Cowboy Caviar Recipe

This easy recipe for Cowboy Caviar is fun, fresh, colorful, and endlessly adaptable. It makes a great dip, salad, side dish, or even a topping for grilled meats. Always a potluck favorite!

Cowboy Caviar is a popular Midwestern take on salsa. With a few cans of beans and corn, a pile of crunchy fresh veggies, and a sweet-and-spicy dressing, it might just be the perfect summer appetizer/salad/side dish.

I love it with tortilla chips, but it makes an excellent taco, burrito, or quesadilla topping. Or, serve it with grilled fish or chicken. It’s also delicious stirred into cooked rice or pasta. There’s so many ways to enjoy Cowboy Caviar: just pick one and get started!

At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe. Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.

Dried beans are extremely economical and much lower in sodium. Cook each bean variety separately, as cooking times may vary depending on size and age of the dried bean. How many dried beans makes a can? You need to cook ½ to ¾ cup of dried beans for every 15-ounce can of beans the recipe calls for.

Add a few chopped seeded jalapeños or serrano chiles to the salad for a little kick.

Shrimp Ceviche is a refreshing salad made with raw shrimp “cooked” in citrus juice and tossed with fresh herbs and vegetables. It’s delicious on tostadas, crackers, or tortilla chips with plenty of hot sauce!

Cowboy Caviar

This easy recipe for Cowboy Caviar is fun, fresh, colorful, and endlessly adaptable. It makes a great dip, salad, side dish, or even a topping for grilled meats. Always a potluck favorite!

Prep: 15min

Total: 20min

Yield: 12

Serving Size: 1 cup

Nutrition Facts: calories 185 kcal, servingSize 1 cup, Carbohydrate 22 g, Protein 5 g, Fat 10 g, Saturated Fat 1 g, Sodium 201 mg, Fiber 5 g, Sugar 7 g

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (or to taste (see note 1))
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar ((see note 2))
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• Salt
• 1 pound Roma tomatoes (seeded and diced)
• 1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas (drained and rinsed)
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 (11 ounce) can sweet corn (drained (see note 3))
• 1 red onion (diced)
• 1 green bell pepper (diced)
• 1 red bell pepper (diced)
• 1 cup fresh cilantro (or fresh parsley, chopped, from 1 bunch)

Instruction:

1. To make the dressing, in a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, sugar, white wine vinegar, chili powder, and salt to taste (I like 1 teaspoon).
2. In a large bowl, add tomatoes, black-eyed peas, black beans, corn, red onion, bell peppers, and cilantro. Drizzle with the dressing and stir to combine. Cover and chill until serving time.

Cowboy Caviar

A fresh, simple dip that can be thrown together in under 15 minutes! This Cowboy Caviar makes a great side dish for any picnic, potluck, or party, and is a great way to use up your summer produce!

Prep: 20min

Total: 20min

Yield: 12

Serving Size: 1 serving

Nutrition Facts: calories 214 kcal, Carbohydrate 23 g, Protein 6 g, Fat 11 g, Saturated Fat 1 g, Sodium 248 mg, Fiber 8 g, Sugar 3 g, servingSize 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 3 Roma tomatoes (seeds removed, diced)
• 2 ripe avocados (diced)
• ⅓ cup red onion (diced)
• 15 oz black beans (rinsed and drained)
• 15 oz black eyed peas (rinsed and drained)
• 1 ½ cups frozen sweet corn
• 1 bell pepper (diced (I used half a green and half a red, but color doesn’t matter))
• 1 jalapeno pepper (seeds removed, diced into very small pieces)
• ⅓ cup Cilantro (finely chopped)
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lime juice (fresh preferred)
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• Tortilla chips (for serving)

Instruction:

1. Combine tomatoes, avocado, onion, black beans, black eyed peas, corn, pepper, jalapeno pepper, and cilantro in a large bowl. Toss/stir well so that ingredients are well-combined.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, red wine vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
3. Pour dressing over other ingredients and stir/toss very well.
4. Keep refrigerated. If not serving immediately, be sure to toss/stir well before serving.

Cowboy Caviar

This Cowboy Caviar recipe is adapted from The Well Plated Cookbook by Erin Clarke. Served with tortilla chips, it’s a fantastic party appetizer, but it’s also delicious as a salad. Toss it with greens, or enjoy it on its own.

Prep: 25min

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 1/2 cups cooked black-eyed peas (drained and rinsed)
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes (halved)
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 1 red bell pepper (stemmed, seeded and diced)
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 1 medium jalapeño pepper (finely chopped)
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 large avocados (pitted and diced)
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• tortilla chips (for serving)
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• ½ teaspoon honey
• 1 clove garlic (minced)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Instruction:

1. In a large bowl, stir together the black beans, black-eyed peas, tomatoes, corn, bell pepper, onion, jalapeno, and lime juice.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the the vinegar, oil, cumin, cayenne, honey, garlic, salt, and pepper. Pour the dressing over the bean mixture. Fold in the avocado and cilantro, and season to taste.
3. If time allows, refrigerate for 1 hour to allow the flavors to marry. Serve with tortilla chips.

Healthy Cowboy Caviar

This cowboy caviar recipe (also known as Texas caviar) is made from scratch with all-natural ingredients! Serve it as a dip, salsa or salad—it’ll be a hit at your next party. Recipe yields a lot of “caviar,” about 8 cups.

Prep: 30min

Total: 30min

Yield: 8

Serving Size: 1 cup

Nutrition Facts: servingSize 1 cup, calories 261 calories, Sugar 3.5 g, Sodium 767.2 mg, Fat 12.4 g, Saturated Fat 1.8 g, Trans Fat 0.1 g, Carbohydrate 31.1 g, Fiber 9.6 g, Protein 9.2 g, Cholesterol 0 mg

Ingredients:

• 2 cans (14 ounces each) black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained, or 3 cups cooked black-eyed peas
• 1 can (14 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained, or 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or defrosted frozen corn kernels (about 2 ears of corn), or 1 can (14 ounces) corn, drained
• 1 1/2 cups chopped ripe tomatoes (about 3/4 pound)
• 1 medium red, orange or yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 3/4 cup chopped red onion (about 1/2 small red onion)
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, leaves and stems
• 1 to 2 jalapeños, ribs removed, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 avocado (optional)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar or lime juice
• 2 medium cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, to taste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup or honey
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instruction:

1. In a large serving bowl, combine the drained black-eyed peas, black beans, corn, chopped tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, cilantro and jalapeño. If you’ll be including avocado, wait to dice it until you’re ready to serve the dip, so it doesn’t turn brown in the meantime.
2. In a cup, whisk together the dressing ingredients until well blended. Drizzle the dressing over the serving bowl and toss until well mixed. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper. If you’d like the salad to have more of a pickled flavor, add another tablespoon of vinegar, or for more richness, add another tablespoon or two of olive oil.
3. For best flavor, let the mixture marinate for at least 20 minutes before serving. If you’re adding avocado, mix it in just before serving.

Viral Cowboy Caviar

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