Elotes Pasta Salad

4.80 from 5 votes

This Elotes Pasta Salad is perfect for summer meal prep, picnics and family BBQs. Inspired by Mexican street corn, it's full of fresh flavors!

Prep Time45

Total Time45

Course: Lunch, Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: meal prep, Pasta, salads

Servings:

Ingredients

For the dressing:

½ cup plain greek yogurt
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Juice of 2 limes
Zest of 1 lime

For the salad:

2 cups uncooked ditalini pasta or any small pasta of choice
1 lb mild italian chicken sausages or any protein of choice
½ tablespoon olive oil
2 cups corn kernels fresh or frozen
1 red bell pepper finely diced
1 tablespoon fresh jalapeno finely diced (seeds removed)
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup red onion diced
1 15 oz can black beans rinsed and drained
½ cup fresh cilantro chopped
1 avocado diced
⅓ cup crumbled soft cotija cheese see notes

Instructions

To make the dressing:

In a mason jar or medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients until smooth. Set aside.

To make the salad:

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Cook sausage by carefully removing the casing and adding to a large preheated pan. Gently use a spatula to break up the sausage, stirring until no longer pink in colour and fully cooked.
To char your corn: to a large pan over medium-high heat add olive oil. Once hot add corn (if using frozen you can add it directly to the pan), bell peppers and jalapeno. Season with salt. Stir and arrange in a single layer on the bottom of the pan, stirring occasionally to allow to cook for about 5 minutes until nicely brown and charred on all sides.
To assemble the salad: to a large bowl, add cooked pasta, charred corn mix, cooked sausages, red onion, black beans, cilantro, avocado and cheese. Drizzle with southwest dressing and toss to combine!

Notes

Corn: frozen fire roasted corn will work great in this recipe if you would like to skip the charring step. Just defrost the corn and proceed with the recipe as writte.

Cotija cheese: this can be replaced with feta cheese if you are unable to find it, however please note this will result in a more saltly overall taste.

Sausages: these can be omitted or replaced with chorizo sausage, ground turkey or chicken or shredded or grilled chicken (or even more beans if desired).

Higher protein: substitute the pasta with a higher protein pasta of choice such as chickpea pasta.

*I have included an estimation of the nutrition information for this recipe below. However, always remember a recipe is so much more than just nutritional content and these numbers do not need to dictate your food choices. Please don't forget that both your body and soul need nourishment! The owner of this website is not liable for this estimation.

Nutrition

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