Mexican Corn and Black Bean Salad (2024)

A simple corn and black bean salad with Mexican-inspired flavours. Fresh, bright, and perfect for any summer table!

Summer means barbecuing and barbecuing is nothing without great salads to accompany great mains. Am I right? This Mexican Corn and Black Bean Salad is the perfect accompaniment whether your main be steak, chicken, or tofu. It’s adaptable to almost anything you can serve it with – especially if your main has been grilled!

For me, corn is synonymous with grilling. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in charge of a grill where corn has not be a part of the menu. I’m a huge fan of the classic grilled corn on the cob – especially when it’s slathered with a herb butter – but, for this particular instance, I wanted a corn dish but with a sensibleness to the eating part. (We had company for dinner and I really didn’t think gnawing on a corn cob was guest-friendly!) This way, we got great flavour without the messy hands and beard!

Now, Dear Reader, if I were preparing this dish for me alone, I would have increased the spice factor just a little. If you think you can handle more heat, you can certainly add extra chili powder or even some fresh diced chilies – that would be fantastic! The sour cream does cool down the spice, so taste as you go and adjust accordingly.

Again, I used chili powder in this version. You can certainly use cayenne pepper if you want more heat. You can also add a little bit of cumin. I would have added cumin to this recipe, but I don’t care for the taste of cumin.

If there were a lot more ingredients in this salad, I would have added it, because most likely the ingredients would have helped to mask the taste, but since there’s basically corn, black beans, and sour cream, I left it out.

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Another option is rather than adding finely chopped fresh parsley to this salad, you can opt for cilantro. Mexican-inspired dishes love cilantro! And, because of the chili powder and the sour cream, cilantro would pair very well with the other ingredients. But, I cannot eat cilantro. It tastes like soap. Nobody can tell me otherwise!

Even if you’re not grilling, you can make this salad. You don’t need to grill and char corn on the cob to make this. I have made it many times with frozen corn that I’ve added to a hot skillet without any butter or oil. Once the corn thaws and the moisture begins to evaporate, it will char.

Obviously the char from the stove top will not be authentic like that of an outdoor grill, but you’ll get some of the flavour and certainly some of the visual appeal. The Mexican Corn and Black Bean Salad you see in the photographs was prepared using frozen corn. I did not char the corn too much, because when sauteing frozen corn over high heat, it loses it’s plumpness and I didn’t want that particular look for the photos.

Whether you use frozen corn or fresh corn is up to you. Even though frozen corn might “deflate” a little bit, and fresh corn will get a better looking char, the important thing is the taste. And, this Mexican Corn and Black Bean Salad, Dear Reader, has lots of taste!

If you decide to add extra chili powder, or if you want to keep the spice level at a minimum, In my opinion, it’s the fresh lime juice that gives this salad it’s punch and kick. Please do not try to use bottled lime juice that you can find in most grocers. Buy a fresh lime. A little goes a long way!

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