Name: Roasted Corn Salad with Avocado Crema
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 medium avocado; ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt; ½ tsp onion salt; Pinch of salt; Juice of 2 lime; 1 large red onion; 1 large red bell pepper; 16 oz cherry tomatoes; 4 cup fresh sweet corn

This Roasted Corn Salad with Avocado Crema features roasted veggies that are tender and lightly charred swimming in a smooth, lime-infused avocado dressing. This dish is perfect for summertime with chips, on tacos, or in your burrito bowls. This dish is made for sharing because we all know avocados have a perfection window of about half a second, so don’t be afraid to bring it to your summer picnic, backyard BBQ, or any other outdoor gathering you have on your schedule!

Let’s Talk Ingredients

Notes on Roasted Veggies

This recipe features sweet corn, red bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and red onions! If you can’t get your hands on fresh sweet corn, frozen is cool too, I recommend thawing it before roasting to prevent any excess moisture from steaming the other veggies rather than getting that lovely char! Additionally, if red bell peppers aren’t your favorite, definitely swap it for green, yellow, or orange!

Notes on Spice!

This recipe is super mild, making it ideal for crowds who may or may not be able to handle spicy food. If you are a fan of spice, I recommend the following:

For Mild/Medium Heat: add a jalapeno to the roasted vegetables. Finely dice it, and discard the seeds and stem
For Medium Heat: add a fresh jalapeno to the avocado crema for extra zip. Finely dice it, discard the stem and seeds, and fold it in
For Hot: either double the fresh jalapeno, or add half of a habanero to the roasted vegetables (but be careful! You will want to wear gloves when handling these babies!). I also recommend removing the skin of the habanero after it has been roasted along with the seeds and stem. Then finely dice it and fold it into the crema.

When testing for medium or hot heat, I recommend starting with just a little bit of heat and taste testing as you go! If at any point you do go overboard, compost about 1/3 of the “too spicy” avocado crema, and top off the remaining crema with more Greek yogurt and fresh lime juice to mellow the spice. Stir, taste test again, and repeat as needed.

Oven Roasting versus Grilling

This recipe is written for oven roasted vegetables, but this translates amazingly to the grill! You can achieve that beautiful char by preheating your grill to high for about ten minutes and:

Leave your corn on the cob and grill it, rotating it frequently, for 10 minutes, or until charred on all sides. Simply cut it from the cob and toss it in the salad
Do the same to your bell pepper. Once charred, carefully remove any over charred sections of the skin to avoid bitterness, it should slip off easily. Dice into small pieces.
Slice the onions into 3/4-1 inch rounds, brush them lightly with oil and grill them for about 5-6 minutes per side. You may want to skewer the onions to hold the rings together as well! Chop the charred onions into small pieces.
For the tomatoes, skewer them and roast them for about 3-4 minutes, flip, and repeat. Halve or quarter the tomatoes before adding them to the salad

Let’s get cooking!

Ingredients

1 large red onion
1 large red bell pepper
16 oz cherry tomatoes
4 cup fresh sweet corn

Avocado Crema

2 medium avocado
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
½ tsp onion salt
Pinch of salt
Juice of 2 lime

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 Fahrenheit. Prepare vegetables. Slice the corn off the cob, dice the red onion, discarding the papery outer layers and root, dice the bell pepper, discarding the seeds and stem, and quarter the cherry tomatoes.
Toss in olive oil and layer onto two large baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly charred and tender.
While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the crema. Slice the avocados in half, pivoting around the pit and remove the flesh from the shells. Juice the limes and discard any seeds that may have fallen into the juice. Add the avocado meat, yogurt, onion salt, salt, and lime juice to a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.
Allow the roasted veggies to cool before adding to a large mixing bowl and tossing with the avocado crema. Mix until well-combined. Enjoy!