Perfect for Healthy Snack, Side Dish, Relish or Salad Topping
If you love guacamole but prefer to leave behind the tortilla chips, then you’ll love this avocado and corn salad. I lost 30 lbs in 3 months eating foods like this!
Not only does it give you the creamy, cool flavor of avocado, but it also has corn. The addition of corn to avocado allows you to eat it with a spoon and pass up the chips without any regrets.
“It tastes like corn chips and guac, without the guilt!”
~Deborah Tayloe, Recipes and Me
Fresh or Frozen Corn
I generally make this about once a week, provided that I can lay my hands on corn on the cob. Of course, it’s best in the summer made with local corn. But, I’ll take it any time that I can get it!
Now if you’re in a hurry, you can totally use frozen corn, and frozen is preferable to canned corn, both for nutritional benefit as well as taste and texture. However, for the very best flavor and crunchy corn texture, go with fresh corn on the cob.
Weight Loss Made Easy and Delicious
In case this topic is of interest and helpful to you, I want to briefly share my weight loss journey. (If not skip to the next section)!
Here’s the deal. I have lost 30 pounds over the past three months. I eat more than enough, it’s not a crash diet. However, I’ve all but cut out sugars, alcohol, unhealthy fats, and white flour.
Although I still treat myself occasionally, I steer clear of my favorite snacks.
I found that the food item I missed the most during this transition into better health was surprisingly not chocolate. As it turns out, I was addicted more to crunchy, fried snacks than I realized.
And, chips and guac? That was my hands-down favorite. This salad is the perfect alternative that satisfies my snack needs. And, it makes a great relish with main courses.
Avocado Benefits
While I have cut out many fats, I have not turned my back on avocado. Sure, the little avocado contains fats. But, the fats inside this fruit are:
- monounsaturated
- polyunsaturated
These unsaturated fatty acids are a primary key to reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke. Plus, they offer benefits in helping to lower cholesterol.
So, even though I am on a restricted-fat diet, I carefully choose what fats I put into my body. And avocado makes the cut!
Here is some more information about the benefits of avocados and healthy fats.
How to Select the Best Avocados
For a long time, I accepted poor avocados as ‘bad luck’ when I made my selection in the produce aisle. In fact, I often purchased an extra, just in case I chose a bad one.
I mentioned that story to my friend Maria, a Mexican-American. Her mother taught her how to spot the perfect avocado, every time.
Guess what? I tried it, and it works like a champ. Here are the tips she shared with me.
- Examine the skin of the avocado. Pass up any that have severe indentations or bruises. Typically, the darker the skin (almost an eggplant color), the riper the fruit. Find one that is darker if you will consume it right away or medium green for those you want to use in a couple more days.
- Grab the avocado gently. Hold the avocado in your open hand and gently squeeze the avocado. Don’t bruise it! If it feels pliant when you apply gentle, consistent pressure, it is ready to eat. Skip overly mushy feeling avocados (the mistake I used to make). If the avocado is still firm, it will be ready for you in a few days.
- Smell the avocado. Avocado usually has a very faint fragrance. If it is emitting a strong or pungent aroma, it is overripe. Leave it at the store!
After doing a little internet research, it turns out that this avocado selection method is backed by Michigan State University.
Proper Storage of Avocados
The proper storage of avocados is dictated by two factors:
- How ripe is the fruit?
- When do you plan to serve it?
If you have a less than ripe avocado that you want to make into avocado salad or guacamole in a few days, then storing at room temperature will work fine.
However, if an avocado is ripening too quickly, pop it into the fridge. Because of the cool temperature of your refrigerator, you will slow down the ripening process.
But, what about if you need to prepare your avocado and it’s not ripe? No problem, pop it into a brown lunch sack and leave it on the kitchen counter. You’ll speed up the ripening.
Avocado and Corn Salad: Simple flavors, bold seasoning
Avocado and corn salad combines the comforting, familiar American staple, corn, with the creaminess of avocado and the zip of lime.
The two textures have a wonderful “mouthfeel” when the smooth and soft bits of avocado combine with the burst of sweetness from the corn.
Add some traditional Mexican seasonings, and the flavor is unbeatable.
Avocado Corn Salad
Ingredients
- Two ears of fresh corn on the cob steamed for 10 minutes
- Two ripe avocados
- One lime
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper plus a dusting as garnish
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- fresh cilantro a handful from my garden does the trick
Instructions
- Slice the corn off of the cob and place it in a salad bowl.
- Squeeze the lime juice over the corn.
- Add the spices to the bowl. You may substitute raw garlic for garlic powder, but the raw garlic may be too overpowering for some taste buds.
- It's important that you stir the lime juice, seasonings, and corn before adding the avocado as you don't want to smash the fruit.
- Open the avocados, scoop out the fruit and dice it (as shown in image). Gently fold the fruit into the salad.
- Dust cayenne pepper across the top of the salad as a garnish.
Notes
Nutrition
Not sure how to cut an avocado?
There are also cool avocado slicers like this one on Amazon!
Tips on storing Avocado Corn Salad
Avocados naturally oxidize (darken) after you cut them open. The lime juice contains citric acid which slows this process. However, eat this salad within two days for best results.
Also to mitigate the oxidation problem, take care when storing the salad. Before you place it into the refrigerator, cover it tightly with plastic wrap.
I don’t mean cover the bowl, I mean to put the plastic wrap directly over the salad and gently press it down, like this:
This process limits the amount of air that reaches the surface of the avocado. That is important because the air triggers the darkening process.
The other thing we do to help keep the avocado fresh is to press the avocado seed down in the bowl before covering it. The seeds help preserve it as does a few squirts of lemon juice, which is another option.
Despite the fact that the dark avocado is still nutritious and tasty, it’s unappetizing looking.
Get creative!
This is a simple, three main ingredient salad. Sometimes, I just want something quick and easy with little prep time involved that soothes my guac cravings. Here’s a cool “pizza” style avocado recipe you might want to try!
If you’d like to get creative, here are some add-in ideas.
Add-ins ideas for Avocado Corn Salad
- Diced tomatoes
- Cherry tomatoes
- Red or yellow bell peppers
- Jalapeno
- Chili peppers
- Red or yellow onion
- Swap lime juice for orange juice or lemon juice
- Diced black olives
- Salsas, such as a little:
- chunky tomato style salsa
or, - salsa verde
- chunky tomato style salsa
Super Shortcut for if You’re Short on Time or Energy
If you’re really in a hurry or just need a quick fix healthy snack, after a hard day before you turn on your favorite series, you can take a shortcut. It’s always good to have a jar or two of salsa on hand, so if you do, pour some salsa over your chopped and seasoned your avocado and stir it together. We like the black bean and corn salsas.
Top a bowl of spring mix or romaine salad mix with this and you’ve got a healthy dinner ready in just 5-10 minutes.
More or Less Spicy
You can also omit the cayenne pepper to make it “mild” or go heavier with that seasoning to make the salad “hot.” It’s a very easy recipe to modify to suit your taste.
If you try out this recipe, please comment to let us know how you liked it. I’m also curious to know if you added in any extra ingredients or opted to go the simple, easy route like me.
