Our Most Popular Summer Side Dish Ever

When I think about summertime, I get very, very excited to turn on my grill. While the weather tends to be relatively mild year-round where I live, I still do most of my grilling in the summer. It just feels right. And when I can take perfectly ripe summer produce and combine them with an open flame, that’s where the magic happens.

When digging through our library of recipes and looking for our most popular summer side dish, I was genuinely delighted to find out it is elote, or Mexican street corn. It is hands down one of my favorite summertime dishes. And while it’s fun to order from a street vendor (if you’re lucky enough to live in SoCal like me), it’s incredibly easy to make at home and a must at every barbecue. 

Whether you’re grilling up big pieces of meat, burgers, fish, or vegetarian fare, everyone loves elote. Serve it with steak, hot dogs, carne asada—just about anything. Provide plenty of napkins and some toothpicks (for the aftermath), and watch your dinner companions dig in.

How To Make the Best Elote

I’m not going to pretend I am an expert, but luckily, I don’t have to be—Simply Recipes’ elote recipe is easy and delicious. One thing I do know: Start with great corn. The best elote I’ve ever had and ever made at home used super fresh sweet corn. If you can snag some at the farmers market, do it. Regardless, look for plump ears with perky silks that are still yellow/white, not brown.

Use your fresh corn as soon as possible (this is not a vegetable you should buy ahead) and wait to husk your corn until right before cooking.

Otherwise, simply follow the recipe! Real Mexican crema and cotija cheese will give you the best results, but if you use sour cream and feta cheese, I won’t tell. I find that the recipe makes enough dressing to coat eight really big ears of corn, or up to 12 smaller ears. Any leftover dressing can be stored in the fridge for up to four days.

My Favorite Shortcut

The recipe calls for grilling the corn, turning it occasionally until lighting browned all the way around. The grill is an uneven cooking method for corn since it’s round and tapered, so the whole ear never lays flat against the grill.

My solution: Microwave it first. This may sound like an extra step, but it saves you time and effort when it comes to shucking. Use this extremely handy tip to trim the bottoms of however many ears of corn you plan to cook. Place a maximum of three ears on a plate and microwave for two minutes per ear, plus an additional minute per ear on the plate (so for three ears, you’ll microwave for five minutes on high). 

As soon as the corn is done microwaving, use a kitchen towel and grasp the top of an ear, shaking the corn out of the husk and leaving the silks behind. Repeat immediately with the other ears. While doing this, my grill or grill pan is heating at medium-high heat. I add the corn and sear it on three to four sides until it browns a bit. Sauce it up and serve it for a pure taste of summer.