This grilled spicy corn salad is super simple and tastes great with grilled chicken or a grilled tri-tip or other steak – or just alongside a simple burger. Charred and grilled corn, a bit of red onion, and fresh cilantro leaves are tossed with a lovely Roasted Green Chile Dressing tat has a nice kick to it without being overpoweringly spicy.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients:
- 6 ears sweet corn
- 2 tsp. vegetable, canola, or other cooking oil
- 1 - 2 jalapeño or serrano chiles
- 1 Tbsp. lime juice
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1 small red onion
- 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
Preparation:
- Heat a grill to medium high heat (so you can hold your hand about an inch above the cooking grate for about 3 seconds).
- Meanwhile, shuck the corn, removing as much of the corn silk from the cobs as you can, and brush it lightly with the vegetable oil.
- Set corn and chiles on the grill, cover, and cook until charred on one side, about 4 minutes. Turn, cover, and continue cooking until charred on the other side, about 4 more minutes. Chiles should be blackened and removed from the grill. The corn may need a bit more time to be cooked through and nicely charred in bits. (See this guide to grilling corn and this guide to roasting chiles for more tips.)
- While corn and chiles sit until cool enough to handle, make the dressing by combining the lime juice, oil, salt, and pepper in a large salad bowl. Whisk to combine until nice and creamy looking. Peel and finely chop the onion and toss with the dressing. Finely chop the cilantro leaves and set aside.
- Remove the blackened skins from the chiles and pull out their stems and seeds. Chop the remaining chile flesh as finely as possible – it should sort of fall apart as you chop it. Stir it into the dressing and onion mixture to combine thoroughly.
- Cut the kernels off the cobs (see how here) and add to the salad. Toss to combine thoroughly. Taste and add more salt, if you like. Add chopped cilantro and toss to combine.
