Fritos Corn Salad is the perfect side dish for your summer cookouts! Corn gets an upgrade with honey barbecue fritos, bell peppers, sour cream, cheese, and taco seasoning. It’s an easy salad everyone raves about!

Whether it’s the season for fresh sweet corn or you’re using canned corn (like I did!), this easy frito corn salad recipe is a must-try side dish!

It’s just what you need to serve in warm weather when you don’t want to turn the stove or oven on. Mix everything together and serve in a large bowl.

Crunchy Fritos add just enough to the creamy dressing and vegetables for a great recipe to be the star of your backyard barbecues!

How to Make Fritos Corn Salad

Now, y’all. There are a lot of recipes on the internet for this frito salad. I’m sharing how I make mine and how you can make the bulk of the recipe ahead of time, then add your crunchy corn chips in just before serving!

I’m telling you, it’s the perfect summer side dish that lets your seasonal produce shine. But! It’s equally as yummy if you use canned corn with the peppers in it. This is an easy side dish where you can put a little effort in and make it fancy-ish or a “plop and go” salad!

Let’s gather the ingredients we need:

Corn – whether you use fresh corn, cut from the cob, canned corn, or thawed frozen corn kernels… You’ll need some corn! This is Corn Salad, after all!

Peppers – I make my salad with the canned corn that has red and green bell peppers already in the can with the corn. It’s a time-saving thing that I do. However, if you grow your own bell peppers, slice them up and add them to the salad! Or, if you really love the taste of fresh red bell peppers, cut them up!

Onion – I used a bunch of green onions and sliced them from the green tops to the white ends. A shallot would be a delicious red onion or a yellow onion.

Tomatoes – This is a great salad to use fresh grape tomatoes cut in half. I used a can of fire-roasted tomatoes that I drained (when I was draining the corn!). When I was testing this recipe, I made it with fresh ingredients and then made it with some out-of-season options like canned tomatoes and canned corn. It was delicious either way!

Cheese – shredded cheddar cheese makes this dish so yummy! Freshly grated is best, but if you want to use pre-shredded, it’s just fine! No judgment here.

Taco Seasoning – just a packet will do! I buy the big jar of store-bought taco seasoning and keep it by my stovetop.

Sour Cream & Mayo – Very similar to Mexican street corn salad!

Fritos Corn Chips – I used the spiral honey barbecue flavor. First, it’s my favorite Fritos flavor. Second, I thought the spiral shape would hold better and not create soggy fritos. Plus, it adds a little more flavor to the delicious corn salad! Use whatever flavor you like best! Most people use the chili cheese Fritos flavor but feel free to use whatever you want.

You’ll mix all the ingredients up from the printable recipe card and serve! It’s that simple. ((Skip the Fritos, and you have an amazing corn dip for Fritos Scoops!))

Serving Crunchy Frito Corn Salad

This salad pairs well with any BBQ chicken, taco Tuesday, or family cookout!

For your next potluck, serve this delicious salad at your Grilled Chicken Sandwich Tower! Or, beside a giant Dynamite Burger!

I haven’t tried this, but I think if you added browned ground beef or grilled taco chicken to this salad, you’d have an all-in-one meal idea that’s similar to taco salad!

You could definitely use tortilla chips, too, if you wanted.

You’ve got lots of options with this salad recipe!

Other additions you could add would be a can of black beans and some diced avocado.

My personal preference is to keep this easy and simple!

When you keep these ingredients on hand, this is a fantastic last-minute salad recipe that the whole family loves at backyard BBQs.