- Prep-time: / Ready In:
- Makes 15 cups
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This festive pasta salad features five ears of corn: Three help form a velvety base for the oil-free dressing, while the other two get cut into planks, giving the dish a cool appearance. (Don’t worry if they break up a little.)
For even more ways to put the summertime staple to delicious use, check out our roundup of Finger-Licking Corn Recipes.
By Shelli McConnell,
Ingredients
- 5 ears sweet corn, husks and silks removed
- 1 small clove garlic
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 cups dried whole wheat rotini or penne pasta (12 oz.)
- 1½ cups frozen shelled edamame
- 1 medium zucchini or yellow summer squash, trimmed and spiral sliced (2 cups)
- 2 cups halved red and/or yellow grape tomatoes
- 1½ cups coarsely chopped orange bell pepper
- ¼ cup chopped fresh basil and/or Italian parsley
Instructions
- Make Creamy Corn Dressing: Cook 5 ears of the corn in enough boiling water to cover 2 minutes; drain. Cool slightly. Reserve two ears for Step 3. From other three ears, cut corn from cobs. In a blender combine corn, garlic, and ½ cup water. Cover and blend until smooth. Press mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl; discard solids. Whisk together corn mixture, lemon juice, mustard, and sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Set aside.
- Cook pasta according to package directions, adding edamame the last 2 minutes of cooking; drain. Rinse with cold water until cooled; drain again. Snip zucchini noodles into 2-inch lengths.
- In a large bowl combine pasta mixture, zucchini, tomatoes, bell pepper, and basil. Add half of the Creamy Corn Dressing; toss to coat. Cut remaining corn from cobs into planks. Top pasta mixture with corn planks. Pass remaining dressing.
Comments (40)
(5 from 15 votes)I made the corn dressing as well- I didn't drain it. Instead I put the cream of corn thru the food processor until smooth and it gave it a bit of body to the dressing.
I made this for a cookout this weekend. I did not strain the corn and I also added onion to the rest of the recipe, and everyone liked it, never even missed having mayonnaise in it!
this was just okay. very bland. but good enough for an easy summer lunch and very pretty.
Does anyone have any suggestions for uses for the corn pulp? It seems a shame to waste it. I can put it in my compost pail but thought there might be another use or recipe I could use it in. I also had a thought to add some of it to the dressing.
Hi Becky, I didn't strain the corn, as directed and the recipe was great. Maybe the extra step refines the recipe, but I was lazy and wouldn't have known the difference. Served it at a birthday dinner for extended family and it got rave reviews! Just a thought...
Looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing countless recipes on here for FREE! so generous of you! For those who were complaining about not giving anything away for free- what?! There are countless recipes for free in here that are easy to print and or text to yourself for later. They could easily charge for these recipes so how about we be a little more thankful?
Looks amazing!!
A beautiful and flavorful salad that was well worth the effort! Yes, extra garlic did the trick and I used fresh Thai basil for more of a kick. My cheese-loving, meat-eating friends were impressed too. ;)
I really like this salad! It is very light and refreshing. Another way to incorporate delicious seasonal sweet corn into your recipe repertoire!
I think it would help to explain what is meant by CORN PLANKS.
PHIL I THINK A CORN PLANK IS WHEN THE CORN IS TOGETHER AND NOT SEPARATE INDIVIDUAL KERNELS. LOOK AT THE PICTURE TO SEE WHAT THE CORN LOOKS LIKE AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT I MEAN. I AM MAKING THIS DISH TONIGHT. HOPEFULLY, IT COMES OUT GOOD.
I wanted so badly to love this. Great reviews and it looks so beautiful! I'd probably give it a 3.5 stars. It was very tedious for me to make. The flavor was just very mild. I ended up adding some cumin as another person suggested. It wasn't bad by any means, I just don't know if I'd make it again given the time I put in.
Yummy! This was a perfect summertime dinner. I added extra garlic (3 cloves) and topped it with a handful of chopped basil. It probably could've used some red onion and will add that next time. Will make again :)
I made this on Sunday, OMG, so dee-lish! It makes a ton, so be sure to invite your friends over to share!
