Mexican-Style Grilled Corn and Chickpea Salad

Mexican-style grilled corn, bell pepper, and chickpea salad

About This Mexican-Style Grilled Corn and Chickpea Salad

This salad brings together grilled sweet corn, grilled peppers, chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, and avocado, with the bite of onion and chili adding layers of flavor. Finally, lots of fresh lime juice makes it zesty and brings all the vegetables’ sweetness together. With so many ingredients mixed in, it’s beautifully colorful too.

This Mexican-style grilled corn, pepper, and chickpea salad has layered flavors: sweet, tangy, savory, and spicy. Not only does it highlight the fresh sweetness of seasonal vegetables, it also has lots of texture. After tossing everything together, I like to sprinkle on a few walnuts and pumpkin seeds right before serving. The nuts’ natural oils don’t just make the salad tastier, they add crunch too. So satisfying.

Even better, besides being delicious, this grilled corn, pepper, and chickpea salad is really easy to make, ready in about 20 minutes. The most time-consuming part is grilling the sweet corn and peppers in the cast-iron grill pan. If you want to use a real grill for the corn and peppers, the smoky flavor will be even richer! Of course, nobody has time to fire up a charcoal grill on a regular day just for a salad, so a cast-iron grill pan works for the vegetables. Grilled sweet corn and grilled peppers are the main ingredients of this salad. Once they’re grilled, slice off the corn kernels, dice the peppers and all the other ingredients, and put everything in a salad bowl. Add the seasonings and herbs, then mix everything well so the spices meld perfectly into the ingredients, and that’s it: a colorful dish with an exotic flair.

This Mexican-style grilled corn, pepper, and chickpea salad has layered flavors: sweet, tangy, savory, and spicy. It highlights the fresh sweetness of seasonal vegetables and has lots of texture

Ingredients for Mexican-Style Grilled Corn and Chickpea Salad

The ingredients for this Mexican sweet corn-inspired salad are very easy to buy, and if you can get seasonal or organic vegetables, the flavor will be even better. The most important ingredients in this salad are the corn, peppers, chickpeas, and avocado. Onion and tomatoes add even more flavor, and finally chili, spices, and a drizzle of lime juice make it a perfect salad.

The most important ingredients in this Mexican-style salad are corn, peppers, chickpeas, and avocado

• Sweet corn - I used two ears of yellow sweet corn because it’s the most common and easiest to buy, and it’s closer to the traditional Mexican corn salad. To save time, you can use canned sweet corn. Canned corn is a pandemic pantry essential and a great time-saver.
• Peppers (sweet snacking peppers) - red and yellow peppers are my favorite. They’re naturally sweet and very juicy; red or yellow both work.
• Chickpeas - chickpeas are delicious and packed with protein. Canned beans are a must in my kitchen and in my pantry: they keep well, save time (most dried beans need soaking before cooking), and are full of protein. You can also swap in black beans or pinto beans.
• Cucumber - Mexican salads usually don’t include cucumber, but cucumber is crunchy and juicy, so when there’s one in the fridge, why not?
• Tomatoes - tomatoes go with almost any salad, and putting some in a Mexican-style salad reminds me of Mexico’s famous salsa.
• Avocado - avocado is a naturally delicious fat. In a salad, its richness brings all the flavors together, with a smooth texture and lots of nutrition, which is why avocado is so popular. One more tip: if you’re making this as an appetizer ahead of time, wait to dice the avocado until right before serving. This keeps it from browning or turning mushy, so dicing the avocado last makes the dish look better.
• Onion - onion, tomatoes, and lime juice are the base of salsa, and onion’s natural bite suits this salad even more.
• Chili - if you can find jarred sliced jalapeños, even better. But for this recipe I used the vegetable box that FamilyMart and a local produce partner launched during the pandemic, so I used the red chili from that box. Jalapeños would be even more fitting.
• Lime - I can’t stress enough how important lime is in this salad. Adding some acidity is the secret to making salad ingredients taste fresher, and since we’re making a Mexican-style salad, lime is the perfect sour ingredient!
• Spices - I added a little oregano to this recipe, but if you have Mexican spices, even better, like a little paprika or cumin.
• Cilantro - I didn’t use cilantro in this recipe because I didn’t have any on hand, but since this is a Mexican-style salad, some cilantro would add a fresh, distinctive flavor. Of course, cilantro has always been a very controversial ingredient, so if you can’t stand it, feel free to skip it.

Besides eating it on its own, this Mexican salad goes great with other dishes, like a side for burgers or hot dogs. Sometimes I eat it with tortilla chips. If you’ve never tried this combo, you have to: take a chip, scoop up a big bite of the Mexican grilled corn and pepper salad, and you’ll fall in love.

Besides eating it on its own, this Mexican salad goes great with tortilla chips

How to Make Mexican-Style Grilled Corn and Chickpea Salad

• Prep and grill the sweet corn and peppers - husk the corn, wash it, and cut it in half, since it may be too long to fit the grill pan. Wash the peppers, slit them down the side, and open them flat. Spray the corn and peppers with oil. Heat the cast-iron grill pan over medium-high heat, and once it’s hot, add the sweet corn and peppers. Be sure to keep turning the corn and flip the peppers so they don’t burn.
• Make the salad - while the corn and peppers are on the grill pan (remember to turn them so they don’t burn), you can start dicing the other ingredients. Here’s a tip for dicing salad ingredients: try to cut everything into cubes of about the same size. That way the flavors are more even when you mix everything together, and the texture is better. Once the sweet corn is grilled, slice off the kernels and dice the peppers, then put all the ingredients in a salad bowl, mix well, drizzle with lime juice, and season with spices, salt, and black pepper. Done. Very simple and quick.

How to Store Mexican-Style Grilled Corn and Chickpea Salad

Once the salad is made, put it in an airtight container. It keeps in the fridge for 3 days. Again, if you’re storing it in the fridge, I recommend adding ingredients like avocado right before eating.

Storing the Mexican grilled corn, pepper, and chickpea salad

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