This Mexican street corn kale salad turns esquites into a meal-sized salad with shredded kale, grilled chicken, avocado and tortilla chips! Â
Now that I shared my Mexican street corn salad recipe, I want to share my favorite way to turn it into a full meal… Mexican street corn kale salad. It’s packed with veggies, protein and has so much flavor.
If you’ve been an EBF blog reader for a while, you probably know that I despise boring salads. I like to keep my salads interesting by combining different textures, temperatures and obviously flavors! When I first made this Mexican street corn salad, I basically wanted it on everything (including salads) so that’s how this kale salad recipe was born!
One taste of this combo with the Mexican street corn, grilled chicken, avocado over massaged kale and I was hooked. It honestly reminds me of a salad you’d get from a casual chain like Chopt or Sweetgreen.
Street Corn Kale Salad Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this epic kale salad:
shredded kale – any variety of kale will work but I used regular curly kale for this salad
avocado
grilled chicken – you can grill your chicken on an outdoor grill or use a grill pan
Mexican street corn salad – if you prep the street corn in advance, this salad comes together really fast
tortilla chips
cotija cheese – this cheese is already in the street corn salad, but you can add an extra sprinkle on top after plating for even more cheesy goodness
sriracha – this is optional, but I love the flavor and spice it adds
How to Grill Chicken Breasts for Salad
You can totally put plain, raw chicken breasts on the grill and grill them up, but I like to spice them up a little bit! If you have time, this apple cider vinegar chicken would be perfect for this salad. The end result is a flavorful, moist chicken breast.
I also like adding dry rub to my chicken before grilling. It takes basically no prep time and results in a super flavorful grilled protein! You could use my blackened seasoning recipe or just a mixture of chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper to play off the seasonings in the street corn salad. Simply rub the mixed spices over the chicken breast before grilling.
When you’re ready to grill, preheat the grill. When it’s around 400ºF, place the chicken on the grill and cook for about 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. Use a meat thermometer to check the chicken after cooking – you want the inside temperature of the breast to be at least 165ºF.
Once the chicken has been cooked, allow it to cool before chopping and using in the salad recipe. The chicken can be grilled up to 3 days in advance.
How to Assemble the Salad
For this kale salad I like to divide the avocado and use one half to massage the kale, along with lime juice and salt. This softens the kale and is essentially like a dressing for the salad.
Once the kale is massaged, simply add all the chopped ingredients and mix them together in a big bowl. Another option is to use a salad chopper bowl! This chopper/bowl combo is one of my most used kitchen accessories. To prep the salad using the salad chopper, simply massage your kale, add all remaining ingredients to the bowl and then use the rolling knife (similar to a pizza cutter) to chop the ingredients up and mix everything together.
Once you’ve tossed the salad, portion it into bowls. Add a drizzle of sriracha, if using and dive in!
If you make this Mexican street corn kale salad, be sure to leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how it turned out. Your feedback is super helpful for the EBF team and other EBF readers!
Add kale, 1/2 avocado and lime juice and sea salt into a large bowl. Use your hands to massage the kale with the avocado, lime juice and salt until all the pieces of kale are coated.
Add chicken, street corn salad, remaining avocado chunks and tortilla chips into a bowl. Use salad tongs or a spoon to gently toss.
Portion into three bowls. Sprinkle on a little cojita cheese and drizzle with sriracha, if using.
Notes
If you don’t have cotija cheese you can use Parmesan or feta.
Category:Salad
Method:Toss
Cuisine:Mexican
Nutrition
Serving Size:1/3 of recipe
Calories:460
Sugar:6g
Fat:21g
Carbohydrates:43g
Fiber:10g
Protein:32g
Keywords: street corn kale salad
This post may include affiliate links. Thank you for your support.
So glad you enjoyed this salad, Whitney!! Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. The reviews are super helpful for other readers so I appreciate it. 🙂
I just heard of your blog on a pregnancy forum about healthy meal and snack suggestions and started following immediately. Made this tonight and it was delicious! The corn salad on its own was fantastic and I’m excited to make it again, and making it into a filling delicious dinner with this recipe was perfect. Very impressed and I’m excited to try more of your recipes!
Hey Valerie! I’m so glad you found my blog on the pregnancy forum… congrats to you! And thank you so much for not only trying this recipe but coming back to leave a comment and star rating. I appreciate it so much and can’t wait for you to try more of my recipes.
This is a fool-proof recipe! I do not usually leave reviews or comments, but I was so impressed with this recipe. It takes a while to chop all of the ingredients (Mexican street corn included), but it is so worth it. Perfect salad to bring to a dinner party as a side or have for dinner on a week night. Would recommend!
Ahh that makes me so happy yo hear, Kayla! I’m so glad this recipe was a hit. 🙂 Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it!!
Leave a Comment
I just made this salad and had it got lunch. Wow!! So finger licking good!
★★★★★
Oh yay! Thanks for the review. I so appreciate it!
so delicious! I love Mexican street corn and this is such a creative way to eat it
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Courtney!
Made this for the first time last week and am making it again tonight! Packed with flavor and healthy ingredients! Delicious!
★★★★★
So glad you’re loving this recipe, Donna! Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. 🙂
This recipe is perfect for summer, fresh corn makes all the difference and adding the siracha was the perfect end 👌
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed this salad, Whitney!! Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. The reviews are super helpful for other readers so I appreciate it. 🙂
I just heard of your blog on a pregnancy forum about healthy meal and snack suggestions and started following immediately. Made this tonight and it was delicious! The corn salad on its own was fantastic and I’m excited to make it again, and making it into a filling delicious dinner with this recipe was perfect. Very impressed and I’m excited to try more of your recipes!
★★★★★
Hey Valerie! I’m so glad you found my blog on the pregnancy forum… congrats to you! And thank you so much for not only trying this recipe but coming back to leave a comment and star rating. I appreciate it so much and can’t wait for you to try more of my recipes.
This is a fool-proof recipe! I do not usually leave reviews or comments, but I was so impressed with this recipe. It takes a while to chop all of the ingredients (Mexican street corn included), but it is so worth it. Perfect salad to bring to a dinner party as a side or have for dinner on a week night. Would recommend!
★★★★★
Ahh that makes me so happy yo hear, Kayla! I’m so glad this recipe was a hit. 🙂 Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it!!