I love this salad! I didn't measure everything to the "T" but I eye balled it. It turned out great! Love the flavors....
This recipe makes a lot of servings and is colorful, healthy and delicious. Great for taking to a summer picnic or for dinner on a warm evening. My downloaded version was missing the instruction to cook the other two ears of corn, but I did anyway.
I just made this. It was labor intensive for me but reall wanted to try that corn based oil free dressing! How much liquid was supposed to come through after draining the solids? I felt I may have diluted the flavors by getting too much liquid out of my corn. Nice flavor in any case but I may increase the garlic and add some cumin next time. Thank you!!
This was the bomb! I loved all the ingredients and the corn dressing was awesome! My husband loved it. This is a keeper. Thank you!
This salad was delicious! I used frozen sweet corn for the dressing and frozen roasted corn for the salad since I didn’t have fresh. It was still amazing!
Definitely has potential. Lacked flavor so I modified with a little more salt, definitely more lemon (maybe even put some lemon zest in?), pepper and Dijon (for the dressing). The zucchini spirals are pretty, but difficult to eat with the recommended size. I say spiral then cut into one inch strips (which basically makes them julienned). Fresh herbs were great! Used chickpea pasta. Definitely a keeper, but with many bumped up spice modifications!
Also, I cut the tops and thick stalk off the bottom of my corn and peeled a couple of the layers of husk off. Microwaved them for 2 minutes, let sit long enough to handle then used them. One less pot, way easier and same crunch.
The 2 ears of corn that you cut into planks are not cooked?
I have the app. First method instructions = COOK five ears of corn - get the APP it is awesome. We love it and it is reasonably priced - new recipes are always coming to my app. =love!
Recipe calls for 5 ears of corn. Directions say to boil 3 ears… and never says what to do with the other two, AND… in the little description at the top it says you use two for the dressing and 3 for the salad. Does no one check these before they print??? And yes, why can we add some to our planner but not all/most?
it says:Cut remaining corn from cobs into planks.
Hi Patti, that was a mistake in the introduction. It should've said that three ears go into the dressing; two ears get cut from planks. It's been updated now. Thank you for pointing that out.
Delicious but needed a bit more flavor. I love the crunchiness. Added a few more seasonings. Great for a hot summer day. Definitely part of my salad club rotation.
I suggest using the water you boiled the corn in for the pasta and also adding to the dressing
Do you have the nutritional information for this recipe?
Let me add recipes for you posts on Instagram. I do have the planner but can’t always find what you’re showing
Hi LeAnn, thank you for your comment! Please note that Forks Meal Planner recipes are uniquely created for your FMP, while other Forks Over Knives resources (including this main website) feature their own unique recipes. If an FOK website recipe does not include the "Add to Meal Planner" button, please email support@forksmealplanner.com, and the FMP Support Team can make sure the button is added. If you enjoyed the recipe, we hope you'll reconsider your rating for the recipe respectively! For any technical support, the FMP team or FOK team (customerservice@forksoverknives.com) can best assist you.
I have the meal planner, but you are obviously trying to not give away anything away for free. I try to add recipes like this one to my planner but there is no option to do so most of the time. I may have it already but I have to go through 1000 recipes to find it. I find this most irritating.
It's frustrating, isn't it?
Hi Leann and Becky, please note that Forks Meal Planner recipes are uniquely created for your FMP, while other Forks Over Knives resources (including this main website) feature their own unique recipes. FMP is a premium subscription service, while this main FOK website is a free website - accessible to all. Forks Over Knives website recipes conveniently feature an "Add to Meal Planner" button, so you can upload these recipes into your Meal Planner. If a recipe does not have a button, please email the FMP team (support@forksoverknives.com) or the FOK team (customerservice@forksoverknives.com), and they can add it.
Looks like a great summer salad. Going to try it tonight. Do you really only boil the corn for 2 minutes? Seems short.
Corn tastes much more like it just came out of the garden when it is boiled just a very short time.
Thanks for the tip - I’ll give it a try
Use Pinterest and you can save them. So appreciative of these recipes.
I boiled all the corn to get the consistency i wanted.
You microwave the corn for two minutes while still in the husk (you can remove a couple of layers first).