Corn Salad Recipe - Cooking Classy (2024)

Published July 4, 2021. Updated May 17, 2023

Summery Corn Salad – made with fresh cut corn kernels, sweet tomatoes, vibrant red onions, crisp cucumbers, flavorful feta cheese, fresh herbs and a vibrant dressing.

Easy Fresh Corn Salad

It’s one of the ultimate summer side dishes! It pairs so well with grilled main dishes like chicken, steak or salmon and it’s the perfect thing to bring along on a picnic.

This is simple and refreshing and brimming with nutritious goodness. A flavorful way to get your veggie intake.

You’ll love the satisfying blend of textures and the overload of freshness.

If you plan on having any extra, you could just wait to toss the other half with dressing and serve it the following day. I dream about leftovers of this for lunch!

Looking for more corn salad recipes?

Also try my incredibly tasty Black Bean and Corn Salad and Mexican Street Corn Salad.

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Corn Salad Recipe Ingredients and Possible Substitutes

• Corn: White corn will work here if that’s all you can find but I recommend yellow for a prettier salad.
• Grape tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes will work well too.
• English cucumber: Regular slicing cucumbers can be used, just peel first.
• Red onion: Green onion will work in a pinch.
• Feta: Diced fresh mozzarella or even goat cheese is another tasty option.
• Fresh parsley and basil: Stick with the parsley but cilantro can be used in place of basil.
• Olive oil: Can try with avocado oil or sunflower oil.
• Red wine vinegar: White wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar may be used.
• Lemon juice: If you have lime on hand it works as well.
• Honey: Or equal parts sugar.
• Fresh garlic: 1/4 tsp garlic powder will work in this specific recipe.
• Salt and pepper

Will frozen corn work here?

• Fresh corn is highly recommend but frozen corn will work too.
• Keep in mind however most packages require heating to a certain temperature (rather than just thawing) to kill off potential bacteria (check the label).
• Cool under cold water after cooking as directed on package and drain well.

How to Make Corn Salad and Dressing

1. Mix dressing ingredients: In a mixing bowl whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, honey, garlic, salt and pepper. Refrigerate while preparing salad.
2. Boil water, also prepare ice bath: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Have a large bowl of ice water ready nearby.
3. Cook corn: Once water in pot boils add corn 3 minutes.
4. Chill corn: Transfer to ice water to cool for a few minutes. Drain well.
5. Cut corn kernels, add to bowl: Cut kernels from corn then transfer to a large bowl.
6. Add remaining ingredients to bowl: Add tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, feta, parsley and basil.
7. Pour over dressing, toss: Whisk dressing again then pour over salad. Toss well to coat, season with more salt as desired.

Variations

• Grill the corn instead of boiling.
• Try with diced avocado (fairly firm but ripe).
• If you don’t want to pay more for fresh herbs you can try with dried, use 1 Tbsp dried parsley and 1 tsp dried basil.
• Add chick peas or kidney beans for protein and a heartier dish.
• Make it creamy; replace a few tablespoons of oil with mayonnaise.
• Use completely raw corn from the cobs if you’d prefer a raw corn salad.

Helpful Tips

• For the very best corn salad, use fresh corn cobs, not frozen corn.
• Work to dice things somewhat uniform in size. I like to use smaller tomatoes if you can find them too.
• Be careful not to over-cook the corn or it will lose it’s fabulous fresh flavor.
• If you’d prefer not to blanch in ice water you can just cool for about 15 minutes at room temperature.

Storage

• For best results serve within 2 hours of adding dressing.
• Keep chilled. Toss before serving.

More Delicious Salad Recipes to Try

• Avocado Salad
• Broccoli Salad
• Cucumber Salad
• Kale Salad
• Tomato Salad