Roasted Chili Corn Salsa (Chipotle Copycat)

Slightly sweet, delightfully tangy, and ridiculous easy to make. Skip the line and whip up this Chipotle copycat right at home!

Prep: 15

Cook: 10

Total: 25

Yield:6 servings

24 ounces frozen corn kernels defrosted overnight
1 medium jalapeño pepper deseeded, finely chopped; approximately 3-4 tablespoons
¼ cup finely chopped cilantro
¼ cup chopped red onion
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon salt more or less to taste

Preheat broiler on high and position oven rack approximately 10 inches below heating element. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place 1 medium poblano pepper on prepared baking sheet.
When broiler is preheated, place baking sheet on oven rack. Broil pepper approximately 3 to 5 minutes, until skin is blistered and charred, blackened but not ashy white.
When skin is charred, carefully flip pepper over. Broil other side of pepper 3 to 5 minutes, until blistered and charred, but not ashy white.
Once both sides are blackened, carefully remove baking sheet from oven and set aside. Immediately invert medium bowl and cover poblano pepper completely. Let pepper rest on baking sheet, covered by bowl, 5 to 10 minutes, then remove bowl and let pepper rest until cool enough to handle.
When pepper has cooled, use kitchen towel to gently wipe off charred pepper skin. Remove stem and seeds from pepper and discard along with removed skin, then chop pepper into very small pieces.

Transfer chopped poblano pepper to large mixing bowl. Add 24 ounces frozen corn kernels, 1 medium jalapeño pepper, ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro, ¼ cup chopped red onion, 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice, and 1 teaspoon salt.
Gently stir all ingredients together until well blended. Taste salsa and adjust lemon juice, lime juice, and salt as desired.
When satisfied with flavor, serve salsa with preferred dipping vessels. Alternately, cover bowl with lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour, then serve as desired.

Corn: This recipe calls for frozen corn because that's what Chipotle uses! If you'd rather use fresh corn, you're of course welcome to. I recommend boiling the fresh corn first or cooking it in the air fryer for more of that roasted flavor. (Chipotle doesn't roast their corn, though.)
Heat: Using just one jalapeño with the seeds removed makes this salsa fairly tame. For a hotter salsa, use 2 jalapeño peppers and the seeds from each. If you don't like heat at all, omit the jalapeño entirely.
Leftovers: Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 5 days.