How to make elotes

Elotes are a very popular snack in Mexico City and other parts of Central Mexico. But this Mexican street corn is easy to make at home, even without a grill!

Although Mexican street corn is often cooked over a charcoal grill by a street vendor, this recipe made in the oven or a convection toaster oven will give you elotes that taste just as good.

Typically, street food vendors will peel the husk and silk and place the raw corn directly over a grill or portable stove that’s fueled by charcoal. They turn the corn constantly until it’s cooked sufficiently and has some dark brown or black spots. Then they serve it with a squeeze of lime juice, or dressed with lime, salt, chile, cotija cheese and mayonnaise or crema Mexicana.

You can find vendors selling elotes pretty much everywhere in Mexico City—along the sidewalk, in open-air mercados in any neighborhood, outside the Metro stations, all around Chapultepec and in the city’s many parks, in the zocalo, floating down the canals of Xochimilco, and just about anywhere else they can manage to set up and break down easily.

When street vendors cut the corn off the cob, it’s known as elote en vaso or esquites. Sometimes, the corn is cooked first in water with salt and epazote before being dressed with freshly squeezed lime juice, chile, freshly grated cheese and mayonnaise. You’ll often find these sold in plastic or styrofoam cups, served with a plastic spoon or fork.

Some people like to mix the lime juice in with the mayonnaise, while others like to squeeze it over the top at the end. I’ve made the lime juice optional here because I know some people don’t like to add lime juice at all. There’s no wrong way to do it. However, if you’re adding lime juice, Mexican limes are a must!

We don’t have a charcoal grill since we’re city apartment-dwellers, so I came up with a different way to make elotes with very similar results. The only thing missing is the smell of charcoal. As it turns out, my Breville Smart Oven Pro convection toaster oven is a pretty great substitute!

By broiling the corn with butter inside a tightly sealed foil packet, the corn will cook sufficiently, and the butter will help with the browning once you finish the corn with the foil open under the broiler.

Pro tip for applying mayonnaise on your elotes

The best way to evenly distribute mayonnaise on the corn is to use a squeeze-bottle. This way, you can squeeze as much (or as little) mayo as you like on the corn to begin. By doing this over foil and then turning the corn cobs against each other, you’ll get mayo in the crevices so the chile and cotija cheese stick but you’ll also avoid making a big mess.

If you’re making elotes for someone who doesn’t like spicy food, here’s what to substitute

You can substitute ground chile ancho or chile California for the chile piquin. You’ll still get the chile flavor but very mild heat.

For reference, here’s how all three chiles rate on the Scoville scale, which measures how spicy a pepper is in Scoville Heat Units. The more capsaicin, the hotter the chile and the higher the Scoville score!

Ancho: 1,000-1,500 SHU
California: 500-2,500 SHU
Piquin: 30,000-60,000 SHU

A note for regular oven users (if you don’t have a convection toaster oven)

If you don’t have a convection toaster oven and are using a regular oven, you can cook the corn at 450ºF and add about 5-10 minutes to the cook time. Then remove from the oven, open up the foil carefully, and place back under the broiler, turning periodically per the directions below, until sufficiently browned.

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