I love summer for the bounty of fresh vegetables and namely corn. We have been on a corn binge as of late and if you want something different than just nibbling it off the cob try this Grilled Corn Salad with Hazelnuts.
Lots of fresh, charred on the grill corn tossed with an orange vinaigrette with fresh herbs like tarragon and mint. I quickly pan toast the hazelnuts to bring out their rich flavor. This one has been in salad rotation 3 times now in the last month. Amazing pop of freshness.
We recently tore up the front of the house and planted gardenias and a new citrus tree. A tangelo to be exact. The back yard has plenty of figs ready to be plucked from the tree ready for a galette or jam and the lemons are almost all gone because I use them in about everything.
What I’m getting at basically is it’s summer. While I don’t have a corn field, I do buy it up like mad when it’s here and love every minute of it. It gets used in my Shrimp Corn and Barley Salad, Corn and Fregola with Grilled Halloumi and Southwest BBQ Chicken Salad with Apricots, Avocado and Grilled Corn to name a few. Search corn here on the site and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
This Grilled Corn Salad with Hazelnuts packs in the flavor, is super healthy with fresh fruit, corn and herbs. What’s even better is it’s quick to make, too. 12 minutes to cook on the grill and BAM, done.
All you do is char the corn on all sides, cut off the cob and toss in this heavenly orange vinaigrette.
I toast the hazelnuts in a sauté pan and rub the skins off best I can and toss in a bowl.
The fresh pops of tarragon and mint play well with the citrus. I didn’t have orange juice one evening I made this and substituted it with straight up frozen orange concentrate. May I just say it’s superb. Intense and suggest you give it a try.
While the recipe calls for regular orange juice, the concentrate will make you sing!
Top this all off with grated Pecorino, or cheese of choice, and dig in. A perfect side or as a main course. Enjoy!
This recipe first appeared here in August 2016 and has been updated with new photos and a video.
- 1 cup toasted hazelnuts
- 4 ears of corn husked
- 1 clove garlic smashed and chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (See Note 1)
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- Pinch kosher salt
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil separated
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh tarragon
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (See Note 2)
- 2 oz Pecorino Romano grated
- Toast hazelnuts in a small saute pan over medium heat. Shaking pan occasionally so they don’t burn, 8 minutes. Let cool. Roll in a paper towel to remove any skins.
- Brush corn with 1 tablespoon of oil and grill, turning to char on all sides, about 12 minutes total time. Allow to cool. (see Note 3)
- In a small bowl whisk together the garlic, orange juice, vinegar, one tablespoon oil and lemon zest to combine. Season with salt and set aside.
- Cut the kernels from each cob and add to vinaigrette. Add hazelnuts, mint, tarragon, and pepper and toss to combine. Grate fresh Pecorino Romano cheese on top, serve.
1. I have even used 1/4 cup orange concentrate for an even more intense orange flavor. Love it.
2. Aleppo pepper can be substituted here. I ground them into a powder in my spice grinder (or coffee grinder, but be sure to clean out properly!) and sprinkle on after. This is optional.
3. Alternatively, you could cut kernels from cobs and cook in a dry, large skillet over medium heat. Shake pan occasionally, until charred in spots, about 4 minutes.
Hi Kevin,
My tablet just blacked out so forgive me if you already received this message.
I am in the middle of making this salad and was about to pick some mint from
my garden and was wondering whether to use spearmint or peppermint?
Thanks and best wishes,
Carol
Hello Carol! Sorry to read that about your tablet. As for the mint, I pick up the herb that the market labels “mint” so if I was to choose between your two, I would go with the spearmint. I used to grow it myself, but made the mistake of not having it in a container and it took over! Enjoy the salad, it’s a keeper and thanks for trying it. Let me know your thoughts. 🙂
Hi Kevin,
I served this salad for my daughters birthday
party and we all loved it. I did use the spearmint and it was delicious. I loved all the different flavors and textures going on. I also used the frozen O.J. concentrate. Mmmm.
The Masterbuilt Smoker arrived and I bought a stand with wheels and just waiting for hubby to put it together. I am excited to use it. Have a wonderul weekend and
Best wishes,
Carol
So glad you enjoyed the salad Carl and especially happy to hear the smoker you won made it! Happy smoking!
