Mexican Street Corn Dip is a fun and festive dip to be served with your salsas and guacamole. Encapsulating the flavors of Elote, this dip is perfect eaten on a tortilla at room temperature or cold. An easy appetizer to make and the ultimate way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
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Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner (hoot and holler!) which means that some delicious Mexican food is always called for! Tacos are my first choice (like these incredible Chipotle Chicken Tacos), maybe even a tostada to mix it up a bit… nevertheless, some great food is eaten during that day. No matter what, though, you always have your standard salsa and guacamole with chips! In case you wanted something different this year that still captured classic Mexican flavors, I’ve got exactly the Mexican dip recipe you need: Mexican Street Corn Dip.
I first stumbled upon this delicious dip whilst working at a golf course. The chef I was working under was probably one of the most creative and innovative chefs I had a pleasure working with. This guy was young, driven, and definitely colored outside of the lines when it came to cooking. He had no fear and truly did whatever crazy idea he had come to his mind. And I am so glad he did because he came up with this dip! I even had to show it to my husband because it was that amazing.
A few years ago, after I had introduced this stuff to the husband and saw that he loved it as much as I did, we had decided we wanted to go up to Seattle for a day trip to a friend’s wedding. So being the broke, newlyweds we were, our date nights for an entire month and a half to save up money were game nights on the Xbox with snacks. This dip was always a request to have made so we could have something to dip our chips in.
I love this dip so much because it’s so unconventional when you come to think of “Mexican Style Dips,” we always think of the favored 7 layered-dip, guacamole, salsa, even that crazy queso stuff… This corn dip is so different in that it’s inspired by an actual Mexican dish, elote.
What is Elote?
Elote is also known as Mexican Street Corn and it’s amazing! It’s steamed corn that is then slathered with mayo, topped with parmesan cheese, chile, and lime. This is usually eaten on a stick so you can just walk around town with it! It is pure heaven!
This corn dip recipe basically encapsulates the essence of Mexican street corn in dip form! It’s perfect for eating with tortilla chips and is so yummy! In this dip, though, I made a few adjustments for my own personal taste, you’re welcome to make adjustments of your own.
Making Mexican Corn Dip
To keep this the authenticity of elote, I kept most of the ingredients the same in this corn dip recipe.
You may be wondering why I opted for the frozen corn route, instead of fresh corn??? Typically I’m all for using fresh over frozen but, If I were to use fresh corn right now (in April or May):
1) it’d be waaaaaay overpriced and
2) it’d be super starchy; great for something like corn chowder, not for this dip though.
We have to wait until June for awesome corn to start hitting the markets! With frozen corn, though, it is typically picked at its peak condition and then flash-frozen to keep all that awesomeness locked in the kernels! Usually, I would wait for fresh corn to come into season to make this dip but when the occasion calls for it, frozen works just fine.
Roasting the corn under a broiler really gives the dip a nice color, as well as flavor! I can just imagine biting into a grilled corn cob when I eat this dip and it’s amazing. I like to roast my corn on aluminum foil vs parchment or silicone mats because the foil holds up much better under the heat and proximity of the broiler element. I do let the corn cool quite a bit before adding other ingredients because the binding agent in this dip is mayo… and warm mayo gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Grating fresh parmesan in this dip is fantastic! It blends in together so much nicer than if you were to mix in pre-shredded parmesan cheese. I also love adding fresh cilantro to this dip as I find that it adds some nice fresh flavor and break up the minutia of mayo. Plus cilantro and lime go together like peas and carrots.
One of the other changes I made to Mexican street corn for this dip is adding sriracha instead of the classic chile powder. The reason I use Sriracha in this dip instead of the chili powder found in street corn is that I don’t like the gritty texture you’ll find it lends to this dip and secondly… hello! It’s Sriracha! How can you not love it?!
Feel free to a whole bag of corn tortilla chips with this dip; it’ll be our little secret! Let me know how this dip worked into your Cinco de Mayo fiestas. Make sure to give this recipe a 5-star rating if it was everything you had hoped it would be!
Happy eating everyone!
Mexican Street Corn Dip is a fun and festive dip to be served with your salsas and guacamole. Encapsulating the flavors of Elote, this dip is perfect eaten on a tortilla at room temperature or cold. An easy appetizer to make and the ultimate way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
- 12 ounces corn
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/4 cup parmesan grated
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
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Set the oven to Broil; place top oven rack on the highest shelf in oven.
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Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Put corn kernels on the sheet pan and broil in the oven until the kernels caramelize; about 5 minutes. Take out of oven and let cool to room temperature.
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Meanwhile, chop cilantro and measure the rest of the ingredients. Once corn is cool, add to the remainder of ingredients and season according to your taste.
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Eat with chips!
This dip can be enjoyed both at room temp or chilled. Please be careful though as this dip is mayo based.
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