This 5-Ingredient Corn Salad Is a Little Sweet, a Little Tangy, and Entirely Delicious

Why It Works

Microwaving the corn in its husk lightly cooks it, keeps it juicy, and makes husk removal easier.
Slicing corn horizontally from the cob yields a combination of individual kernels and juicy clumps, adding texture, flavor, and visual dimension to the dish.
Using julienned raw shiso rather than incorporating it into a dressing brings the herb’s bright flavor front and center in the salad.

There are some ingredients I’ve found so captivating that I still remember the first time I tasted them—squash blossoms on a pizza in Rome when I was backpacking around Europe in college; pandan (aka screwpine) in nasi lemak at Nyonya in New York’s Chinatown in the ’90s; and shiso, which I also first tried in New York. I was about 15 years old on my first trip to New York when I tasted that shiso on a sushi platter (my first time eating sushi, too!), but the sense-memory still haunts me like a friendly, beautifully aromatic ghost.

Oh, how I love you, shiso.

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

The flavor of shiso—with its hints of citrus, mint, basil, cinnamon, and cloves—was at once familiar and new. To this day, I can’t resist shiso when I see it at the farmers market or on a menu, which is why I had to order the “Japanese elotes,” a seasonal special of sweet corn, Kewpie mayo, shiso goddess dressing, and furikake, at Bessou in New York’s Pier 57. I was enamored, so I decided to riff on the flavors at home in a salad that makes the most of fresh corn season (though you could certainly make it with frozen corn in a pinch).

The “Japanese Elotes” at Bessou that inspired my salad recipe.

Serious Eats / Megan Steintrager

The Bessou dish is made with “corn ribs,” thin, long strips of corn that you can pick up and eat like ribs. However, I opted to cut the corn off the cob for my take on the dish: Corn ribs are fun, but I find it easier to cut corn completely off the cob than to slice into the cobs to fashion ribs. Plus, it’s easier to dress and eat corn kernels this way. To keep the method quick and simple, I microwave the corn in the husk briefly to cook it lightly and make it easier to remove the husks before removing the kernels. You can use your favorite method of cutting corn from the cob, but for this salad, I like to lay the corn horizontally on the cutting board, which yields some individual kernels and some clumps of kernels—I like the way this looks better, and also like to have some big bites in the salad that are mostly corn. If you prefer a more homogeneous salad, by all means, break up those clumps.

To incorporate the shiso, I opted for a simple chiffonade of fresh green shiso (purple would work well too). This was easier than trying to figure out the Bessou dressing formula, and I wanted a more intense, fresh shiso flavor in my salad, which my method achieved. Because I love the herb so much, I’d be happy with even more than the generous amount I call for in the recipe, so if you’re a shiso-Stan like me, go ahead and give the salad a taste before serving and add extra if you’d like.

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Instead of using American-style mayo, I kept the Kewpie from Bessou’s corn dish, as I wanted the Japanese condiment’s slight sweetness, thinner consistency, and flavor-boosting MSG. Going off book from Bessou’s version, I incorporated fresh lime juice into my salad, which plays nicely off the rich mayo here, just as it does in Mexican elotes and esquites. In another nod to esquites, my salad also includes sliced fresh scallion greens.

The final element in this five-ingredient salad is furikake—while most furikakes include nori and sesame seeds, the other elements vary widely. I can’t imagine a version that wouldn’t work well, so feel free to use whatever furikake you have on hand. Just taste the salad before serving and adjust the other seasonings, such as salt, as needed—if you have a salty furikake, you might not need any additional salt. The furikake at Bessou includes nutritional yeast, which gives their dish a lovely cheesiness, so I’ve included nutritional yeast as an optional ingredient here.

Once you’ve cooked your corn and cut it from the cob, all you have to do is stir it together with the other ingredients, garnish with additional shiso and furikake, and serve. This salad is a great side for grilled chicken, pork, steak, fish, and tofu, and I have also bulked it up with store-bought seasoned baked tofu and/or cold soba noodles to turn it into a meal. Feel free to play with additional vegetables, too—sliced cherry tomatoes, avocado cubes, and cucumbers are all nice.

I can tell you that this perky tasting and fantastically easy salad is going into my permanent summertime rotation—thanks for the inspo, Bessou!

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez