This Healthy Elote Dip is a great addition to your next weeknight family dinner or a party favorite at the next potluck. It’s also a GREAT way to introduce your kids to newer flavors and textures. The creamy garlic sauce and crispy corn kernels are plenty of “firsts” for kiddos, while still being a kid-friendly dish!
Help get your kids interested
In general, dips are one of the best ways to get kids more interested in other foods on their plates. With this healthy elote corn dip, it might initially be paired with tortilla chips or potato chips. But once it becomes a family favorite, it can be served with carrots, celery, or cucumbers. Your children will be WAY more likely to pick up a veggie if it’s covered in their beloved elote corn. Try our other dips here!
If your child is not interested in dips (perhaps the “wet” textures are not their thing), feel free to reduce the cottage cheese in this recipe. This will make it more of a seasoned corn, rather than a dippable spread. They will still get introduced to all the new flavors and spices!
Now let’s talk about why this elote corn dip is labeled “healthy”.
A traditional elote corn dip uses either sour cream or mayonnaise. Both of those things are not “bad” for you or your children, but they do contain a very high level of saturated fat, and therefore should be limited to smaller serving sizes.
I’m all about being able to maximize serving size and eat high volumes. So swapping the sour cream and mayo for cottage cheese leads to lower fat and high protein for our growing kiddos.
Not to mention, corn is loaded with vitamin C, vitamin A, and plenty of fiber. Corn is also one of the highest-protein vegetables out there. It’s got 3 grams of protein per ear of corn! For some reason, corn is sometimes demonized in the health food industry as being an “empty carbohydrate” or just a starch. When in reality, it is a great vegetable option for you and your children!
Healthy Elote Dip
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 can corn drained, 15oz
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese
- 1 lime , juiced
- 1/3 cup cotija cheese grated
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- optional: 1 bunch cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Place the olive oil and drained corn on a skillet. Cook medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes, or until the corn starts to brown. Once brown, remove from heat and let the corn cool.
- In a food processor or blender, blend the cottage cheese and lime juice until smooth and creamy.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cooled corn, smooth cottage cheese mixture, cotija cheese, garlic powder, chili powder, and chopped cilantro.