This easy grilled corn salsa only needs a handful of ingredients and can be made in just 20 minutes. Packed full of vibrant flavor, this simple summer salsa is the perfect topping for your BBQ fish, chicken, or steak.
When it comes to summer side dishes, you can’t get much better than grilled corn. The sweet yellow vegetable just screams warm weather. And when the temperature gauge is going up, you want something easy to put together that requires as little time working at the grill as possible—enter this grilled corn salsa.
This refreshing recipe can be spooned over dishes or piled up on the side, adding a refreshingly bright contrast to your grilled fish dishes, as well as chicken or steak. This salsa showcases some of summer’s best vegetables, including the bright pops of yellow corn kernels, crisp bell peppers, ripe tomatoes, and flavor-packed herbs. It’s also a dish that comes together in a cinch—in just 20 minutes you can have a simple salsa whipped together.
Why Corn Salsa?
- Versatile – it goes with anything and works particularly well with grilled meats and fish so it’s ideal for a summer cookout.
- Flexible – you can mix and match ingredients based on what you have in stock – this is our favorite recipe but you can swap flavors out for other options.
- Scalable – this salsa can easily be scaled up or down depending on how many people you need to feed
- Easy – grilling the corn is probably the hardest part of this recipe. After that, it’s just a matter of chopping and mixing everything together.
- Make ahead – thanks to the crunchy vegetables, this salsa won’t go soggy on you so it can definitely be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator (just be sure to add a squeeze of lime to help keep the avocado fresh)
Ingredients
- Corn: The star of the show, its juicy kernels make this salsa sing and bring everything together. You could use boiled or frozen corn but grilling it adds a great contrast of charred flavor to counteract the sweet vegetable.
- Tomatoes: Corn and tomatoes are made for each other. Here the tomatoes keep the salsa feeling fresh and vibrant.
- Bell Pepper: Adds to this salsa’s texture and ensures it’s perfectly crisp
- Red Onion: As well as giving a vibrant pop of color, red onions walk the line between savory and sweet – blending both sides perfectly
- Feta Cheese: Thanks to its salty flavor and crumbly consistency, feta balances out the sweetness the vegetables bring to this salsa. If you’d prefer a milder flavor, you could swap the feta for grated Cheddar or change to crumbled blue cheese which is much punchier
- Avocado: The smooth, creamy flesh of the avocado contrasts perfectly with the crunchy vegetables
- Herbs: Almost any soft herb can be used. Here we’ve used the classic cilantro but it could easily be subbed for basil or dill which will give your salsa a more fragrant flavor.
Serving Suggestions
Grilled corn salsa can be served in a few different ways and you can tweak the recipe depending on how you want to eat it. Here are some options:
- Grilled meats and fish – the obvious choice but it’s here for a reason, corn salsa works perfectly with BBQ’d meat. The sweet crunch of the salsa is great paired with the smoky char of meat and fish on the grill
- Dip – serve alongside nacho chips and scoop up as a refreshing corn dip
- Tacos – spoon corn salsa on top of your tacos to add fresh flavor to them
Grilled Corn Salsa
Ingredients
- 4 ears of corn shucked
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 6 oz cherry tomatoes diced
- ½ red or yellow bell pepper diced
- ½ red onion finely chopped
- 1 avocado diced
- ¼ cup feta crumbled
- ½ cup cilantro finely chopped
- 1 lime
- kosher salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat grill to high 450-650°F (230-340°C)
- Place the corn on the grill grates. Grill for 10 minutes, rotating regularly. Cook until the corn is tender and the outside has a nice char. Remove from the grill and set aside to cool.
- Once the corn has cooled, stand it vertically on a chopping board and use a sharp knife to cut the kernels away from the cob
- In a large bowl, mix the grilled corn kernels, mayonnaise, tomatoes, bell pepper, red onion, avocado, feta and cilantro
- Squeeze the juice of the lime over the salsa and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
