flank steak with elote salsa

Hi, everyone! My name is Caroline Chambers, but most people call me Caro. I’m writing to you from my home in Carmel Valley, California, and am excited to be filling in for my dear friend Danielle this week.

I write a newsletter called What To Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking and it’s for busy people who like great food. Every week I share a new complete-meal dinner recipe that dirties minimal dishes, (almost always!) takes under an hour, and tastes amazing. Along with each recipe, I share really thorough notes with info like how to tweak the meal if you’re feeding picky-eating children, how to make the recipe gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, or vegetarian, and what to do with your leftovers. I also give substitution ideas for every ingredient. I never want someone to have to dash back to the grocery store because they forgot to buy garlic powder. There are swaps for that!

After I had the first of my now four sons in 2019, I found myself uninspired in the kitchen, despite being someone who has always loved to cook and was then working as a professional recipe developer (before that I worked in a test kitchen and before that I owned a catering company!). I was too tired in the throes of postpartum to cook my favorite meals, so I began taking shortcuts and trying out hacks to make cooking less of a chore — like eliminating unnecessary steps that dirtied an extra bowl. I happily discovered that the food tasted just as good! I started sharing my hacky-yet-delicious recipes on Instagram, then launched What To Cook in December 2020.

I always say that having kids has made me better at my job, because with each additional mouth to feed, I have less time and energy to devote to cooking dinner, and so my recipes get more and more efficient. My new cookbook, Make It Fast, exemplifies this, with 100 complete-meal dinner recipes that take no more than 30 minutes of active cook time. They’re very weeknight friendly, and yet are special enough to make for company — today’s recipe included!

Speaking of, let’s chat about what we’re cooking! This is one of my favorite meals from the 15-minute chapter of Make It Fast.

I first tasted authentic elote — grilled corn coated with mayo, Cotija, and tons of chili powder, lime juice, and cilantro — years ago on a street in Sayulita, Mexico, during a stroll from the beach back to our $40/night Airbnb. Street vendors set up full grills to perfectly char the corn to order before slathering it in all the toppings. I can’t even count all the ways I’ve remixed elote since that trip, but this elote salsa served with perfectly grilled flank steak has to be one of my favorites. Grilling, IMO, is the ultimate move on a night when you don’t feel like cooking!

To make this recipe dairy-free, just omit the Cotija cheese, or swap it out for dairy-free feta. If you hate steak, use chicken breasts or thighs instead — just cook them until they reach 165°F internally. And if you don’t own a grill (or if it’s too hot out there to turn yours on!), check out my note for how to cook it indoors beneath the recipe.

I hope this hits the spot for you this week! For more of my recipes, subscribe to my newsletter — I share a new complete-meal dinner recipe with paid subscribers every Saturday morning, and free subscribers get access to the first recipe I send each month. You can also pre-order Make It Fast, follow me on IG, or check out one of my other cookbooks.

Thank you so much for having me, Danielle 🤍

xx

Caro

By Caroline Chambers

Serves 4

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 1 lime

• 2 teaspoons taco seasoning

• Kosher salt

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds flank steak

• 4 ears corn, shucked

• 1/2 small red onion

• 1/2 bunch cilantro, plus more if needed for serving

• Optional: 2 ounces Cotija or brine-packed feta cheese (omit or swap with DF feta to make this meal dairy-free)

Heat an outdoor grill to medium-high (400° to 450°F).

Place 1/2 cup mayonnaise in a large bowl. Halve 1 lime and squeeze in the juice. Add 2 teaspoons taco seasoning and 1 teaspoon kosher salt and stir to combine. Transfer half this mixture to a medium bowl.

Add 1 1/2 to 2 pounds flank steak and 4 shucked ears of corn to the mayo mixture that’s left in the large bowl — yes, it’s okay for them to touch. Toss to coat well. Sprinkle with a big pinch of salt.

Transfer the steak and the corn to the grill. Grill the steak for 5 minutes, then flip it and grill for about 5 minutes longer, until the meat reaches 130°F internally for medium-rare, 140°F for medium, or 150°F for medium-well. Grill the corn, rotating it as it cooks to grill all sides, for about 9 minutes total. Discard the used marinade.

Meanwhile, finely chop 1/2 small red onion and 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves and tender stems (about 1 cup) and add them to the UNUSED mayo mixture. If using, crumble 2 ounces Cotija into the bowl.

Transfer the corn and steak to a cutting board. Let the steak rest while you slice the corn off the cob (see the “Learn” tip below) and add it to the bowl with the mayo mixture. Toss to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning (you’ll likely need to add a big pinch of salt!).

Slice the steak against the grain (see the “Learn” tip below for more details on this), arrange it on a serving platter, and serve with the elote salsa over top. Finish with more cilantro if you’re feeling fancy.

• Tip: No grill? Use a cast-iron skillet instead. Cook the corn first over medium heat (make sure the skillet is piping hot first!), then crank the heat up to medium-high and cook the steak.

• Learn: To slice the corn kernels off of the cob, lay the corn on its side — don’t stand it up on its end — and run a sharp knife along the length of the cob. Now those kernels will fall neatly onto your cutting board instead of flying all over the place. • If you look closely at a steak, you can see the muscle fibers; they’re the lines running through the meat like tiny ropes. When you slice steak “against the grain,” you’re cutting across those fibers, not parallel to them. This makes the steak more tender and much easier to chew.

• Shortcut: Use a bag of frozen corn instead of grilling and cutting kernels off the cob. Warm a little oil in a skillet over high heat until it shimmers, add the corn, and cook until it’s charred in spots. You can even stir the rest of the elote salsa ingredients straight into the skillet off the heat to save on dishes!

• Extra extra: For deeper flavor, let the steak and corn marinate in the mayo mixture for a few hours or even overnight (in the fridge if more than an hour-ish)!

Recipe reprinted with permission from What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking: Make it Fast by Caroline Chambers © 2026. Published by Union Square & Co., an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group. Photography by Erin Scott.