Copycat Rubios Mexican Street Corn Bowl

Our family loves to go to Rubio's Coastal Grill. Such good food, and it's right across the street from us. However, as with many dining out experiences nowadays, it's not the cheapest thing. So I tried a dish new to me from Rubio's and thought, hmmm I bet I could try to make this at home. And I did! 

The boys had never had the original recipe, but they were game since I seemed so excited about it. They LOVED it. Doug also tried the restaurant version the next time I ordered it and he said mine was spot-on.

I fully admit I didn't come up with all of this from scratch. I'm not THAT good. I found some of the sauces online or modified other recipes to fit what I needed. But amounts needed to get a balance and finding the pieces that fit together was harder than you might think.

• 1 box (6.9 oz) Zatarains cilantro lime rice, plus butter and water called for on box
• 1-2 cans (15.25 oz each) whole kernel corn, drained, save the liquid
• 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1/4 cup white onion, diced
• 1 cup grilled chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces (we chopped Tyson Grilled & Ready strips)
• 1 tsp chile lime Tajin seasoning
• 3/4 cup Chipotle Cream Sauce
• guacamole, optional

Mexican Street Corn Sauce

• 1/4 cup Mexican Agria Sour Cream
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup Cotija cheese, crumbled
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 lime, juice and zest needed
• 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder

Mojo Sauce

• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 4 Tbsp lime juice
• 1 serrano chile or jalapeno, stem removed, seeded and chopped
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 cup cilantro sprigs
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt

Begin cooking cilantro lime rice according to package instructions. Rice may be warm or cool for this recipe. Meanwhile, using a cast iron pan, blacken the corn for about 3-5 minutes, stirring often. Add back liquid from can as needed (if corn begins to stick to pan). Remove from heat once blackened.

Mix together Mexican Street Corn ingredients in a medium bowl. Blend Mojo Sauce ingredients together in small blender. 

Divide rice and lettuce between three bowls. Add about 2/3 cup of corn to each. Top with 1/3 cup chicken. Sprinkle Tajin seasoning as desired on each serving. Divide 1/4 cup of Mexican Street Corn sauce and 1/4 cup Chipotle Cream sauce among the three bowls. Add about 2 tsp Mojo sauce to each bowl. Top each bowl with 2 Tbsp white onion and about 1 Tbsp guacamole. Mix or eat as is. 

Leftovers are still good when cold. 

Serves 3

NOTES: You can make the sauces ahead of time and speed up the day of process a lot. You will also have plenty of sauce leftover (especially the mojo sauce). The mojo sauce you may be able to find pre-made if you look in the right places. I, apparently, didn't, so I made it from scratch. 

Also, you can make this recipe with whatever type of protein you'd like. The restaurant lets you choose from beef, to pork, to chicken, to shrimp, to veggies. Make it your own!

Recipes adapted from FoodWithFeeling.com, Food.com, and BonAppetit.com