Avocado corn salad with fresh basil, tomatoes and feta is a refreshing summer salad. This post contains affiliate links.
I throw together quick salads all the time for lunch, but I don’t usually write down the recipes. In fact, a lot of salads aren’t really “recipes” per se–it’s like a soup in that way. My salads are based on whatever I find in my fridge–I always have plenty of local fruits and vegetables available as well as fresh herbs, which are really what take salads to the next level.
This salad uses fresh basil, but cilantro or mint would also be delicious. The truth about most salads is that you can really swap in and out ingredients as you please. You don’t like cilantro? Swap for parsley. Tomatoes aren’t your thing? Use bell peppers instead.
Once you get to know what flavours you like and don’t like and what works together/doesn’t work together, you’re one step closer to becoming an even better cook.
The corn for this recipe is blanched in a pot but you could definitely char the corn on the grill for some grill marks and flavour, you could even replace the fresh corn with frozen (thawed) or canned corn, but when fresh is available, it can’t be beat.
How to blanch fresh corn
Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil, drop shucked ears of corn into the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove corn from water (I like to use tongs with silicon tips here so the corn doesn’t slip away) and run immediately under cold water (or place into an ice bath)–I usually just run under cold water since I never have ice in my freezer (tiny, condo-sized freezer problems).
Once the corn is cool enough to handle, I slice the kernels off the cob. See the video below for my favourite hack for cutting kernels off the cob without them going all over your kitchen. This is a great hack to use when preparing corn for any kind of corn salad recipe.
I want to prep this salad ahead of time, but how can I stop the avocado from going brown?
This recipe uses white wine vinegar in the dressing, but if I’m prepping this recipe ahead of time, I sprinkle everything with the juice of one lime–this helps to stop the avocado from going brown. Make sure to stir it in really well so all the avocado chunks are coated with the lime juice.
This salad is vegetarian, but if you want something plant-based, just leave out the feta cheese and you’re good to go. My other tip for making this dish is to ensure you are using a very small clove of garlic–not one of those gigantuous cloves I’ve found recently. If you can’t find something small, use your best judgement and use half or a quarter of the clove.
You can always add more garlic, but it’s hard to lessen the flavour of garlic in a dish.
Avocado Corn Salad
Ingredients
- 3 ears of corn, shucked
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 very small clove garlic, grated
- ½ jalapeno, seeded and minced
- 2 avocados, diced
- 1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ red onion, finely diced
- ¼ cup crumbled feta
- 2 tbsp thinly sliced fresh basil
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil, drop shucked ears of corn into the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove corn from water and run immediately under cold water (or place into an ice bath). Cut kernels off the cob.
- In a large bow, whisk olive oil with vinegar, garlic and jalapeno. Add corn kernels, avocados, cherry tomatoes, red onion and crumbled feta. Toss to coat in dressing. Sprinkle with basil and salt, toss again and serve.
Notes
Let me know if you give this avocado corn salad a try in the comments below.
Donna K 
Louisa Clements 
Shirley Clements 
Ann 
Margaret 
Colleen
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