Bright and fresh corn salad is packed with corn, tomatoes, cucumber, and basil. It’s the perfect, refreshing side dish.
Corn is such an affordable veggie and easy to come by in the summer and fall. Making a fresh corn salad is just the thing to do when you come home with a big bag of fresh corn from the farmer’s market or grocery store. (Though you can also make this with defrosted frozen corn in the off-season and it’s still very tasty.)
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
How Should I Prepare The Corn?
The best thing about this corn salad recipe is that you don’t actually have to cook the corn. I think raw corn is so fresh and juicy. If I’m in the mood for cooked corn, I usually microwave corn on the cob, or grill it. But in this case, fresh is generally best.
Although, you will definitely find me making this salad using defrosted frozen corn when corn isn’t in season, or when I want a quick weeknight side dish.
Cutting corn off the cob can be a messy job, so after I husk and peel the corn, I chop the stem off the cob with a sharp knife to make a flat surface. I place the flat part of the corn into a large bowl and use the knife to cut down the cob to quickly remove the kernels. The kernels stay in the bowl and don’t go all over the counter. Just be sure to be careful when working with sharp knives.
How To Make Corn Salad
After the corn is off the cob, I add some fresh tomato and cucumber. Cherry tomatoes are best because they’re so sweet, but whatever you have on hand will work.
Season the vegetables with salt and pepper and add olive oil, fresh basil ribbons, and white wine vinegar for flavor.
You could also play with variations to customize your corn salad. Try including diced red bell pepper or avocado. Play around with the fresh herbs by including parsley or cilantro to suit your taste. Let me know how you make it your own in the comments!
As written, this keeps well in the fridge for a couple days, so make this ahead of time if you’re having guests over and remove it to serve cold when it’s time to eat. Perfect to bring to BBQs or potlucks!
More Corn Recipes
For more delicious side dish inspiration, check out all of my side dish recipes over here or try my summer salad recipes. If you like this corn salad recipe, you’re going to LOVE the other corn-based recipes that I’m linking to here.
- Cheesy Jiffy Corn Casserole
- Creamed Corn
- Creamy Spicy Corn Salad
- Black Bean and Corn Salsa
- How To Make Grits
- How to Grill Corn
- Elote
Corn Salad Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Mix
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Bright and fresh corn salad is packed with fresh corn, tomatoes, English cucumber, and basil. It’s the perfect, refreshing side dish.
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh corn kernels (or use defrosted frozen corn)
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 2/3 cup diced English cucumber
- 1/3 cup diced red onion
- 4–5 basil leaves, chiffonaded
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 pinch pepper
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and toss until combined.
- Serve right away, or chill in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.
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This post originally appeared in October 2019 and was revised and republished in August 2024.
Excellent summer salad. Quick, easy and tasty! Made it for a family gathering and many compliments and second helpings were had. Fresh corn slightly cooked was used. Yum!
Love to hear that, Barb! Thanks for coming back to comment.
I love making refreshing salads/side dishes like this during the summer bbq season. I’ll be sure to add this one to my list!
Wonderful! This one is so tasty!