No-cook corn salad comes together quickly with just a few simple ingredients, but the curry vinaigrette adds tons of flavor! This summer side dish is delicious with grilled steak or salmon.
Corn seems to be everywhere you look this time of year. And with good reason – at the height of the season, it’s sweet, juicy, and incredibly affordable.
Once you’ve had your fill of Mexican street corn (and Buffalo street corn and grilled corn slathered with goat cheese and smoked paprika), give this fresh corn salad with curry and lime a try.
This corn side dish starts like most traditional corn salads do, with sweet corn, red bell peppers, scallions, and jalapeno. Then it gets tossed with a super flavorful curry and lime juice vinaigrette that makes it really special. If you like curry, you definitely need to try this! Madras curry powder complements sweet corn so well. This salad hits all the right notes – it’s sweet and spicy and sour and such a great change of pace from more typical corn recipes.
It’s delicious served with just about anything. I personally love it with salmon, but it’s also at home with grilled steak or even a burger. You can even get creative and use it on like relish on top of a hot dog!
To make this curried corn salad recipe, start by cutting the corn kernels from the cobs and add it to a serving bowl. Mix it with diced red pepper, scallions, minced jalapeno, and cilantro.
In a small bowl, combine the juice of two limes with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon madras curry powder, and a big pinch of salt. Mix well to combine, then pour over the corn salad. The salad is ready to serve right away but will be even better after sitting in the refrigerator for an hour to help the flavors meld.
Can I use frozen corn in corn salad?
Fresh corn is definitely best in this recipe – frozen just doesn’t compare. If you must, I like to saute it for a minute or two in a teaspoon of butter. It will take an extra minute and dirty another pan, but it helps make up for the fact that frozen corn just isn’t as tasty as fresh summer corn is.
Do I have to use Madras curry powder?
Nope! I love Madras because it’s a little spicier and I really like the contrast between hot and sweet flavors. But you can use whatever curry powder is your favorite. You can also use garam masala, which has a similar warm flavor but without any heat.
If curry isn’t your thing, give one of these corn side dish recipes a try:
- Corn and Tomato Salad
- Black Bean Corn Salad
- Sweet Corn Succotash
- Easy Creamed Corn
- Grilled Cactus and Corn Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh corn kernels from about 4 ears of corn
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 3 scallions chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro
- 2 limes juiced
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Madras curry powder
- 1 pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Combine the corn, pepper, scallions, and cilantro in a large bowl.
- In a second bowl, combine the lime juice, olive oil, curry powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. Pour over the corn salad and stir gently to coat. Adjust seasoning to taste.
- Serve immediately, or refrigerate.
It appears that you’re using raw corn. We like to grill our corn then use it in salads. Has anyone tried this?
Yes, it’s delicious with grilled corn too. I just love the way raw corn tastes this time of year And skipping that steps cuts down on some time. But you can totally do either, or even boil the fresh corn with a little butter like I recommended doing with frozen corn.