A few weeks ago I made a quick trip to Utah for a friend’s wedding and we also got to welcome home a cousin of mine who has been in Mexico for the past year and a half doing missionary service. After listening to her beautiful sermon at church, we swung by my Aunt Susan’s house to change clothes before hitting the road. The house was full of all sorts of people I love and don’t get to see too often; my Mom’s sisters, who I hadn’t seen since my Mom’s funeral last fall, my cousins who were all doing exciting things like graduating from college and getting married, and my sweet grandma who I don’t get to talk to on the phone anymore because she’s so hard of hearing. There was so much to catch up on, so you would think we would all be deep in conversation getting up to speed on each other’s lives, but no. Ask me if I had more than a 30 second convo with anyone there. The answer is no. Why? Because we were all stuffing our faces with this dreamy mixture of avocados from bowls that seemed to just appear and magically refill. It was mostly just sounds of “mmm” “what IS this?” “this is amazing.” “put more of whatever is in that bowl on this thing” (<— says grandma, waving a chip in the air from her chair, that is a direct quote).
Now. I have to say that if I just spotted this recipe in a magazine, I would probably skim right past it. Seems almost odd when you look at the ingredient list and contrary to the regular players of lime juice, cilantro and tomato, you find things like cider vinegar, lemon juice, and olives. (I know, right?) I don’t even like olives. When I ate this I assumed they were black beans! But people trust me on this one and remember that I never lead you astray. Fight your inner voice trying to tell you that you should substitute all sorts of things and just go with it. I promise you it’s a different and delicious and completely addicting. I took it to a potluck and it vanished at lightning speed.
You’ll need corn for this salsa, and you can use canned corn if you’re a fan. I don’t love canned corn so I used some leftover fresh corn cobs we had from the night before. You could also use frozen corn straight from the freezer. My aunt used canned corn when she made it and it was fantastic so go with whatever is easiest. Mix in a big ol’ pile of chopped green onions, and some chopped olives. I actually did go with only a half can of olives, but I could have added the rest in there.
You can dump everything in one bowl, but I mixed up all of the “dressing” ingredients first and then added it because I love to dirty more dishes than necessary. You’ll need olive oil and some apple cider vinegar. If you don’t use Bragg’s, you should! It’s really the best and the flavor difference is pretty substantial in cooking.
Mix those up with some fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, oregano and garlic. (You can find this little heart whisk in our shop, too!)
Pour that over the corn mixture and mix it up.
I add the avocados last of all so they don’t get too mushed up stirring so much.
Just toss it all together and that’s it.
You can eat it right away, or I like to put it in the fridge for a bit to chill and and let the flavors mellow.
Also, since I’m mentioning a bunch of favorite brands in this post; if you don’t already buy Juanita’s Tortilla Chips, you need to try them. The guy in the grocery check out today told me when people come through his line with other brands of tortilla chips, he judges a little. We had a good laugh and agreed that we needed to spread the Juanitas love. Warm them up in the oven and you might faint.
Try this out at your next get together; it makes a bunch so it serves a crowd!
Thanks to my Aunt Susan Rhondeau for sharing this recipe, that she got from her friend Melanie Robbins, who got it from her friend, Melanie Cowley!
Make sure to Pin this one, (hover your mouse over the photos) you’ll want it later!
Avocado Corn Salsa
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 servings
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: No-Cook
- Cuisine: Mexican
Description
A deliciously unique salsa featuring creamy avocado and a seasoned savory dressing.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups corn *you can use 1 can drained corn, frozen corn, or fresh corn on the cob, steamed and cooled.
- 3/4–1 cup sliced green onions (1 small bunch)
- 1 small can (4.25 oz) chopped black olives
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons pressed garlic
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- optional: pinch of crushed red chili pepper
- 4 medium avocados, diced
Instructions
- Combine corn, green onions and olives in a medium sized mixing bowl and set aside.
- In small container whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.
- Pour over corn mixture and stir to combine. Add avocados and toss gently until combined.
- Serve immediately or cover and chill in the fridge. Use tortilla chips for dipping.
Questions & Reviews
I made this today. I used extra virgin olive oil and that was all I could taste I’m afraid. Maybe Pompeian is a poor brand of olive oil because I just don’t like how it tastes. But I don’t want to splurge on more expensive brands cuz maybe I just don’t like olive oil. Anyway, I’ll have to try this again sometime with higher quality ingredients since I know all your salsa and salad recipes are amazing! Is it supposed to have a prominent olive oil flavor?
