on the cob, I knew right away our salad recipe needed to be adapted into a Mexican corn on the cob version.
Funny story– My sister was recently visiting and I wanted to make the Mexican corn recipe. As soon as she put it on her plate, she cut OFF the kernels. If I’d known she didn’t like corn ON the cob I would’ve simply served Mexican corn off the cob haha.
This easy Mexican street corn recipe is a festive summer side dish from May to September. Serve it at a summer BBQ, potluck, for Cinco de Mayo, or with any of your favorite summer meats like grilled chicken, oven baked baby back ribs or instant pot country style ribs
If you love this Mexican street corn elote recipe, then you’ll definitely want to try our 15 minute street corn salad recipe using frozen roasted corn.
Mexican Street Corn Ingredients
The Mexican street corn ingredients are the exact same as my 15 minute street corn salad esquites recipe. The difference is in the salad, ALL ingredients get mixed together and blended with the corn kernels.
With Mexican corn on the cob, you just mix some of the ingredients to drizzle over the corn and then top with the remaining elote recipe items as a garnish.
This recipe is super easy to double or even cut in half, depending on your needs.
4 ears of corn, husks removed
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 Tbsp sour cream
Juice of one lime
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup cotija (Mexican Parmesan cheese), crumbled
1/4 cup red onion, finely minced
3 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp chili powder
butter
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
More Garnishes- lime, cotija cheese, cayenne pepper, chili powder
Making the Easy Elote Recipe
Making Mexican street corn on the cob is truly so easy. You make a simple mayo, sour cream, lime dressing, prep the other ingredients while the corn cooks, and then drizzle the elote recipe dressing and toppings over the hot corn and serve.
Step 1- Make the Dressing
To make the Mexican street corn dressing, mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, juice of one lime and salt in a small bowl.
Set aside for later.
Step 2- Cook the Corn
To cook the corn on the cob, you have 3 easy options:
- Grill the corn for 15 minutes
- Cook on the stovetop in boiling water for 5-7 minutes
- Cook corn in a pressure cooker for 2 minutes
It’s perfectly fine to just use your favorite method of cooking corn on the cob, since I don’t know how to use my husbands new Big Green Egg for grilling, I often make instant pot Mexican street corn.
If you either have an instant pot already, or have been thinking about getting one, this is a SUPER easy recipe to start with!
This is the model of instant pot that I have, and this is the most popular instant pot.
Making Instant Pot Street Corn (Instant Pot Version)
This is for simple instant pot corn, be sure to check out our ultra rich recipe version with butter and cream!
4 ears of corn, with husks removed
1 cup cold water
Insert the instant pot rack inside of the instant pot corn on the rack. Add 1 cup of water.
You always need to use one cup of liquid for an instant pot recipe or there isn’t enough liquid to bring the food to pressure and cook properly.
If you have smaller ears of corn you may be able to fit them directly into the pot. Otherwise break them in half.
Set your instant pot to pressure cook on two minutes. It will take about 7 to 8 minutes to come to pressure.
No need to do a slow release for this recipe! Once the corn has cooked for 2 minutes, instantly turn your pressure cooker to quick release and turn off your instant pot.
Once the pressure cooker valve has dropped, you can open the lid.
Step 3- Prep the Toppings When the Corn Cooks
Instead of prepping all ingredients before starting the recipe, you’ll have a little bit of time waiting for the pressure cooker or grill to heat.
While I do mix the elotes dressing before starting the cooking, many of the easy garnishes can be prepped while the corn cooks.
Crumble 1/2 cup cotija cheese
Finely mince 1/4 cup red onion
Chop 3 Tbsp fresh cilantro
Step 4- Assembling the Elote Recipe
Brush melted butter on the warm corn on the cob.
Drizzle with half of the Mexican street corn dressing. I use about half of the dressing to drizzle and then I serve the rest on the side.
