This elote pizza is everything you love about the traditional Mexican street food, but on an easy to eat pizza!!
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Elote pizza is everything you want in life. It combines my love of pizza AND my love of Mexican food. Technically it should be called esquites pizza, since it’s not on the cob, but lets not split hairs here.
This pizza is super easy to make, and only takes a few simple and easily found ingredients. If you use a pre-made store bought crust, it’s even easier. I’ll have a post up for pizza dough in the near future, but for now I like the Trader Joe’s crusts, and my local Kroger has great pre-made crusts as well.
Why should you make Elote Pizza?
- It’s easy to make and comes together quickly.
- It’s got great flavors.
- It reheats REALLY well.
- It’s a great vegetarian option.
- It can be made with fresh, frozen, or canned corn.
Ingredients Needed:
- Pizza Crust (homemade or store-bought)
- Mayonnaise
- Sour cream
- Limes
- Chili Powder
- Cumin
- Sa and Pepper
- Corn (I used frozen)
- Mozzarella cheese
- Cotija Cheese
- Red Onion
- Cilantro
Recipe Notes:
Flavor: unfortunately, I’ve never had actual Elote in Mexico, so I can’t speak to how authentic this dish is, but I can tell you that it tastes pretty darn good. If you like corn or traditional Mexican flavors, you’ll love this dish.
Texture: The pizza topping is a creamy sauce topped with sharp pops of corn and the bite of red onion under salty smooth mozzarella and cotija cheeses.
Ease: the hardest part of this recipe is shaping the pizza dough into a circle. The sauce is super easy to make. The corn topping is easy, and the pizza dough is easy (especially if you buy it!)
FAQ’s
What is elote made from? Elote is a traditional Mexican street food where a cob of corn is covered with mayonnaise, and then sprinkled with chili powder, lime, cotija cheese and cilantro. These are some of my absolute favorite flavors, and they work SO well on a pizza!
Is Cotija cheese good on pizza? Absolutely! It’s a dry-ish, crumbly cheese, sort of like Feta and it works really well in conjunction with mozzarella on a pizza. It doesn’t melt as well as mozzarella, so I don’t know if I would want ONLY Cotija, but it’s a great addition.
Can I make this pizza vegan? This recipe as written would be hard to make vegan. Even with no meat, there is a LOT of dairy on this pizza.
Elote is also known as Mexican Street Corn. Esquites is just Elote, but eaten off the cob.
Other Recipes Like Elote Pizza
Tips and Tricks:
If you have an air fryer, I would highly recommend reheating your leftovers that way – 5 minutes on 400 gives you a crispy crust and heated through pizza. If you don’t have access to an air fryer though, this reheats really well in the microwave too.
You can make the individual aspects of the recipe separately a few hours ahead of time, and then put everything together right before you’re ready to bake the pizza.
The pizza will last about 2 days in the fridge.
If you use canned corn, make sure to dry it off really well before sautéing.
Buy a block of mozzarella cheese and grate it yourself – it will melt and brown so much better than the pre-shredded kind.
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Elote Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 pizza crust
Sauce:
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup sour cream
- Juice and zest of half a lime
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- Salt and pepper
Corn Topping:
- 1 ½ cups of corn frozen, fresh, or canned
- Juice and zest of half a lime
- ½ teaspoon of cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and pepper
- ¼ of a red onion sliced very thin.
- 1 cup of mozzarella cheese not fresh mozzarella
- ½ cup of Cotija cheese crumbled
- Top with extra lime juice and cilantro.
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450.
- Prepare your pizza dough as directed on the package.
- In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream, the zest and juice of half a lime, and half a teaspoon of cumin. Taste and season as desired with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- In a medium skillet (non-stick works best here)* add the frozen corn and heat over medium for 1-2 minutes. Add the juice and zest of the other half of the lime, ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon chili powder, and half teaspoon garlic powder. Taste a kernel or two, and add salt and pepper as needed. Set aside.
- Using a sharp knife or a mandolin (my preferred method) thinly slice the red onion and set aside.
- Shred the mozzarella and crumble the Cotija cheese.
- Using a spoon, dollop the sauce (you may not need it all) around the pizza, leaving a half inch boarder around the edges. Add ½ of the mozzarella and cotija cheeses. Scatter the corn mixture on top of the cheese, and then scatter the onions around as well. Top with remaining cheese.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust and cheese are browned to your liking. **
- Once the pizza is cooked, slice into 8 pieces. Serve with a lime wedge and cilantro.
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