Mango Corn Salsa

This Mango Corn Salsa is a simple recipe that turns basic dishes into [boom!]. Make mango salsa chicken, serve your mango and corn salsa with fish tacos, dip tortilla chips, or (if you’re like my kid) tip up the bowl and drink it like soup.

So read on for a deep dive into salsa and all the detailed tips for making salsa with mango and corn – only if you want to. Otherwise just grab your mango, hit that purple Jump to Recipe button, and let’s make a mango salsa with corn!

Ingredients

Salsa is the Spanish word for “sauce,” and salsas go from puréed and smooth to chunky like this mango corn salsa. My goal with this mango salsa recipe was to limit the ingredients and keep the color palette in yellows and greens (the mangoes I get are always the yellow in my rainbow fruit tart).

Use any type of mango – a ripe mango gives slightly to soft pressure and smells fresh and fruity. If you have under-ripe mangoes, speed up ripening in a brown paper bag with a banana.

There’s nothing better than fresh corn – whether in my rainbow taco salad, skillet cornbread, sweet corn soup, or slathered in salted butter. But frozen corn is a great substitute if it’s what you have. Let defrost and pat dry with a paper towel before roasting.

How to riff on this recipe

• Pick a different chili pepper. Read all about chili peppers and the Scoville scale.
• Use a different onion like a shallot or red onion.
• Add some red with chopped cherry tomatoes or red pepper.

Recipe tips and tricks

The only really active step in the salsa is charring the corn kernels. Grilling, toasting, or roasting corn gives the mango salsa an almost nutty flavor and firmer texture that contrasts with the mango.

Best option is to grill fresh corn on the cob. But you can roast the corn on a sheet pan like I do for my Mexican street corn pasta salad – use this method if you double the amount of corn salsa.

For a single cup of corn kernels, I find it easiest to char the corn in cast iron skillet. Heat the skillet on high, put the corn in a single layer, and cook until it pops like popcorn. In my trials, I found it best to cook the corn over high heat because longer, slower cooking results in dry and tough corn. Nobody wants that.

Just like in my mango pico de gallo recipe, the goal for this mango corn salsa is to cut the ingredients to about the same size.

If you grilled corn on the cob, I find the least messy way to cut it is to remove as many of the silky threads as you can. Then, holding the cob vertically with my left hand, I slowly slice downward with the knife, keeping the knife at the base of the kernels. This is the size you’ll be aiming for with your mango.

Finely dice the mango into corn kernel-sized cubes as best you can, thinly slice the green onion, and mince the jalapeño and cilantro. Combine all of these in a small bowl, toss with salt and lime juice, taste and adjust.

Your mango corn salsa will taste best served fresh, but it will keep in the refrigerator for 24 hours or so.

What to serve with this mango corn salsa

• Tortilla chips or homemade pita.
• Cast iron chicken breast or any roast meat.
• Taco night, alongside an easy 4 ingredient guacamole and spicy pickled onions.
• For a cocktail, go for a spicy skinny margarita or a Oaxaca Old Fashioned

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