This Summer Corn Salad is quick and easy to make with summer’s bounty! Full of seasonally fresh ingredients and made with the simplest vinaigrette ever, it’s a refreshing side dish to serve with your next backyard barbecue.

overhead close up view of summer corn salad in white bowl with wooden spoon

Easy corn salad recipe

This is one of the quickest salads to throw together (once your corn is prepared) – and one of my family’s favorites! We make it at least once every week during summer.
It’s easy to switch up the flavors in this recipe to suit your family’s taste. Check out the dressing suggestions in the recipe tips section towards the bottom of this post for ideas.
You can prepare the salad ingredients up to a day ahead of time and keep them in the fridge, so this is great to make ahead, too.

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

ingredients for summer corn salad with text labels — Ingredients for Summer Corn Salad: Olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, salt, pepper, corn, red bell pepper, tomatoes, red onion and fresh herbs.

Ingredient notes

Corn: You can use roasted, grilled, boiled, air fried corn for this recipe… Whatever you prefer! I actually make this salad a lot with canned corn when fresh isn’t available. If you’re using frozen, you must cook or microwave it according to package directions first. Uncooked frozen vegetables can be the cause of food borne illness, so please fully cook and then cool frozen corn before using it in this salad.
Red onion: Feel free to use green onions or white onion in place of the red.
Honey: Maple syrup is a great substitute if you need to replace the honey.

How to make a corn salad

ingredients for summer corn salad in white bowl — place ingredients in bowl

salad dressing pouring from glass measuring jug over corn salad ingredients in white bowl — place ingredients in bowl

Just place all of the prepared ingredients into a medium salad bowl, pour over the dressing and toss to combine!

overhead view of summer corn salad in white bowl with wooden spoon

Recipe tips

I do slice the peppers and tomatoes a little bigger than the corn kernels, but try to stick to small, even dice. If you’re not sure how, check out my post on how to cut a bell pepper!
You can prepare the vegetables for the salad up to a day ahead and keep them in the fridge. The tomatoes may release juices which you need to drain off before assembling the salad. Add the dressing right before serving to keep the salad from turning out soggy/watery.
Feel free to switch up the dressing (I kept this vinaigrette very simple, because I 100% believe summer food should be as simple and quick as possible). For extra flavor, try a white balsamic vinaigrette. For a creamy corn salad, try my ranch salad dressing. For a Mexican twist, my cilantro lime dressing is delicious, too!

close up photo of wooden spoon in bowl with corn salad

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.

Printable recipe

Printable Recipe Card

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Summer Corn Salad

This Summer Corn Salad is quick and easy to make with summer's bounty! Full of seasonally fresh ingredients and made with the simplest vinaigrette, ever.

Recipe by Nora from Savory Nothings

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5 from 2 votes

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Recipe details

Prep 15

Total 15

Servings 6 servings

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients

For the salad

▢ 3 cups corn kernels from about 4 ears
▢ 1 medium red bell pepper cored and diced
▢ 2 small tomatoes diced
▢ ½ cup chopped fresh herbs I used parsley and basil
▢ ¼ cup finely diced red onion

For the vinaigrette dressing

▢ 3 tablespoons olive oil
▢ 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar or less to taste (this is quite tangy, which we love)
▢ ½ tablespoon runny honey
▢ salt & ground black pepper to taste (I am quite generous with salt in this recipe)

Instructions

Add all ingredients for the salad to a medium salad bowl.
Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small measuring jug until smooth. Pour over the salad ingredients.
Gently toss the salad to evenly coat with the dressing. Serve immediately.