I have lots of smoking recipes here on the site. Give them a try and let me know what you think. Cheers!
Did I skip this beautiful recipe ladt year? Looks like I did. So thank you for bringing it back, Kevin. This salad is amazing. Grilled corn, hazelnuts, and fresh herbs make the beautiful combo! I would add a little of feta for myself too.
Like the feta addition Ben, thanks for the tip!
Love corn so much 🙂 would love to try this salad , pinned for later
With this salad corn is the star, so good. Thanks Farida. 🙂
Wow! This salad sounds so amazing! I love all the flavors together, so different and fun! I cant wait to try this! We’ve been eating corn like crazy lately as well and I think this recipe is going to have to make it’s way into the rotation!
Thanks Alaina, make it in the rotation and you won’t be disappointed. Hope you had a great weekend.
I love fresh corn in a salad, and do that often. However, I’ve never made a salad whose main ingredient was corn! Thank you for this recipe! I’m really eager to try it.
Thanks Jeff, hope you give it a try! Your “Tonga” comment Saturday evening made me smile. That was quite the entrance, right?
Seeing all of this corn give me so much pleasure. Isn’t corn the best!? I could sit and eat an entire platter of this salad and nothing else. Love it!
Thanks John. I kinda over did it myself, but spread it out over several days. 😉
I’m pretty jealous of you being able to grow citrus trees in your own yard. I grew up with that and totally took it for granted.
You know that I’m a lover of grilled corn. Add hazelnuts, zingy citrus and pecorino and I’m drooling.
Happy weekend, Friend. 🙂
Thanks Marissa! It looked like your mountain hiking, snow filled, Bend weekend was a cool one! Sadly, I read you comment and guess I take it for granted also. Better count my blessings. 🙂
For-real-sees, I have been eating corn daily for the past few months… I just CAN’T get enough! And to be honest, I don’t wanna! GIMME ALL DAT CORN! 😉 Naturally I am drooling all over your site with this one, Kevin!! The flavors you used here are INCREDIBLE!! I NEED this in my life. PRONTO! Pinned! I’m totally doing this over the weekend!! Yay! Cheers, buddy!
Me too, I’ll be eating it until there is no more fresh (and by that I mean good) corn on the cob. Like I mentioned to another reader, Kathleen, I swear I must be going mad because I thought I had responded to these comments here already and as I scrolled realized that is not the case!
There’s lots of flavors and textures in this one! Thanks for stopping by Chey!
I love the smell of gardenias too! Those are going to be so wonderful walking in and out of your house with them blooming. So grilled corn…. LOVE it! I think that’s got to be one of the greatest single foods for summer! Made into this gorgeous salad, and this is one helluva dish!
THE best, right? I swear I must be going mad because I thought I had responded to the comments already and as I scrolled realized that is not the case! Thanks for stopping by Kathleen. I just love corn with a little char from the grill, so good and tossed in a salad is a fav of mine.
Hey Kevin! Like you guys, we have been chowing down on fresh corn too! And cooking it on the grill is the way to go. I like the addition of the toasted hazelnuts! Our figs aren’t ripe yet, but when they do ripen we’re going to have a lot of figs!
Hi Dorothy! I don’t know what’s up with my figs, possibly the drought, I do water the tree often, but they are smaller this year and taking awhile to ripen. Discouraged! Anyways, I’m in love with this corn salad and hope you give it a go!
Wow! A citrus tree AND you have fresh figs! Oh, man, that sounds freakin’ awesome! I rarely see fresh figs around here and we I do they are not their optimal freshness. I guess because of the long trip to get here. But, I do love them and they are such a treat to get.
Ok, ok, this salad, Kevin! Corn, hazelnuts, tarragon, orange…….just WOW! I can taste this salad now. Every single ingredient must pack so much flavour and I bet the texture is just wonderful with the corn and hazelnuts. Big plateful for me 🙂 Pinned, of course! Cheers!
You’ve guys have got the rockin’ garden too! I just wish our lemon tree was as prolific as the Mexican lime, I have to give bags of them away. Those trees keep giving. The orange and tarragon here are poppin’ in the flavor department and then the mint cools and the crunchy corn and hazelnuts. Man I could go on, but I think I will just go have a small bowl from the leftovers… 😉 Thanks Dawn!