If You Need a Side for Those Lonely Tacos Let This Savory Elote Dish Join the Party!

Elote is a side dish that is a Mexican grilled corn. The corn can be eaten on the cob, or in a cup. However, with the amount of ingredients and variety you can use with this corn, some people might just make this their main dish! If you enjoy grilled corn, cheese, and mayonnaise, then you’ll love this creamy side that goes great next to tacos!

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 ears of fresh corn
• ¼ cup of mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons of heavy cream
• 1 large lime or around 1 lime per ear of corn if using key limes
• softened butter
• ⅓ cup of crumbled cotija cheese
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, or to taste (don’t worry, the mayonnaise takes the heat down on this one)
• 1-2 teaspoons of southwest Ancho Chile seasoning

OPTIONAL:

Here’s where the possibilities open up.

• ½ cup of Flamin’ hot Cheetos, Takis, Doritos, or any other savory or spicy chips you like
• a pinch of chopped cilantro
• about ¼ a cup of chives chopped
• chamoy to taste
• tajin to taste
• ¼ cup of onions chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. Begin by shucking your corn and gathering all the ingredients you tend to use since it can be a lot.
2. Preheat your outside grill to about medium heat and rub half an onion on the grate.
3. Next, put your corn on the grill along with anything else you’d like to be grilled such as the onions if you are using them, you can even smoke some of the other ingredients if you’d like, but they won’t take nearly as long, such as the cheese – just keep a close eye on it so that it doesn’t melt and become one big goopy mess – you still want to be able to crumble it.
4. Turn the corn occasionally, until its slightly charred all around or for about 15-20 minutes. Once done, remove from the grill and let cool until you are able to handle them safely.
5. (Optional) If you want the elote in a cup since it’s less messy, simply remove the kernels from the cobs by cutting them off while holding the ear of corn upright. Once complete, transfer all the corn into your bowls or cups of choice.
6. Mix your lime juice, butter, cream, mayonnaise, and dry ingredients together in a bowl, then add in the crumbled cotija cheese, and fold it in. Once completely incorporated, spread mixture over the top of the corn. Hope you brought some napkins because it’s about to get messy, but don’t worry, it’ll be worth it!

SIDE NOTE:

There are so many things you can do with elotes. If you want to add the chips, add them to the very top after the mixture is added so that they don’t get soggy. You could even crush the chips and add the now chip dust with or without the chips for even more flavor, and it also doubles over as a garnish! Same thing goes for the chamoy, if you add it, drizzle over the very top of the mixture before you add the chips if you’re adding both. Comedian George Lopez once called this type of corn “seven-pound corn” in a funny joke, and you can probably see why now. Lastly, for best results, grill over charcoal, but if you don’t have an outdoor grill you can opt to use an indoor electric one at the sacrifice of some flavor, but it’ll still be great!