While we made esquites as a Mexican street corn frozen corn recipe, you can definitely substitute drained canned corn or fresh corn off the cob (cooked first of course). Ears of corn yield about 3/4 cup of corn each. You can also make a corn on the cob version by drizzling the dressing over freshly cooked ears of corn. The roasted corn flavor from the frozen corn we used adds a nice zing but it isn't essential if you can't find roasted frozen corn at your local grocery store. Trader Joes DOES carry roasted frozen corn kernels but I haven't checked at other grocery stores.