Dairy-free Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad
Dairy-free Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad recipe. A delicious vegetarian creamy pasta salad full of grilled corn, red pepper, avocado and cilantro. It’s tossed in a mayonnaise, lime and nutritional yeast sauce that is dairy-free and just delicious!
Um, yes please to this amazing recipe for Mexican street corn pasta salad!
It’s basically the best of the street corn and pasta salad worlds because they combine together to make the most delicious, flavorful, and fun dairy-free salad.
Grilled corn, ripe avocado, fresh red pepper, and cilantro are added to boiled bow tie pasta, and mixed together along with the BEST nutritional yeast, mayo, and lime sauce.
It’s SO good.
I have made this dairy-free street corn pasta salad many times this summer.
I got the idea from my dairy-free Mexican street corn recipe. I am OBSESSED with that recipe and with the nutritional yeast, lime and mayo sauce that goes on top of the corn.
I thought hmmmm, why not use the same ingredients in that recipe. Except mix the sauce into pasta and then add the corn to the pasta too.
And that is how this Mexican street corn pasta salad without cheese was born.
Ingredients needed to make Dairy-free Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad:
- ears of corn– fresh ears of corn are ideal, but you can use frozen roasted corn as well
- olive oil
- mayonnaise– use whatever mayonnaise fits your nutritional or dietary needs
- lime juice
- nutritional yeast– this really makes the flavor of this recipe!
- salt
- pepper
- chili powder
- onion powder or a fresh red onion– fresh onions give my husband migraines so we use onion powder a lot
- bow tie pasta
- red pepper– yellow or orange work as well
- avocado
- fresh cilantro– you can use parsley if you don’t like cilantro
How to make dairy-free street corn pasta salad
It might look complicated, but it is easy to make this Dairy-free Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad. There are just different steps that need to be done in order to combine everything together.
Step 1: grill the corn
You can do this in the oven or on your grill! I don’t like to fire up the grill just for this recipe, so I just cover my corn in olive oil and then cook it for 35 minutes and then broil it for a few minutes.
Step 2: boil the pasta
Step 3: make the nutritional yeast, lime, and mayo sauce
I love making this sauce. You mix the mayo, nutritional yeast, lime juice, salt, pepper, chili powder and onion powder together.
In the recipe card, I recommend using 3 teaspoons of lime juice, tasting the sauce and then deciding if you want to add another. I like using 4 teaspoons of lime juice here.
The same goes for the nutritional yeast, try the sauce with 3 teaspoons of nutritional yeast. I personally like this recipe with 3 teaspoon of nutritional yeast but you may want to add another based on your personal tastes.
Step 4: cut the red pepper and avocado
Step 5: Mix everything together
Add the nutritional yeast and mayo sauce to the pasta, along with the red pepper, avocado, grilled corn, and cilantro and mix.
Sprinkle some cilantro, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper to the top of the salad and enjoy!
Mexican street corn pasta salad without cheese FAQs
(1) Do you have to grill your corn?
- You can bake the corn in the oven, grill it on your grill or buy frozen roasted corn
(2) Do you have to use nutritional yeast?
- I think so, yes! It adds a nice cheesy and creamy flavor to this dairy-free dish.
- Just make sure you like the taste of your nutritional yeast because it flavors the whole dish. My personal favorite is from the Anthony’s brand.
(3) Can I make this dish vegan?
- Yes, just make sure your mayonnaise is Vegan.
(4) Is this dish vegetarian?
- Yup!
(5) Can you make this dish gluten-free?
- Yes! Make sure to use gluten-free pasta when you are making it.
Other corn recipes you may enjoy:
This Corn Succotash from Healthy Seasonal Recipes, is full of beans, corn, peppers and herbs and looks amazing.
Other dairy-free salads you may enjoy:
Couscous Tabbouleh Salad (French Taboulé)
Lightened Up Broccoli Salad (Dairy-free, Paleo)
Dairy-free Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 2 ears of corn husks and silk removed
- olive oil ( I used an olive oil spray)
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 3-4 tsp lime juice (I like 4, but start with 3 and see how you like the taste)
- 3 tsp nutritional yeast ( and a little more to sprinkle on top of the salad)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1/8 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder ( or 1/4 cup diced red onion)
- 8 ounces bow tie pasta (use Gluten-free pasta to make dish Gluten-free)
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1 avocado diced
- 2 Tbs minced cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. ( Or get your grill ready). Cover a cookie sheet in aluminum foil.
- Lightly coat corn with a bit of oil. I used an olive oil spray and quickly sprayed each corn on all sides.
- Bake the corn for 30-35 minutes, flipping them half way through. Then broil the corn for a few minutes (3 minutes was plenty with my oven). [Or grill the corn on your grill for 10 minutes]
- While the corn is cooking, boil the pasta, drain and then put into a large bowl.
- Then, make the sauce. In a medium bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, lime juice, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, chili powder, and onion powder together.
- Mix the sauce into the pasta.
- Once the corn is done, let it cool for a few minutes and cut the corn off the cobb and put the corn pieces into the bowl with the pasta.
- Add the red pepper, avocado, and cilantro to the bowl and mix.
- Sprinkle a little nutritional yeast on top of the salad, along with salt and pepper and a little more cilantro and serve.
Nutrition
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3 Comments on “Dairy-free Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad”
Can you make this ahead of time? Or will it get soggy?
You can make the corn ahead of time but I would wait to put the sauce on top of it until right before serving.
fresh and filling