This healthy Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad is easy to make and so flavorful, it is sure to be a hit! It’s perfect for summer barbecues and pot lucks.
Barbecue season is among us and this is my favourite time to break out all of the best side dish recipes perfect for the occasion! I enjoy perfectly cooked barbecue meats as much as the next girl, but its really all about the sides for me.
Pasta salads are one of my favourite sides when we are barbecuing. I am a carb loving girl after all. While grandma’s macaroni salad recipe is delicious and crowd-pleasing, I have never been one to settle for standard, traditional recipes and am always looking for ways to put a new spin on things.
Enter Healthy Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad. Combining two of my favourite things (Mexican street corn and pasta, of course) and making a little more healthy by using Greek yogurt to replace a good amount of mayonnaise. That means you can eat more pasta salad, right? That’s what I think anyway and I think we can all agree that I’m right! Just kidding (sort of but not really- ha!)
Ingredients in Healthy Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad
While almost all of these ingredients can be found in a regular grocery store, the one ingredient that may be harder to find it cotija cheese. If you can’t get your hands on some, feta works as a good substitute so don’t fret.
To make this pasta salad you will need:
- 4 cups fusilli pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cups corn kernels
- 1 jalapeno, seeds removed and finely diced
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1/3 cup cotija cheese (can sub feta cheese)
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- lime wedges, for serving
To make the healthier dressing, you will need:
- 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (or coconut aminos)
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- salt to taste
Making Healthy Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad
As with most of my recipes (about 99% of them, probably), this recipe is easy and straight forward. No need to race out to find hard to find ingredients and you won’t need to slave away in the kitchen. Straight forward and simple is the name of the game.
Putting it all together is easy to do. I’ve outlined the steps in the recipe card below but in a nutshell, you start by boiling the pasta and sauteing the corn and jalapeno. Once those are all cooked and the pasta is drained, I mix up my dressing ingredients (literally put everything in a bowl and mix it together). Then I toss it with the pasta and corn. A sprinkle of cotija cheese (or feta), cilantro, and chili powder complete the dish.
Voila! A delicious side dish is born and I happily dig into it forgetting that it isn’t actually supposed to be the star of the show. But it is. At least for me.
I hope you give this recipe a go and let me know what you think in the comments below!
Bon appetit!
-Cathy
You may also my other pasta salad recipes:
Healthy Greek Pasta Salad
Caprese Tortellini Pasta Salad
Healthy Caesar Pasta Salad
Healthy Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 4 cups fusilli pasta or similar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cups corn kernels
- 1 jalapeno seeds removed and finely diced
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
- 1/3 cup cotija cheese (can sub feta cheese)
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- lime wedges, for serving
For the Dressing
- 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (or coconut aminos)
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the fusilli. Cook according to package directions. Drain.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the corn kernels and cook for a few minutes, stirring often. Add the jalapeno and cook for 1 more minute. Add to the the drained penne.
- To make the dressing, whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl until well combined. Drizzle as much dressing as desired over the pasta, corn and jalapeno, tossing to coat evenly. Sprinkle with the cotija cheese, cilantro and chili powder. Serve with lime wedges.
