This tomato corn salad combines colorful, perfectly ripe summer veggies with a simple dressing. This easy but super flavorful side dish is perfect for a summer barbecue or potluck!

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When corn season comes around, I can’t get enough! I love the sweetest corn straight off the cob (generously slathered with butter and sprinkled with butter!), but I also like to mix things up and use it in soups, risotto, and fried rice, to name a few favorites.

Many years ago, I read Delancey, a memoir about opening a pizzeria in Seattle, written by blogger-turned-author Molly Wizenberg. In one chapter, she shares the recipe for a corn salad they served at the restaurant during their opening week in late August. After months of dreaming, she and her husband were finally serving food to paying customers. As novices in the restaurant world, they had to learn their trade fast. Molly handled the first courses, creating simple salads with the freshest market produce—the kind of dishes they would eat at home.

Wizenberg’s memoir was sprinkled with unfussy recipes, including one for an easy tomato corn salad. Reading her recipe, I realized I had everything on hand, so we tried it that night and fell in love with its fresh, generous taste. It’s the kind of salad that’s so simple but so delicious you can’t believe you didn’t come up with it yourself!

Over the years, I’ve adapted the recipe to make it my own: I use my homemade lemon-shallot vinaigrette because I always keep a jar in the fridge. Having a versatile homemade dressing on hand means you can put together a quick salad like this, and making it ahead of time lets the flavor improve over time. The dressing keeps well for at least two weeks! Just remember to take the jar out of the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes before using the dressing, because the olive oil solidifies when refrigerated.

Of course, the produce is at the core of this recipe. Use the freshest, best corn and tomatoes you can find. In my opinion, bicolor sweet corn is the best for this salad. It’s juicy, super sweet, and beautifully colorful, too!

To quickly prep the corn kernels, I use the miraculous microwave method. This life-changing method also steams the kernels, cooking them just so they’re crunchy but still super juicy—just what you need for this salad! Follow my instructions below to microwave and shuck ears of corn in under three minutes.

As for the tomatoes, you can use whatever you have on hand. Cherry tomatoes, garden tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes: any tomato variety will make an amazingly delicious tomato corn salad, as long as they’re perfectly ripe and juicy.

A final, extremely flavorful touch to this easy tomato corn salad is the herbs. It’s simple: use any variety, mix them up, and use a lot. In the summer, you can grow your own herbs or buy them cheaply at the market. I find that the more herbs you use, the better this salad becomes.

My favorite herbs for this tomato corn salad are dill, basil, and chives. Dill adds an incredible aroma, basil adds a leafy touch, and chives add a sharpness that balances all those flavors. If you don’t have these on hand, you can use anything else: Italian parsley, coriander, oregano, or marjoram all work well in this tomato corn salad. You can’t go wrong!

After making this easy tomato corn salad once, you won’t need to refer to the recipe again. Simply keep a jar of that dressing on hand, toss everything together, and serve! Shouldn’t all summer salads be that easy?

How to Shuck and Perfectly Cook Corn in Under Three Minutes (Microwave Method)

You can remove the husk and silk from a corn cob and cook the kernels perfectly in under three minutes. Sounds difficult to believe? Once you try the microwave method to shuck and perfectly cook corn, you won’t ever go back. This method is perfect when you need fresh corn kernels for a recipe or crave a single ear of corn.

1. Cut the stock end of the cob, removing one or two rows of kernels from the bottom. This creates an opening in the husk, allowing the cob to slip out once it’s cooked.
2. Place the cob on a plate, then microwave it for 2 minutes and 45 seconds on high power. During this time, the humidity in the husk and silk turns into hot steam, separating it from the corn so you can shuck it quickly.
3. Once the cooking time is done, use a clean kitchen towel to grab the hot corn cob by the pointy end. Push the cob out of its husk, starting at the pointy end and working down until the clean cob slips out. You’re done! You can now enjoy corn on the cob, or cut off the kernels and use them in the recipe.

Note: Corn size and microwave power vary widely, so you might need to adjust your cooking time. My microwave is a 950W model, and the 2m45s timing works every time. If your microwave is more powerful, start with 2 minutes and test by pushing the corn out of its husk. It should come out fairly easily. If you can’t push it out, you need to cook it longer. If your microwave is less powerful, your cooking time could reach 4 minutes. Do a couple of tests, and you’ll quickly figure out the timing that works for you!

Watch how to shuck corn in the microwave in this short video:

How to Perfectly Boil Corn

If you don’t have a microwave, you can cook corn the traditional way: by boiling it. Here’s how to perfectly boil fresh corn on the cob.

1. Remove the husks from the corn, being careful to pull out the fine strands of silk, too.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Make sure the pot can hold a whole corn cob. If it doesn’t, you can cut the cobs in half lengthwise.
3. Drop the corn in boiling water. Cook, uncovered, until the kernels are tender and golden, about 5 minutes.
4. Remove the corn from the water, pat dry, and use as the recipe directs.

How to Grill Cooked Corn on the Cob

To grill the corn, preheat a barbecue to high or place a grill pan over medium-high heat. Brush or spray the shucked corn with olive oil, then place it over the grill. Since you’ve already microwaved or boiled the corn, you don’t need to cook it further; you just want to add color and grill flavor. Turn frequently until the whole corn is nicely colored. Cut the kernels off the cob, then use as instructed in the recipe.

 

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