Street Corn (Elote) Pasta Salad with Mexican Crema
This post may contain affiliate links. See site Terms here.
This Street Corn (Elote) Pasta Salad with Mexican Crema is fresh, flavorful, and the perfect side dish for any meal or gathering. This pasta salad is filled with corn off the cob, fresh cilantro, green onions, queso fresco, and a chili-garlic crema, made with Mexican Crema. Crema is a much better flavor than mayo or sour cream in my opinion. Don’t skip out on the Crema! It is light and creamy without the heaviness of mayo or sour cream.
The best part about this Pasta Salad – it’s a wonderful side dish and perfect for a get-together, but it can also be made into a main dish easily. Just add some chopped rotisserie chicken or shredded beef.
This Street Corn (Elote) Pasta Salad with Mexica Crema is a variation of my Mexican Street Corn Salad made with kale (found here). The mixture of all these fresh ingredients and flavors is filling and bright ; you will love this combo. The corn is sweet, the queso fresco is creamy, and the cilantro and green onions are fresh and healthy.
You can easily prep the ingredients and dressing for this salad ahead of time, then dress it right when you are about to serve. I like to make the dressing and pasta ahead, then chill in the fridge for a bit before assembling the pasta salad. This a great salad to bring to friends or gatherings – it is a hit!
Street Corn (Elote) Pasta Salad with Mexican Crema
Ingredients
Mexican Crema Dressing
- 1 cup Mexican crema (can sub heavy cream)
- 1/3 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
- 3 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
Pasta Salad
- 1 lb. pasta, short cut (16 oz)
- 8 ears corn on the cob
- 3 green onions, diced
- 1 cup queso fresco (crumbled)
- 1 cup fresh cilantro, diced
Instructions
Pasta
- Start by cooking the pasta, then you'll have time to chill it while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water. Cook until al dente (make sure not to overcook the pasta so it doesn't get too soft in the pasta salad).
- Once cooked, strain pasta and pour into a airtight container like a large tupperware. Generously coat with olive oil, to prevent pasta from sticking together. Place in fridge (or freezer) to chill while preparing the other ingredients.
Mexican Crema Dressing
- Start by making the dressing. Whisk all ingredients together and mix well. Pour into a sealable jar or airtight container and chill until you're ready to assemble the salad.
Pasta Salad
- Cook the corn on the cob in salted boiling water, until just tender and cooked through. Don't cook too long so the corn doesn't get mushy.
- Once corn is cooked, remove from boiling water with tongs and place on a plate or platter to cool.
- Meanwhile, chop green onions, cilantro, and crumble the queso fresco.
- Then cut the corn off the cob into a large serving bowl.
- Remove chilled pasta from the fridge and pour into bowl with corn. Toss together to mix well, breaking up large chunks of corn as you toss.
- To the pasta and corn, add the green onions, cilantro, and queso fresco (you can reserve a little of each for garnish if desired).
- Mix to combine. Then generously top the salad with the Mexican Crema dressing, and toss to coat the pasta salad.
- If desired, you can top with additional chopped green onions, cilantro, or queso fresco.
- Enjoy this delicious pasta salad!
I hope you love this Street Corn Pasta Salad with Mexican Crema – let me know if you decide to make it too! Click here to see my other salad recipes and tag me with photos if you make this @plumstreetcollective on Instagram. Thanks!
