The BEST Cowboy Caviar Recipe

Cowboy Caviar (AKA Texas Caviar) is a delicious side dish or dip with black beans, black-eyed peas, veggies, and a chili-lime vinaigrette. Perfect as a side salad, appetizer, or potluck dish.

Try some of my other bean salads next — this garbanzo bean salad, quinoa black bean salad, or chickpea salad.

The Best Cowboy Caviar

Ingredients In Cowboy Caviar

• Veggies: One of the “secrets” to really good Cowboy Caviar is cutting veggies small so they mix well with beans and fit nicely on chips!
• Beans: Black beans and black eyed peas are the star of the show. Used canned beans or cook up your own. One can of beans is equivalent to one and a half cups cooked beans.
• Dressing: The dressing is light and simple, but packs a punch! It ties all the flavors together and brings out the fresh flavors of our veggies and heartiness of the beans. Make sure to shake it thoroughly before using.

How To Make Cowboy Caviar

There’s nothing tricky about making this dip or salad, but it does take some chopping. 

1. Start by prepping the veggies and draining the beans. Add everything into a large serving bowl.
2. Next prepare the dressing by adding the ingredients to a Mason jar and shaking to combine.
3. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and gently toss to combine.
4. Serve it as is or (how we like it best) with some good tortilla chips!

Tips For Success

• The longer red onions sit in the salad, the stronger their flavor gets. If you’re sensitive, add them right before serving or just to the portion you’ll eat if you plan to have leftovers.
• Dice the avocado last, right before serving, to keep it fresh. Avocados brown quickly, so avoid chopping them too early. Don’t add avocado to any Cowboy Caviar you plan to save for leftovers.
• Control the heat: For extra spice, leave some seeds and ribs in the jalapeño or add a pinch of cayenne pepper to the dressing. For less heat, use mild McCormick® chili powder and remove the ribs and seeds from the jalapeño before dicing.

Serving Suggestions

• As a side salad or appetizer
• With tortilla chips as a dip
• As a salad, spooned over romaine lettuce
• Serve Cowboy Caviar into lettuce wraps or a burrito
• Layer over cilantro–lime rice for a vegetarian entree, sprinkled with some crumbled queso fresco or cotija cheese
• Add in 1 to 1-1/2 cups cooked diced chicken or shrimp for additional protein.

More Easy Recipes

• Mango Salsa with avocado and red onion
• Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad with a lemon dressing
• Cucumber Salad with a balsamic dressing
• Chicken Salad creamy chicken salad with pecans and dried cranberries
• Costco Kale Salad with a creamy poppy seed dressing

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5 from 9 votes

Cowboy Caviar

By Chelsea Lords

Cowboy Caviar (AKA Texas Caviar) is a zesty mix of black beans, black-eyed peas, veggies, and a tangy chili-lime vinaigrette—perfect as an appetizer, a side, or potluck hit!

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 servings as an appetizer

Equipment

• Jar or other sealable container

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

Salad/Dip

• ▢ 1-3/4 cups sweet corn fresh or frozen
• ▢ 1-3/4 cups cherry tomatoes quartered, 1 (10-ounce) container
• ▢ 1 cup diced bell peppers I use 1/2 red and 1/2 green pepper
• ▢ 1/3 cup diced red onion see note 1
• ▢ 2 tablespoons finely diced jalapeño see note 2
• ▢ 1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro measured after chopping; 1 bunch
• ▢ 1 (15.25-ounce) can black beans drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 (15.5-ounce) can black-eyed peas drained and rinsed
• ▢ 2 ripe avocados 1 cup, optional

Dressing

• ▢ 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• ▢ 1 large lime
• ▢ 1 teaspoon chili powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon sugar
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 1/3 cup olive oil
• ▢ Salt and pepper
• ▢ Tortilla chips for serving

Instructions 

• Aim to dice the vegetables to roughly the same size as the beans for the best results. If using fresh corn, cut it off the cob. Sauté fresh or frozen corn in a drizzle of olive oil over medium-high heat, about 5–8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cooked. Let cool completely before adding. Quarter cherry tomatoes, dice bell peppers, and finely dice jalapeño and cilantro.
• Add all the prepped vegetables to a large bowl with the drained and rinsed black beans and black-eyed peas.
• Zest and juice lime to get 1/4 teaspoon zest and 2 tablespoons juice. Add zest and juice along with all other dressing ingredients to a mason jar. Seal the jar and shake until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper (I add 1/2 teaspoon each).
• Right before serving, dice the optional avocados and gently stir them into the caviar. Drizzle with dressing. (Feel free to use less dressing if desired.) Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more salt if needed (I add up to 1/2 teaspoon more salt).

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: To reduce the sharpness of the red onion, soak the diced onions in salted ice water for 10 minutes. Drain thoroughly before adding to the dish.

Note 2: To control the heat, remove the ribs and seeds from the jalapeño pepper. For more heat, leave some seeds in.

Storage: If not serving immediately, store the dressing separately from the caviar and add the avocados just before eating. For leftovers, only add dressing and avocado to the portion being served and store the components separately.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 165kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 13mg | Potassium: 314mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1061IU | Vitamin C: 53mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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