Your whole family will adore this nutritious, crunchy, munchy salad that is fun to eat and delicious, too. It’s a 20-minute fix, tops.
Put mayonnaise, cheese, and Fritos on something, and I’m a fan … and I’m just a big kid, so most kids will follow suit. Believe me, the big thing for me about getting to cook for busy moms and their kids is the little ones eventually say, “You wanna see my room and all my toys?” and hopefully, their mom eventually allows us a play date, where I actually get to do Legos or crafts with them. And from video games to Barbies I’m still a sucker for all that color, glitter, plastic, and selecting exactly the right Barbie earrings to go with her pink sparkling evening gown.
My dad was kind of a big kid, too—one who did not like healthy veggies. “I’m a meat and potatoes man,” he’d say proudly. Popeye with his spinach he was most certainly not.
So Mom started serving him these inventions of hers – tricks, really, that she’d announce as “Frito Pie Green Beans,” “Frito Pie Asparagus” … to let him know at the bottom of those veggies was the reward of a Frito crust. And it worked like magic.
So, if you have children or a partner resistant to eating their vegetables, this corn, pepper, cheese, and Frito salad is a great recipe to have on hand. The sweetness of those red onions and red and green peppers is really activated by the magic that is those salty, crunchy Fritos and sweet mayo, and mounds of cheddar cheese.
Frito Corn Salad: A Definite Crowd Pleaser!
This unique salad is a great BYO casserole to take to any event be it a tailgate party, a taco bar fiesta, a church gathering, a family reunion … Why? Because it’s different and delicious. I mean, you don’t want to be the guy or gal in the book club that always brings the same potato salad every year, right?
Plus, Frito corn salad is a much quicker fix than any potato salad. That’s because there’s 0 cooking needed and minimal chopping. If you’re in a real hurry – just buy chopped fresh or frozen peppers and onions. A lot of stores have a pre-chopped pepper and red onion blend for fajitas and other Mexican dishes. Then just add two cans of corn, some fun-to-crumble-up Fritos, stir in some mayo, and you’re done, done, done!
This salad can make a great meal, too, because you can stir in some shredded rotisserie chicken, imitation or real crab, tuna, or taco meat of any kind to make a zesty and satisfying entrée.
How to Make Ahead and Store
You could make this dish ahead and store it in the fridge, but as it’s so quick to put together, there’s not much need. For leftovers, refrigerate them for up to 2 days and add more Fritos to crunch it up a bit. You will have some soggy Fritos in there, of course, but more crunchy always keeps you from noticing the soggy so much.
Serving Suggestions
This dish is a cool palate cleanser full of enough flavor to jazz up a simple meal and is a great complement to fried seafood dishes of any kind, like these Homemade Fish Sticks, which are so much healthier than store-bought ones and are especially delicious with my disabled veteran client Sherry’s (hold up-she said to qualify this as disabled MARINE) favorite side and dessert: Stuffed Zucchini Boats and Brownie Caramel Cheesecake. She’s old enough – like me – to remember Destiny’s Child from back in the day, so whenever I can’t find a tart pan or a cheese slicer, I call out “I need a soldier in here! Where they at? Where they at?”
Frito Corn Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cans whole kernel corn (15 ounces each) drained
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup green bell pepper chopped
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper chopped
- 1/3 cup red onion finely diced
- 3 cups Fritos corn chips lightly crushed
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the drained corn, cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and red onion.
- Stir the mixture until all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve, to allow the flavors to meld.
- Just before serving, gently fold in the crushed Fritos corn chips to maintain their crunch.
- Serve the salad immediately to ensure the Fritos retain their crisp texture.
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