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With a delicious pairing of pasta and butter beans, my Mexican street corn pasta salad is my ideal meal prep. Whip it up in just 20 minutes and have high protein lunch or dinner for the whole week! It tastes like Mexican street corn…but in meal form!
save this recipe!It can be difficult to prepare meal-prep lunches that taste good all week. But after many late nights eating street corn from taco trucks, I knew I had the solution…street corn and pasta in a jar (reminiscent of the incredibly practical styrofoam cup my favorite street corn is served in).
not your average pasta salad
- Greek Yogurt: Instead of using all mayonnaise, I’ve added Greek yogurt to make the salad healthier and pack in a bit more protein.
- Baby Pasta: I have a real issue with pasta salads that are difficult to get a bit of everything at once. I’ve eliminated this issue by using a small pasta, ditalini pasta, in this case.
Reader rating
“Made this for our lunches this week, we loved it! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes 😋” —Megan
Meal Prep It!
This pasta salad is so delicious as a vegetarian meal prep. Like my tempeh taco salads in a jar, the trick to layering salads is to put the dressing on the bottom to prevent the veggies from getting soggy.
for the dressing you’ll need:
All the ingredients for this salad are easy to find in the store. And if you can’t find ditalini pasta, I’ve included other small pasta you can use instead. This is just an overview; jump to the recipe card for full measurements!
- Creamy Base: For the dressing base, you’ll need plain Greek yogurt and mayonnaise.
- Lime Juice: This adds tang and that essential brightness to the street corn salad.
- Spices: To season the pasta salad, grab salt, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper.
for the pasta salad, grab:
- Ditalini Pasta: This is a round, hollow pasta with plenty of space to be filled with the delicious sauce. If you can’t find this one, you can also use mini shells or star pasta.
- Butter Beans: I prefer these because of their soft texture and mild flavor, but canned beans will also work.
- Corn: Any canned corn works just fine. In the summer, I will grill corn and use fresh kernels.
- Greens: For a bit of crunch and punch, I like adding green onions and cilantro.
- Cotija Cheese: This is like crumbled queso meets feta. Its saltiness is the perfect complement to the salad’s acidic and bright flavors. If you can’t find it, feta is a good swap!
more flavor boosters
This salad is great because you can customize it. Feel free to add avocado if serving it right away. Or, swap the butter beans with black beans. You can also add diced jalapeno for heat and grill the corn for a bit of smokiness. And as with any great street corn, tajin chili lime seasoning on top!
Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad Jars
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp each garlic powder and cayenne pepper
Pasta Salad
- 8 oz uncooked ditalini pasta
- 1 tsp olive oil, 5 mL
- 2 15-oz cans butter beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 15-oz cans corn, drained well
- 4 green onions, sliced
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- ⅓ cup crumbled cotija cheese
- Optional: sprinkle of chili lime seasoning, like tajin
Instructions
- Pasta: Cook 8 oz uncooked ditalini pasta to al dente according to package instructions. Drain then transfer back to the pot. Toss with 1 tsp olive oil to prevent sticking, then let it cool while you prepare everything else.
- Sauce: Stir together all Sauce ingredients.
- Assemble: Either toss everything together in a large bowl, or meal prep it in jars.To meal prep, spoon Sauce evenly into 4 large (32-oz) mason jars. Evenly divide ingredients into the jars in this order: beans, corn, pasta, green onions, cilantro, and cheese (sprinkle with optional tajin). Close lids and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. To serve, dump the contents of a jar into a bowl and stir!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information calculated by Sarah Bond, degreed nutritionist.
did you make this?Leave a comment below and tag @liveeatlearn on social media! I love seeing what you’ve made!
Carbohydrates: 132g per Mason jar? This is not really diabetic friendly. According to ADA (American Diabetic Association) a meal is usually allowed 30-45 grams of carbohydrates per meal. I still would like to try this, so im think of those small jelly size Mason jars and halving the recipe, what do you think?
You can make this a bit more diabetic friendly by using a lower-carb pasta and, indeed, making smaller portions.
What can you sub for the butter beans?
Pretty much any white bean or even chickpeas would work well!
Got the nutrition, is that for the entire recipe or is it for 1 of the 4 jars?
That is for one of the four jars. That said, the jars are quite large portions!
If i want a protein rich street corn riff, can i leave out the pasta? Do you have any recommendations there?
You could try using a high-protein pasta instead or a small portion!
It would have been really good if I hadn’t substituted Miracle Whip for mayonnaise. Live and learn. I also halved the recipe and put it in pint jars.
My calculations put this recipe at 517 cal/serving, 18.3g protien, 65g carbs
Recipe is great but hearing you mispronounce Cotija in the whitest of ways was disappointing… if you’re going to use a Mexican ingredient you should at least learn how to say it.
This is my favorite recipe from Live Eat Learn, and I have now tried many I have loved. Good work!
Thanks for making my day with your comment Sydney!
The protein count seems way off on this, not sure how you got to 39 grams per jar? 2oz pasta is 7 grams, the beans are roughly 12.25, the Greek yogurt is a little over 5, you maybe get one or two for the cheese which doesnt even get you to 30 grams.
OMG! This recipe is amazing. Returned from Mexico and was craving street corn. Made this recipe and it is better than the real thing. I added extra cayenne pepper and garlic. Even my kiddo loved this!
So glad it hit the spot Jel, thanks for sharing!