Vegan Mexican Street Corn Quinoa

Elote, Mexican street corn, has always looked so enticing to me - grilled corn on the cob slathered with mayonnaise, lime, chili, cilantro, and Cotija cheese - but I haven’t been able to try it made by others because of the mayonnaise and cheese, so I’ve created my own interpretation in the form of a quinoa dish.

It’s creamy and zesty with a nice sweetness from the corn. It’s a great side dish, particularly for a barbecue or at a gathering with lots of other small salads and side dishes. The quinoa is the perfect vehicle for all of the flavor, but also provides enough substance that this can really be a meal on its own. Recently, my husband and I have simply added black beans and called it dinner!

Big summer parties aren’t exactly the norm right now, but you’re going to want to keep this recipe in your back pocket for a summer pot-luck, bbq, party, friend gathering, etc. when it’s safe to do so again. This is that dish at a pot-luck that everyone takes a small spoonful of to be nice because it doesn’t look very enticing, but then is the first thing to go because everyone quickly came back for seconds.

important NOTES

1. This recipe makes enough for about 2 main dishes or 4 side dishes. If you are taking this to a party, I would recommend doubling it.

2. Make sure the plain non-dairy yogurt tastes decent on it’s own. I’ve tried a few that were pretty terrible and would ruin the flavor of this dish. A few that I’ve tried and liked are: Cocojune, Forager, and SoDelicious CoconutMilk. If you live in Texas, the HEB brand coconut milk plain yogurt is the best non-dairy yogurt I’ve tried!

3. The crumbled cheese shown in the photo is an easy and delicious creamy but crumbly vegan cheese I made and will post the recipe for next week!

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THE RECIPE

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Vegan Mexican Street Corn Quinoa

Author: MADELINE APPEL

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2-3 ears of corn, or about 2 cups of frozen sweet corn
• 1/2-1 TBS neutral oil
• 1/4 cup plain, unsweetened non-dairy yogurt
• 2 TBS vegan mayonnaise 
• 2 TBS lime juice
• 1/2 tsp chili powder, plus more for garnish
• 1/8 tsp salt
• pepper to taste
• dash of cayenne
• cilantro and creamy vegan cheese for garnish

Instructions

1. Add the quinoa, water, and 1/2 tsp salt to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn it down to low heat, cover with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes. 
2. In the meantime, cook the corn. You can grill the corn on the cobb, cook/char it in a pan in a drizzle of oil and then cut it off the cobb, or - the quick and easy method - simply cook 2 cups of frozen corn in 1/2-1 TBS oil on medium/high heat until the corn turns golden/charred and starts to stick to the pan.
3. Once the quinoa is cooked, transfer it to a large bowl and let it cool for about 5 minutes. 
4. Add the cooked corn, yogurt, mayonnaise, lime juice, chili powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne to the quinoa and stir to combine. 
5. Garnish with an extra sprinkle of chili powder, chopped cilantro, and some crumbled vegan cheese.

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