Sprinkle the Mexican corn on the cob with the cilantro, chopped red onion, more cheese, more salt and chili powder. Adding a sprinkle of cayenne pepper is put down as an optional item since not everyone likes spice (which is me!), but just a tiny bit really does give the Mexican street corn recipe a nice kick.
Serve more dressing, cheese, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cilantro and lime slices on the side.
The easy elote recipe serves 4, but if you’re making numerous sides or serving this at a potluck, you can stretch it to serve 8 by breaking the corn in half.
Enjoy!
Mexican Street Corn Recipe Tips
Buy Extra Lime – I always buy more than one lime when a recipe calls for juiced lime. Some limes are full of juice and others seem to have barely any. The rule of thumb with buying lime (or any citrus) is to look out for limes that are heavy for their size. The lighter the citrus, the less juice that’s inside the actual fruit.
If you taste the dressing and it doesn’t seem limey enough for you, simply add more! It’s also great to have extra lime on hand either as a garnish for guests.
Substitute for Cotija Cheese – There isn’t a true substitute for cotija cheese, it has a very unique taste. If you aren’t able to buy it locally, the closest substitute would be crumbled feta cheese.
Related Recipes You’ll Love
Instant Pot Fajita Chicken Pasta
Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Mexican Corn on the Cob (Elote Recipe)
Mexican corn on the cob (also known as elotes) is an easy and tangy way to make your corn go wow! With a creamy and tangy lime dressing, this elote recipe makes an ideal summer side dish, BBQ recipe, and is impressive at a potluck.
The Mexican corn recipe is gluten free, vegetarian, refined sugar free and contains no processed carbs.
Ingredients
- 4 ears of corn
- 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp sour cream
- 1.4 tsp sea salt
- Juice of one lime
- 1/2 cup cotija (Mexican Parmesan cheese), crumbled
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 3 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- Garnishes- lime, cotija, cayenne pepper, chili powder, cayenne pepper
Instructions
Making Mexican street corn on the cob is truly so easy. You make a simple mayo, sour cream, lime dressing, prep the other ingredients while the corn cooks, and then drizzle the elote recipe dressing and toppings over the hot corn and serve.
Step 1- Making the Dressing
To make the Mexican street corn dressing, mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, juice of one lime and salt in a small bowl.
Set aside for later.
Step 2- Cook the Corn
To cook the corn on the cob, you have 3 easy options:
Grill the corn for 15 minutes
Cook on the stovetop in boiling water for 5-7 minutes
Cook corn in a pressure cooker for 2 minutes
Making Instant Pot Street Corn (Instant Pot Version)
4 ears of corn, with husks removed
1 cup cold water
Insert the instant pot rack inside of the instant pot corn on the rack. Add 1 cup of water.
If you have smaller ears of corn you may be able to fit them directly into the pot. Otherwise break them in half.
Set your instant pot to pressure cook on two minutes. It will take about 7 to 8 minutes to come to pressure.
No need to do a slow release for this recipe! Once the corn has cooked for 2 minutes, instantly turn your pressure cooker to quick release and turn off your instant pot.
Once the pressure cooker valve has dropped, you can open the lid.
Step 3- Prep the Toppings When the Corn Cooks
Crumble 1/2 cup cotija cheese
Finely mince 1/4 cup red onion
Chop 3 Tbsp fresh cilantro
Step 4- Assembling the Elote Recipe
Brush melted butter on the warm corn on the cob.
Drizzle with half of the Mexican street corn dressing. I use about half of the dressing to drizzle and then I serve the rest on the side.
Sprinkle the Mexican corn on the cob with the cilantro, chopped red onion, more cheese, more salt and chili powder. Adding a sprinkle of cayenne pepper is put down as an optional item since not everyone likes spice (which is me!), but just a tiny bit really does give the Mexican street corn recipe a nice kick.
Serve more dressing, cheese, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cilantro and lime slices on the side.
Serves 4
Enjoy!
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 213Total Fat 13gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 23mgSodium 1114mgCarbohydrates 22gNet Carbohydrates 19gFiber 3gSugar 5gProtein 7g
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