Nope, I’d say that was definitely the specific brand of olive oil you used. That shouldn’t be the prominent flavor. I’m without a doubt biased, but I LOVE our flavored olive oils in this recipe!
I can’t tell you how happy I am that this recipe does NOT call for cilantro! I also don’t like olives, but I’m going to trust you and leave them in when I make this. I think I’ll make it for cinco de mayo!
Haha. If you don’t like cilantro, then I’m so glad you’ve stuck with us and still make our food, haha! I hate olives, too- I suggest just adding half the amount the first time. Baby steps! lol!
Can you please give more specific instructions for warming up the chips in the oven ? I just bought 4 bags of juanitos online! Please and thank you. ? Can’t wait to try both!
I just pile the chips on a baking sheet and pop them in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes or so. Just eyeball it until they are warmed through, it goes fast!
Hello, I own your two cookbooks thanks to the incredible generosity of your Aunt Susan, who just happens to be my daughter-in-law. She made the avacado/corn/olive salsa while I was there for Olivia’s wedding. Forty years in Napa, CA made me a fussy salsa consummer. Susan’s regular fresh salsa is a favorite. Now the new salsa pushed it aside and is #1. She told me the recipe is on the blog, so here I am to thank you for the post. My new VA friends will love it!
Oh wonderful! Susan is the best, isn’t she? And that Steve is pretty amazing, too 🙂 I’m so glad you loved this, too!
Can you use minced garlic instead of pressed?!
Looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it out ?
absolutely!
Hi all- How far in advance can this be prepared? Was thinking of doing everything but the avocado until right before serving unless it’s better to let the flavors settle.
That’s exactly how I do it. I chop everything but the avocado and store it in the fridge and then I mix up the vinaigrette and keep that at room temp. Right before serving I toss it all together and it works great!
Inspired timing! Avocados are .10 ea at my Aldi right now!
I’ve been making something like this for about 14 years and have a few tips from the dozens of times I’ve made it. It’s similar to a corn avocado salsa recipe from Taste of Home. I always use sliced olives because I think they look a little better. Also, frozen corn for a better texture than canned. Use the Trader Joes frozen roasted corn if you can find it. Mexican oregano is much better than Italian. Also, add some diced sweet red bell pepper for color. It’s beautiful and gets rave reviews wherever I bring it. I chill it for several hours before serving to blend the flavors and then stir in avocados right before so they don’t get mushy. Must serve at room temp though.
Yum!! I just might run out to the store right now! I am not a fan of olives. Do they really make the salsa?
I’m not on team olives, either. Like, I really dislike them. I don’t think you’d miss them if you left them out, but it also doesn’t make anything taste olive-y either. So really, you could go either way 🙂
I am going to try this. I am scared because I HATE olives. Buuuuuut…. you have never steered me wrong yet. And there is a local place that makes a salsa that I love and I found out they put olives in it, so maybe this will be like that. I hope.
Haha, right?? If you really want to leave them out, I think you totally could. I only added half a can because I was scared, too, lol.
First of all, that looks AMAZING and I cannot wait to eat it. All of it. Second I just bought that Braggs yesterday. Only I bought it because I heard it helps get rid of warts and my daughter has a bad one so hopefully it’s as good at that job as it is in cooking?. Third, Juanita chips are my favorite!! So yummy!
Apparently Braggs cures EVERYTHING. Don’t google, seriously, haha. It’s delicious though and so great for cooking!
Oh, don’t spread the Juanita’s love. It’s already hard to find these at the store, they can’t seem to o keep the stocked. I always pick up an extra bag just in case. In this dip looks amazing.
Seriously I should know better. I have a store that can’t keep a certain ice cream in stock now that I told everyone to go buy it. Doh!
Juanitas is the best kept secret of the tortilla chip world. SHH!!!
haha, sorry!
This looks like I need to have it for every meal today. And Juanitas chips all the way. They’re the best. I make myself buy the small bag. I’ll fall right off the wagon of controlled eating with the big bag yelling at me from the cupboard.
I no joke fell off the wagon big time with that bag you see in the photo. Those, plus this giant bowl of avocado goodness and they were both gone in minutes!
I judge the Juanita-less, too. You can be sure I’ll try heating mine in the over next time!
This sounds delish. It’s definitely going on my menu for tomorrow.
I was looking at the first picture that has chips in it and thinking, “I need to ask what kind of chips those are when I comment.” Then I scrolled down one more inch and you answered my question before I even asked it because you are THAT awesome.
Also, your Aunt Susan lives next door to my Aunt Jeanne. Small world.