Our super easy Street Corn Chicken Rice Bowl is the perfect summer night dinner all in one bowl! Made with real, simple ingredients, like grilled chicken, flavorful Mexican street corn, & fresh cilantro on a fluffy rice base. Perfect for enjoying on the backyard patio with a skinny margarita in hand!
The Best Mexican Street Corn Chicken Bowl
Several times a summer our family loves making a big batch of Mexican Street Corn Salad! It is the perfect summer side dish that goes with just about everything. Those light & refreshing flavors are out of this world! Typically, we make a double batch so that we have plenty of leftovers to make Mexican Street Corn Burgers, Steak Tacos, and these chicken rice bowls. It’s a great way to make one recipe that can be used in so many different ways! Top them any way you want for the bowl of your dreams!
Looking for another rice bowl recipe? You have to try our Chili Lime Shrimp Rice Bowl or our Summer Salmon Rice Bowl!
What You Will Need
- boneless, skinless chicken breasts – we love using chicken breasts for this easy recipe, but you could also use chicken thighs, if you prefer.
- chicken marinade – feel free to pick-up your favorite store-bought marinade from the grocery store or take 5 minutes and make our easy homemade chicken marinade – so good!
- fresh corn on the cob – this is a summer staple every year! You could also warm up frozen corn, but it just doesn’t have the same flavor.
- mayo – the creaminess that brings the whole Mexican street corn salad together!
- feta cheese & cotija cheese – a perfect cheese combination, but feel free to use dairy-free feta cheese if that’s more your thing.
- cilantro – a fresh herb that always has a light & refreshing flavor.
- fresh lime juice – a little bit of acidity to really amplify all the flavors.
- garlic – everything is always better with some garlic in the mix.
- chili powder, paprika, kosher salt, & ground black pepper – simple seasonings that are classic flavors for any homemade Mexican street corn salad.
- red onion – great for some mild onion flavor.
- cooked rice – feel free to use any of your favorite rice varieties, like jasmine rice, basmati rice, brown rice, quinoa, etc.
- black beans – one of our toppings and if you are looking for some added flavor you can try our seasoned black beans.
- other optional toppings: cherry tomatoes, sliced jalapeno, lime wedges, sour cream, & avocado.
How To Make Street Corn Chicken Rice Bowls
The first step to making this easy recipe is to marinate the chicken breasts in a shallow dish for about 15 minutes (or up to an hour).
Then place your marinated chicken on the hot grates of a preheated grill to cook over direct heat for 4-6 minutes each side. Then move to indirect heat and let them finish cooking for 5-7 minutes or until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the chicken reaches 160 degrees F.
While the chicken is cooking you can start gathering the fresh ingredients to make the Mexican Street Corn Salad.
Since the grill is already hot, it’s the perfect time to cook the eats of corn. First, rub down each ear of corn with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and then cook directly on the grill for 10-12 minutes. For best results, make sure you turn them occasionally.
Now, carefully cut the corn kernels off of the cob and mix them in a large bowl with the other street corn salad ingredients.
When all of the rice bowl components are ready, you can assemble them. Place some cooked rice on the bottom and top with chicken, street corn, and any other toppings you want!
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Street Corn Chicken Rice Bowl Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner/Entree
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: Mexican-Inspired
Description
Street Corn Chicken Rice Bowl – a delicious, flavorful summer rice bowl with marinated chicken and street corn salad!
Ingredients
Marinade + Grilled Chicken:
- 4 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 cup soy sauce (or tamari or coconut aminos)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or avocado oil)
- 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Mexican Street Corn Salad:
- 2 cups grilled corn (approx. 3–4 cobs of corn)
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1–2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 1/4 cup cotija cheese, crumbled
Other Rice Bowl Options + Toppings (build your own):
- 4 cups rice of your choice, cooked
- black beans
- cherry tomatoes, halved
- jalapeño slices
- lime wedges
- additional fresh cilantro leaves
- sour cream
- 1–2 avocado, sliced
Instructions
Grilled Chicken:
- Marinade Chicken: Combine 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons minced garlic and 1 teaspoon lemon juice in a bowl or container big enough to marinade your chicken in; whisk to combine. Place chicken breasts into the same container and ensure they are fully coated. Cover and refrigerate 15 minutes (or up to an hour).
- Prep Grill: Heat grill to medium heat (approximately 400/450 degrees F) and ensure grill grates are clean.
- Sear Chicken: Remove chicken from marinade (let excess drip off) and place chicken on direct heat (direct flame) and cook at medium heat for 4-6 minutes per side.
- Finish Cooking Chicken: Move chicken away from the direct heat (direct flame) so that it is cooking on indirect heat (maintaining the same grill temp) and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes (you don’t need to flip during this part because the chicken will cook as if it is in an oven) or until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the chicken reads 160 degrees F on your meat thermometer.
- Rest Chicken: Remove from grill and let rest at least 5 minutes so the juices can redistribute (the chicken will continue to cook during this time and the internal temp will continue to rise up to 10 additional degrees). Chicken is safe to eat when it reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees F (at thickest part of the breast).
- Cut into slices or cubes.
Street Corn Salad:
- Prep Grill + Corn: Heat grill to 450 degrees F. Place clean, shucked ears of sweet corn on a plate or baking sheet. Very lightly drizzle with olive oil. Use your hands to massage oil into each ear of corn. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
- Grill Corn: Grill on direct, high heat for a total of 8-10 minutes, turning every 2-3 minutes with grill tongs. Remove when corn is slightly charred. Let cool slightly and then use a sharp knife to cut off the kernels of corn.
- Combine Salad: Combine corn, mayo, feta, cilantro, lime juice, garlic, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper red onions and cotija cheese in a large bowl. Stir to combine.
- Adjust: Taste and add additional lime juice, chili powder, feta or any other ingredient, as desired.
Build Your Bowl:
- Build: Between four bowls divide your rice, chicken and street corn salad.
- Customize: Top with additional fresh cilantro, jalapeño slices and any of the other topping options you want!
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Cooking Logistics: feel free to cook your corn along with your chicken if you want to OR you can cook your corn first and make your salad while your chicken cooks … totally up to you!
- Dairy-Free: you can easily use a dairy-free feta in place of the reg. feta and cotija cheese.
- Salad – warm or cold: I love making the salad the day of as I personally think it tastes best slightly warm/room temp BUT it’s totally fine to serve the street corn salad cold too!
- Storage: store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 625
- Sugar: 5.6 g
- Sodium: 457.3 mg
- Fat: 22.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 69.4 g
- Protein: 35.6 g
- Cholesterol: 106.3 mg
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Colleen says
This delicious recipe is now in our regular meal rotation! Such great flavors and textures!
Erin says
So, so good!
Cheyanne S says
Absolutely LOVE this meal! We have made it so much! It’s super easy and we used canned corn instead of a grill because we don’t have grill since we live in an apartment complex. We also use the marinade for so many other meals as well. HIGHLY recommend!
Patricia Williams says
We love this meal as a family, to the point that we make it weekly! I also make a batch and then take it to work every day for lunch ❤️
Thank you for sharing this amazing and fresh recipe!
Laura Thomason says
This recipe turned out amazing! I prepped everything in the morning, including marinating the chicken, so I would only need to cook the rice and the chicken after work. I did add fresh cilantro and lime to the rice after cooking, but the rest of recipe was yours. This will be a go to meal in the future!
Bryn says
The street corn salad was very good. The chicken just tasted like soy sauce, which didn’t seem to match the rest of the flavors. I did marinate it for a couple hours. Overall, very good.