Fresh Corn Avocado Salad

When you don’t feel like cooking in the summertime, keep it cool with this fresh corn avocado salad. This easy chopped salad has all the colors of the rainbow and the zippy, smoky chipotle vinaigrette with honey gives every bite of this avocado corn salad a sweet and spicy bite.

Chopped salads:

There’s something I love about chopped salads. I think its the way that all the ingredients are chopped evenly, so that there’s no one dominant ingredient and you can get a little bit of everything into each bite. Some of my favorite chopped salads include this Mexican version with canned black beans, this pearl barley and kale chopped salad, this summer veggie chopped salad with a creamy shallot vinaigrette and this warm bacon and black eyed pea salad. This zippy corn avocado salad is another winner.

Ingredients for fresh avocado corn salad

• Corn on the Cob
• Red Bell Pepper
• Purple Cabbage
• Jalapeños or Serrano Peppers
• Scallions
• Tomatoes
• Avocado (Haas or Florida)
• Chipotle Lime Vinaigrette (recipe given)

The beauty of chopped salads is that you really can use whatever is ripe on your counter top or in your crisper drawer.

For this avocado corn salad, I used a few ears of sweet summer corn and a wedge of leftover purple cabbage. It wasn’t until I started chopping that I realized I had a rainbow salad on my hands.

In many salads with a mixture of greens, tomatoes, cucumbers etc, the size of the individual ingredients can vary, making it harder to get all the ingredients into a single bite. Chopped salads are different. everything is roughly the same size and therefore can be scooped simultaneously.

The key is to look at the smallest ingredient, in this case the corn kernels, and try to chop everything else to roughly that size.

Chopping vegetables for avocado corn salad:

1. Cut the corn off the cob. You can use a sharp knife for this or use a corn stripper (affiliate link). Cut the kernels into a large mixing bowl.
2. Use the corn as a guide for roughly how large the rest of the veggies should be. Slice the bell peppers into thin strips, then crosswise into a small dice. Do the same with the tomato.
3. Mince the jalapeños (even smaller than the corn, because you don’t want a big chunk of spicy pepper).
4. Slice the scallions crosswise into small bits.
5. Use a sharp knife to thinly shave the cabbage into strands.
6. Toss the vegetables in the chopped salad so they’re well mixed.
7. The avocado is added just before you serve the corn salad, otherwise it can oxidize and brown.

I like to make my own salad dressing and the flavor profile for this one is bright (citrus), sweet (honey), smoky (chipotle) with a little bite (garlic) to it.   In other words, delicious.

Ingredients for smoky lime chipotle vinaigrette:

• Lime (zest and juice)
• Garlic
• Honey
• Chipotle Powder
• Dijon Mustard
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt
• Fresh Ground Pepper

Dijon mustard is the emulsifier for this chipotle vinaigrette. If you don’t have dijon mustard, you can substitute brown mustard or pommery (whole grain) mustard, but don’t use yellow mustard. That would just be weird on the corn avocado salad.

Variations:

• Use other crunchy vegetables, such as cucumber, jicama, sweet onions, radishes, or broccoli.
• Add crumbled cheese like cotija, feta or goat cheese to the corn avocado chopped salad.
• Make it a complete meal by adding diced cooked chicken or leftover rotisserie chicken, pork tenderloin or shrimp.

FAQ’s

More summer salads you’ll love:

• Healthy Grated Cucumber Salad
• Cilantro Lime Slaw – No Mayo
• Tomato Peach Caprese
• Grilled Summer Salad
• Tangy Green Bean Mozzarella Salad

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4.25 from 4 votes

Fresh Avocado Corn Salad

You'll love this lively chopped salad for a healthy side dish at summer picnics and barbecues. The tasty chipotle vinaigrette adds a sweet, smoky note to the corn avocado salad that's irresistible.

Author: Lisa

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Keyword avocado, corn, tomatoes

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 4

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 ears corn on the cob kernels cut from the cob
• 1 cup red cabbage sliced thin and chopped
• 1 serrano or jalapeño pepper stemmed, seeded and finely diced
• 3 scallions trimmed, light green and white parts only, thinly sliced
• ½ red bell pepper seeded, medium dice
• 1 medium tomato seeded, medium dice
• ½ of a Florida avocado or 1 whole Haas avocado aka skinnycado, peeled, seeded, diced

For Dressing

• 1 lime zested and juiced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 teaspoons honey
• ½ teaspoon ground chipotle powder
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

• In a large bowl combine corn, cabbage, serrano peppers, scallions, bell pepper, tomato and avocado. Toss to combine.
• For dressing: combine all ingredients except salt and pepper in a small bowl. Whisk until emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Pour dressing over the salad and toss to combine well. Serve.

NOTES:

Because this salad has so many crunchy vegetables, it can hold up to the dressing without wilting as quickly as a green salad. Therefore, you can make this a few hours in advance and it will stay crunchy.

NUTRITION:

Calories: 258kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 45mg | Potassium: 461mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 1230IU | Vitamin C: 47.5mg | Calcium: 28mg | Iron: 1.2mg