Welcome to one of my very favorite salads! It’s refreshing, filling and healthy – the trifecta for side dishes or as an entree.  Before reaching for the typical potato salad, cole slaw, etc. which are high in fat and, well, boring, give this taste of summer a try!

It all started with extra corn I had on hand and needed a side dish for dinner (I way over-estimated the number of ears I bought). So I gathered other items we had on hand and experimented to see what cooked up.

This salad was love at first bite!! The combination of sweet corn, savory basil, buttery avocado, and bitey pickled red onion – this is quintessential summer flavor with beautiful colors and textures.

Ingredients:

5 ears of fresh corn; steamed or roasted, cooled and cut off the cobs (NOT canned corn)

1 cup pickled red onion; chopped (This is my favorite pickled red onion recipe, but should be made at least one day before for full flavor, thanks Brenda for such a delicious recipe!) *NOTE  If you don’t have time to pickle the red onion, use fresh red onion finely diced.

3 medium-sized fresh tomatoes; diced

2 cups fresh basil; measured before chopping

1 cucumber; diced

1 avocado; diced

1 cup mozzarella; diced (optional)

Dressing Ingredients:

4T white balsamic vinegar

2T olive oil

1/2t-3/4t salt to taste

1/2t black pepper

1/2t granular sugar (I use raw sugar)

2 cloves fresh garlic; minced

Directions:

Add all prepared ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

Add all dressing ingredients into a seperate bowl. Whisk together and immediately pour over the rest of the ingredients in the bowl.

Gently mix everything together. Store covered in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Stir again before serving.

* This recipe can be served immediately and does not need to set up for full flavor. It will keep for 1 day in the fridge, but it’s best served the day of. If you need to make it ahead of time, swap regular tomatoes for grape/cherry tomatoes to keep the tomato juice from producing too much liquid, and hold off adding the avocado until ready to serve. Enjoy!