Elote Fries

This classic Food Truck favorite is surprisingly easy to make at home. Elote Fries are the combination of two absolute favorite side dishes of ours. Mexican Street Corn (known as Elote), and everyone’s favorite: French Fries! Our Elote Fries consist of a heaping portion of pan fried Corn piled over the top of a bed of shoestring Fries and topped with crumbly Cheese. It’s a fun way to mix up your side dishes at home and is a great way to enjoy Corn and Fries alongside your favorite protein (we highly recommend Steak!). It is also a great way to repurpose any leftover Mexican Corn if you’ve made a load the night before

How to make Elote Fries

There are two components to this dish which require their own unique attention. The preparation of the Fries, and of course, making that amazing Elote. In this recipe we’re going to go the easy route, and recommend using frozen Fries from the store

In terms of Frozen Foods, Fries may very well be the best thing you can pull out of the freezer in the supermarket (other than Ice Cream of course!). Making homemade French Fries from scratch can be done, but it is a long and tedious process, especially if you want to guarantee perfectly crispy Fries. If you do want to make them from scratch we’ve got a fantastic recipe for Homemade Fries that we recommend you check out. Otherwise, stick to the Frozen Fries for this dish and it’ll still turn out amazing

We recommend using an Air Fryer for the Fries

So, to make this dish the first step is to get your Fries cooking. They will take the longest time to cook, so prepare them by either scattering them out on a large sheet pan and bake them in the oven or, if you’re like us, throw them into the Air Fryer and crank the heat!

Air frying frozen Fries is the easiest and best way to cook them. They’ll turn out super-crispy and take a fraction of the time that oven baking them will. Just follow the package instructions for cooking your fries in the Air Fryer (or oven), as they all differ slightly. Overall, it’ll probably take about 15 minutes so get them on then you can begin to prepare the Elote

Making Elote (Mexican Street Corn)

Elote is a fun and tasty side dish that tastes great on its own and serves as a delicious and healthy side dish that you can serve with so many meals. The flavors are even more ramped up when you add them to a portion of crispy Fries!

When preparing this dish, you should always use fresh Corn straight out of the Husk. Corn is seasonal, so it’s going to taste its best around late Summer and into Fall. Regardless of its seasonality, you can get your hands on Corn all year round so no matter what time of year it is you can make this dish!

On its own, Mexican Street Corn is a fantastic dish to enjoy. Check out our recipe here!

The first step is to remove the Corn from the Cob. The best way to do this is to hold it upright over a large bowl and then slice away the Corn Kernels from the Cob with a sharp knife, slicing downwards. Take your time to avoid slipping and in moments you’ll have a big bowl of Corn ready to be cooked

Butter is Corns best friend!

It’s no secret that combining Butter to Corn (well, combining it with anything for that matter) tastes amazing. For our Elote Fries we melt a generous portion (about 25g) of Butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Once the Butter has melted, pour the Corn all over the Pan and spread it all out evenly

The next step is to simply leave the Corn for about 5 minutes. This is a little secret for getting a beautiful char on the Corn. By leaving it (no stirring!) the Corn will start to char and caramelize on the side exposed to the pan. This technique works exceptionally well if you’re using a Cast Iron, but you can use any pan you like. It’s a technique often used in Rice Dishes, to achieve a chewy crust which tastes delicious!

Once the Corn has charred you can start to stir it around. After a few more minutes the whole thing will be cooked, so at this point I like to add the Scallions. You can use the Scallions in two different applications for this dish. Dice it up finely and cook the White parts with the Corn. Save the Green parts and use them as a fresh garnish to sprinkle over the Elote Fries when its time for plating

Finish the dish with some Seasoning and add in the Juice of 2 Limes and it’s done. You can also use Lemons, but Limes are the best. Give the Corn a taste and it’ll be done. If your Fries are still cooking you can simple re-heat the cooked Corn when everything is ready to plate

Plating and serving

The final step for making our delicious Elote Fries is plating. You can serve this dish as one big family style serving, or on individual serving plates. Just scatter the Fries all over a serving plate or bowl and then top it with a generous scoop of the Corn

The Corn isn’t completely finished yet! Once you’ve poured it over the top of the Fries we add the final key ingredients. A generous sprinkling of Smoked Paprika (enough to coat most of the top layer of Corn!) and a generous crumbling of Cheese. The best cheese to use is Mexican Cotija Cheese, but Feta Cheese will also work well

That’s it! The dish is now ready to eat, and we guarantee it’s going to taste great! I mean, both components of this plate taste great by themselves, so they’re going to taste extra tasty when combined! It’s a simple dish that is packed full of flavor

Elote Fries Recipe

Ingredients

• 500g / 17 oz. Frozen French Fries
• 4 Corn Cobs, Husks Removed
• 25g Unsalted Butter
• 2 Scallion Stalks, finely diced
• Juice of 2 Limes (or Lemons)
• ½ tsp. Salt
• ½ tsp. Smoked Paprika
• 2 tbsp. Cotija Cheese (you can also use crumbly Feta Cheese)
  
  

Instructions

1. Prepare the Frozen Fries as per the package instruction (we recommend using the Air Fryer to save time). Alternatively, you can make Homemade Fries from scratch using this recipe
2. Hold the corn over a large bowl and cut away the kernels by slicing a sharp knife down the sides of the Cob
3. Melt the Butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Once melted, add the Corn and spread it out to cover the full surface area of the pan. Leave it untouched for 4 minutes to char the Corn
4. Add the White parts of the diced Scallions. Stir through and cook for a further 3 minutes then mix in the Lime Juice and Salt. Remove from heat
5. Plate individual portions of Fries into serving bowls or plates. Top with a generous spoonful of the Corn mixture
6. Finish the plates by sprinkling over a generous amount of Smoked Paprika then garnish with diced Green Scallions and Cotija Cheese
   
   

Recipe Notes

• Serve the Elote Fries with some additional slices of Lemon or Lime Wedges
• Check the Salt levels on the Fries and adjust how much you add to the Corn accordingly. If the Fries are heavily salted, we recommend not seasoning the Corn
  
  

These tasty Elote Fries are a fantastic way to mix things up when thinking of what sides to serve for your next meal. Combine two everyday sides of Corn and Fries into something fun and unique. Not only that, they taste great and pair with so many meals

For more tasty Side Dishes, check out these amazing recipes:

• Rosemary and Parmesan Roast Potatoes
• Roast Poblano Chili Sauce
• Celery Root Gratin
• Chili Cheese Fries
  
  

Happy Cooking!