Black Bean and Corn Salsa Recipe

This black bean and corn salsa is so easy to make at home. It starts with fire roasted corn, blistered poblano peppers, and grilled vine ripened tomatoes folded into black beans with fresh lime juice and cilantro. In just over 30 minutes, I can have it ready to serve, and it instantly elevates tacos, grilled meats, burrito bowls, and pretty much anything else on the table.

Salsa is my go-to move whenever a plate needs a wake-up, and after years of working cold garnish on a hot line I will tell you the trick is char before color. Heat does what raw onion and lime alone cannot, and that is the difference between this bowl and a mango salsa made on ripe fruit or a pineapple salsa built on bright acid. Once the smoke is in the vegetables, the rest is a knife exercise and a squeeze of lime.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Black bean and corn salsa belongs to the wider Tex-Mex family of cold and chunky salsas that became a fixture in Southwestern home kitchens over the last few decades. The technique under the bowl, charring the vegetables first and letting the smoke season everything, is the same one Mexican cooks have used on a comal or open flame for generations.

I make this at home using fresh corn grilled right in the husk, along with a poblano, a jalapeno, vine-ripened tomatoes, and a thick slab of sweet onion charred separately while the corn finishes cooking. I love how the canned black beans, sliced green onion, chopped cilantro, and fresh lime juice pull the whole bowl together.

Plus, it’s so easy to make your own. Sometimes I swap the jalapeno for a serrano when I want more heat, trade the canned beans for cooked-from-dry beans, or use a cast iron skillet instead of the grill in February when the deck is buried in snow. I’ll fire up the grill for something else on a Saturday, throw this salsa together while the coals are still hot, and end up with a bowl that always outshines whatever I cooked next to it. I hope you give this one a try!

Ingredients and Substitutions

To make this delicious black bean corn salsa recipe, I use fresh ingredients that I pick up from my local market. Here is the list, along with a few substitutions that work well too:

• Tomatoes – Any fresh tomato will work in this recipe. I prefer to use an heirloom or a Roma tomato.
• Corn – You will need un-shucked fresh corn for this recipe.
• Peppers – I use a combination of poblano and jalapenos.
• Onions – You can use a sweet, red, yellow, or white onion for the salsa. In addition, I used sliced green onions as a garnish.
• Limes – Some fresh lime juice will help bring some much-needed acid to the salsa.
• Oil – I prefer to grill the vegetables using olive or avocado oil.
• Beans – Drained canned black beans are what I use.
• Cilantro – Some finely minced fresh cilantro will add lemon-lime flavors to the salsa.
• Seasonings – I only use coarse salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste.

How to Make Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Heat the grill: I preheat my gas grill or charcoal setup to high, somewhere between 450 and 550 degrees. The grates need to be hot enough to color the peppers in 3 or 4 minutes per side.

Grill the corn in the husks: I place the corn directly on the grates with the husks still on. Twenty minutes total, a quarter turn every 5 minutes, until the husks are dark and well-browned on the outside and the kernels underneath are tender.

Grill the peppers, tomatoes, and onion: While the corn finishes, I drizzle the poblano, jalapeño, halved tomatoes, and sliced sweet onion with olive oil. They go on the grates next to the corn for three to four minutes per side, until grill marks have formed and the vegetables are tender. The poblano comes off when the skin is blistered dark in patches.

Rest and cool: I pull everything off the grill onto a sheet tray and let it sit until cool enough to touch.

Shuck and slice the corn: Once the corn is cool, I peel back the husks and slice the kernels off the cob with the cob standing up in a wide bowl.

Dice the vegetables: I medium-dice the grilled tomatoes, peppers, and onion. A 1/4 inch cube on the tomatoes, a similar size on the peppers and onion. The jalapeno gets seeded and minced fine.

Combine and finish: I add the corn, diced vegetables, black beans, sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper into the same wide bowl. A few folds with a rubber spatula until everything is combined. I taste, adjust the salt and lime, and let the bowl sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Serving Suggestions

A bowl of this black bean and corn salsa is a Saturday afternoon move at my house. I place next to a stack of chips and a bowl of homemade fresh guacamole while the grill is still hot for dinner. I plate it alongside tacos al pastor, where the char on the pork carries the same conversation as the char on the corn,

I also like spooning it over chicken enchiladas when the sauce underneath is rich and the plate needs something cold and bright on top, and I let it turn a sheet pan of steak fajitas into a scoop and build dinner that my family loves assembling themselves.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Make-Ahead: I grill all the vegetables up to 24 hours ahead and hold them whole in a covered container in the fridge. I dice everything fresh on the day, then dress the bowl with lime, salt, and cilantro within 30 minutes of serving. Lime sitting on corn for hours softens the kernels.

How to Store: I pour leftovers into an airtight container and refrigerate up to 2 days, though the bowl will hold up to a week in a covered container.

How to Reheat: I serve this salsa cold or at room temperature. When it has been in the fridge overnight, I pull it out 15 minutes before serving. To warm it, I add the bowl to a large saute pan over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes.

How to Freeze: I do not recommend freezing this bowl.

More Easy Salsa Recipes

• Salsa Verde
• Pico de Gallo
• Homemade Salsa
• Salsa Bravas
• Mexican Street Corn (Elote)