Cook: Hot Cheeto Elote Salad

I went back and forth on whether or not this should be in the salad section. But then again, that’s why I put salad in quotes. It’s all about balance, amirite?! Elote is such a fun dish and while we were at a Cinco De Mayo festival in Oakland last spring, we stumbled across a vendor serving elote but WITH HOT CHEETOS. Keep in mind, this is elote served in a bowl, not on the cob - so, it’s not your traditional elote. Hot cheetos are so good plain that I thought this combination was genius. Side note: If you’re not dipping your hot cheetos in cream cheese and eating them with chopsticks, what are you doing?? Maybe we should be putting hot cheetos on everything. That could be a whole blog post in itself. So, here’s my take on elote with an extra something special that’s the perfect side dish to tacos, burritos or a big ol’ bowl of pozole.

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Prep Time: 30 minutes, Total Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of corn (I like to use canned corn, using fresh corn is way too much work. But, if you want to go that route, by all means do it! If you want to get fancy, you could roast the corn in a hot pan before to get a little bit of char on it).

• A handful of chopped cilantro

• 1/2 cup crumbled Cotija cheese

• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of red onions (diced)

• About 1/3 cup of Crema Mexicana

• Paprika, cumin, Mexican oregano (to taste)

• Salt and pepper (to taste)

• Juice from 1-2 limes (to taste)

• Hot cheetos (as many as your heart desires!)

Directions:

• Crumble up some hot cheetos (set aside), toss all of the other ingredients in a bowl. Top the mixed ingredients with the hot cheetos and squirt with lime juice. This recipe couldn’t be easier and I recommend taste testing along the way so you get the flavors to your liking.