Nutrition: 157 Calories | 14.8g Net Carbs | 6.1g Protein | 8.4g Total Fat
Enjoy all the savory flavors of Mexican Street Corn in an easy baked side dish with queso fresco, jalapeño, cilantro, and a creamy chili sauce.
Mexican street corn makes me think of going to the fair. So, eating it always feels like a special treat. Imagine my excitement when a friend brought a baked street corn side dish over to our potluck dinner. And, I wasn’t the only one who liked it because there wasn’t any corn left over at the end of the night. Not long after our fun meal with friends, I had to make the Mexican street corn myself. I love it because it’s such an easy recipe. It’s perfect for entertaining or a great addition to a weeknight meal. All you need is some frozen corn, jalapeños, cilantro and a few pantry staples. Stir everything together, and bake it. It won’t be long before you’ll have an easy side dish packed with flavor.
Whisk Together the Creamy Sauce
The first step to making this easy recipe is cutting up a couple vegetables. So, grab some jalapeños, and remove the stems, tips, ribs and seeds. Then, dice up the green flesh of the peppers into really small pieces. If you’d like your side dish to have some heat, leave in the seeds and ribs of the peppers. Next, mince up fresh cilantro. I like to cut up extra cilantro, and save it to sprinkle on top of the baked corn. Once the cilantro and jalapeños are cut up, add them to a bowl with mayonnaise, non-fat greek yogurt, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, and crumbled queso fresco. Whisk it all together to make the creamy sauce.
If the flavors of jalapeño and cilantro are too strong for your kids, it’s easy to make this side dish more kid friendly. Simply leave the cilantro, jalapeño or both out of the recipe. When my kids were younger, I had to do this too. I often cut up the jalapeño and cilantro and left them as an optional topping to put on after the street corn was cooked. Sometimes, for a party I will make both versions of the street corn; a kid version and an adult version. Both versions are crowd pleasers.
Queso fresco is a mild, slightly tangy cheese that crumbles similar to feta. You can usually buy it in a block or already crumbled, and it’s a great topping for other Mexican dishes too. Here’s a quick video showing you how to crumble queso fresco in a zip top bag.
Stir in Frozen Corn
After the creamy sauce is all mixed, stir in frozen corn kernels that have been thawed. Thawing the frozen corn first helps the dish cook quicker and more evenly. If you forget to thaw out the frozen corn, it’s not a big deal. It will just take longer to bake. It could take an extra 10-15 minutes for the street corn to fully cook.
Add More Queso Fresco and Bake
Once the corn is evenly covered in the creamy sauce, transfer it to a baking dish. A 9″ by 9″ square pan or a pie plate are a good size. Top the corn mixture with more crumbled queso fresco. Bake the Mexican street corn at 350° for 30-40 minutes until it starts to bubble around the edges and the cheese starts to brown. Then, remove the street corn from the oven. Sprinkle some more chopped cilantro on top if you want, and serve.
An Easy Make Ahead Side Dish
This Mexican street corn side dish is great for parties and really easy to make ahead. After you’ve mixed together the street corn, transferred it to a baking dish and topped it with cheese, cover the dish and keep it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake it. Let the corn sit out at room temperature while you pre-heat the oven, and then bake it according to the directions. You’ll have a lot less work on party day.
Other recipes to check out: Homemade Mexican Fish and Shrimp Soup – Caldo de Pescado, Applebee’s Fiesta Lime Chicken Recipe with Easy Cauliflower Spanish Rice, and Simple Roasted Leeks and Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic.
Easy Mexican Street Corn Side Dish Recipe with Frozen Corn
Enjoy all the best flavors of Mexican Street Corn in an easy baked side dish using frozen corn, queso fresco, jalapeño, cilantro, and a creamy chili sauce.
Total Time: 50 min
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 40 min
Ingredients
- 24 oz Frozen Corn, Thawed
- 1/2 Cup Fresh Cilantro, Finely Minced
- 2 Jalapeños, Finely Diced
- 5 oz Queso Fresco, Crumbled and Divided
- 1/3 Cup Mayonnaise
- 1/3 Cup Plain Non-Fat Greek Yogurt
- 2 tsp Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Remove the stems, tips and seeds from the jalapeños, and throw them away. If you want more spice, keep the seeds. Then, dice up the green flesh of the peppers into small pieces. Next, finely mince the cilantro. If needed, crumble the queso fresco.
- In a bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, yogurt, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, jalapeño, cilantro, and half of the crumbled cheese.
- Add the corn to the bowl and toss to coat the corn in the mayonnaise sauce. Transfer the corn mixture to a baking dish. Smooth out the corn mixture, and top it with the remaining queso fresco.
- Bake the street corn at 350° for 30-40 minutes until it’s bubbly around the edges, and the cheese starts to brown. *Note: If you don’t thaw the frozen corn it will take longer to bake.
- When the corn is done baking, remove it from the oven. Top with more cilantro as desired and enjoy.
Nutrition:
Yield: 10 servings, Serving Size: 1/2 Cup
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 157, Total Fat: 8.4g, Saturated Fat: 2.8g, Cholesterol: 12.8mg, Sodium: 398.8mg, Carbohydrates: 16.9g, Fiber 2.1g, Sugars: 2.9g, Protein: 6.1g
Save and Share this Recipe!! Click Here to Pin!!
