Cowboy caviar (also known as Texas caviar) is a popular Southern dish composed of beans, corn, crunchy vegetables, and fresh cilantro. A tangy lime dressing is the perfect finishing touch, introducing lots of zippy flavor that brightens the hearty and fresh ingredients. It’s a great recipe for any gathering, from barbecues to casual dinners at home.
Texas caviar is super versatile. Serve it alongside queso or pico de gallo as a dip with tortilla chips, use it as a topping for dinner on carne asada tacos, or enjoy it as a side salad alongside your favorite entrees like sauteed shrimp. It is also easily adaptable to suit your taste. You can add heat, different veggies, and even fruit to change it up. After developing this recipe, I’d eat it every so often throughout the day and noticed the flavors really deepened with time. So I suggest making it up to 24 hours in advance for the ingredients to meld perfectly.
Table of Contents
Key Ingredients
Here are the basics that you’ll need to make the best cowboy caviar. You can find the full list of ingredients along with measurements in the recipe card below.
Beans — you need black-eyes peas and black beans for this simple dip. Feel free to use canned or home-cooked beans, like my Instant Pot black beans. If swapping in home-cooked beans, one 15-ounce can of beans equals about 1½ cups of cooked beans.
Tomatoes — any ripe, but still firm, tomato variety works well for this dip. This is a great opportunity to use any fresh tomatoes you have on hand in the summer. If making this outside of tomato season, I recommend using quartered cherry tomatoes since they have the best flavor of store-bought tomatoes.
Corn — you can use fresh corn that’s been boiled or grilled (see my corn salad recipe and elote recipe for tips for how to boil and grill corn), canned corn, or frozen corn kernels that have been thawed.
Bell pepper — red, orange, or yellow bell peppers work well, or you can use a combination for even more color!
Red onion — red onion adds a slight bite to the Texas caviar. If you prefer a milder onion flavor, soak the chopped onion in cold water for about 10 minutes. Drain well before adding it to the other ingredients.
Cilantro — this fresh herb adds a lovely flavor to the dip. If you aren’t a fan of cilantro, feel free to swap it for basil, chives, or Italian parsley.
Lime dressing — for the zingy dressing, make sure you use fresh lime juice. You’ll mix this together with red wine vinegar, garlic, sugar, and olive oil, but the freshness of the juice will make a big difference in flavor over bottled juice.
Pro Tips For Making The Best Cowboy Caviar
Drain the canned beans well. Rinse and drain the beans about an hour beforehand, if you have time, to remove as much moisture as possible. Not draining the beans well can make the salad watery and less flavorful.
Evenly chop your veggies for a uniform salsa that scoops easily. This helps you get a little bit of everything in each bite. Check out my post on how to cut an onion for tips on chopping onions into small pieces.
If adding avocado, stir it in just before serving. While avocado is not a traditional ingredient in cowboy caviar, I love the flavor and creaminess it brings. When I tested this recipe, I noticed the avocado started to turn mushy and unappetizing over time, as it sat in the fridge. Be sure to add it just before serving and coat it well with the dressing so that it doesn’t oxidize and turn brown.
Mix the dressing in a Mason jar as an easy prep step. Add all of the dressing ingredients from Step 2 to a jar, tightly seal, then shake to combine. You can then store the dressing right in the jar in the fridge for several hours or days before making the salad. Simply shake it again, and pour the dressing over the veggies when assembling cowboy caviar.
How To Make Cowboy Caviar
1. Add the salad ingredients to a large mixing bowl (except the avocado, if using).
2. Whisk together the salad dressing ingredients (minus the olive oil) in a small bowl. While whisking, slowly pour in the olive oil.
3. Pour the dressing over the black-eyed pea mixture.
4. Stir to combine. Let the mixture marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving. If adding avocado, gently stir it in right before serving.
Cowboy Caviar Recipe
Equipment
- Large bowl
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 1 (15-ounce/425g) can black-eyed peas drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce/425g) can black beans drained and rinsed
- 2 cups diced tomatoes (300g)
- 1 cup corn kernels fresh, canned or frozen and thawed (170g)
- 1 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper seeded and chopped (180g)
- ½ cup red onion chopped (75g)
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 avocado diced, optional
For the Dressing:
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil (60mL)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the black eyed peas, black beans, tomatoes, corn, bell pepper, red onion, and cilantro.
- In a small bowl, whisk to combine the lime juice, red wine vinegar, garlic, salt, sugar and black pepper. While whisking, slowly add the olive oil.
- Pour the dressing over the black eyed pea mixture. Stir gently to combine.
- Let the mixture marinate for at least 30 minutes (or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator) before serving. If adding avocado, add it just before serving and stir well to coat it in the dressing. Season with more salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
- This dip benefits from a short rest time before serving. Even a quick 30 minutes will vastly improve the flavors, and the ingredients have time to mingle and absorb the seasonings.
Nutrition
Variations To Try
I developed this dip recipe to be super versatile! Here are some good ingredient swaps to try, and ways to play with the flavor to add your own spin to cowboy caviar:
- Bean swaps: Pinto beans, chickpeas, navy beans, and kidney beans all work great!
- Add other veggies: Try green bell pepper, white onion, cucumber, or even pickled red onions.
- Add fruit for a sweet twist: For extra color and sweetness, chop up mango, pineapple, ripe peaches, or strawberries.
- Sweetener swap-outs: Honey or maple syrup works well in place of granulated sugar.
- Add extra flavor: You can add up to 1 teaspoon of cumin to the dip for an earthy flavor. This is especially good if you plan to serve it alongside tacos or a Tex-Mex dish.
- Make it spicy: Add up to 1 teaspoon of chili powder or up to ½ teaspoon of cayenne for a little spice. A chopped jalapeño or diced picked jalapeños add good heat as well.
Serving Suggestions
There are so many ways to serve Texas caviar! It works as a simple dip, side dish, or side salad! One of my favorite ways to serve it is with tortilla chips, especially when I’m entertaining.
When I want to use it as a side, it works very well next to grilled chicken, BBQ chicken, or seafood like garlic shrimp and air fryer cod. Cowboy caviar also makes a delicious fresh topping for your chicken burger, air fryer chicken breast, cilantro lime chicken, steak tacos, or Instant Pot chicken tacos. You can even turn it into a salad by serving it over a bed of lettuce or sprinkling it over a taco salad.
Make Ahead and Storage Tips
Make-ahead: Since cowboy caviar gets better with time, you can make it up to 24 hours in advance and store it in the refrigerator. Give it a stir before serving. You can also make the dressing up to 3 days in advance and store it in the fridge in a Mason jar or other airtight container.
Storage: Leftovers will keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge. It might release liquid as it sits, which you can drain before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
While it can technically be frozen, I find that the texture of the veggies suffers when it thaws out, losing their crunch and becoming mushy. If you want to freeze it, store it in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 months and thaw overnight in the refrigerator. If you add avocado, avoid freezing the dip as avocado becomes very mushy when thawed.
If you’ve tried this cowboy caviar recipe, then don’t forget to rate it and let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
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