Mexican Street Corn (Esquites)
Mexican street corn (esquites), cooked kernels of corn are mixed with mayonnaise, cheese, lime juice, and topped with chile powder for the perfect snack!
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil I use safflower
- 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped about 1/2 cup chopped
- 2 cups cooked corn can either be boiled, grilled, or roasted. See notes
- Salt to taste
- ~12 epazote leaves, chopped (optional)
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise I use the McCormick brand (not affiliate) whole mayonnaise with lime juice already included
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/4 cup shredded cheese, either queso fresco, cincho, or cotija See notes
- Chile powder for topping
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and fry onion until just translucent, about 2 minutes
- Add in the cooked corn and heat until warmed through, stirring occasionally, about 6-8 minutes
- Add epazote, if using, and salt to taste, stir to incorporate, and continue cooking until flavors are blended, about 4 minutes more. Remove the corn from the heat and place the mixture in a medium bowl
- Mix the corn with the mayonnaise, lime juice, and cheese. Top with chile powder and serve warm. Alternatively, you could allow each person to prepare the street corn to their liking, adding in the mayonnaise, cheese, lime juice and chile powder to taste.
Notes
- In Mexico, street corn can be served with the broth the corn is cooked in or without. I prefer to eat my street corn without broth. This particular preparation assumes that the corn you start with is cooked, but that you are not including broth in the preparation. If you wanted to eat yours with broth, boil the corn kernels until tender and dish into cups or bowls with a bit of the broth and mix in the mayonnaise, lime juice, cheese, and chile powder to taste.
- The corn can be prepared in many ways for this recipe. It is absolutely delicious with whole ears grilled and then the kernels cut away to make the preparation as specified here in the recipe. I usually boil my corn for ease of preparation, drain the water, and prepare using the recipe above. As noted in the blog text, you could also use frozen corn kernels and roast them in a dry skillet to brown them and create a grilled effect before preparing them.
- The fresh corn varieties that I have access to here in Mexico are generally white varieties and are a bit less sweet than the yellow corn typically sold in the US. However, I have made this dish in the US using frozen sweet yellow corn with excellent results. The point here is that the corn variety isn't critical. Use what you have and adjust the flavors and preparation to your particular tastes.
- Here in Mexico, I like to use shredded cincho cheese for this preparation. I have not been able to reliably source this particular cheese in the US. I have used cotija cheese in the US with good results. I will caution, however, that cotija can be a bit strong flavored, depending on the brand and how the cheese is aged. You may need to taste a couple of different brands to find one that you like or adjust the amount of cheese used in the recipe. Queso fresco will be milder in flavor and is also available in the US.