Texas Caviar (Cowboy Caviar) is a fun side or chip dip made with black eyed peas, black beans, corn, tomatoes, jalapenos with a cilantro lime vinaigrette in just 15 minutes!
We love side dishes especially ones we can enjoy as the weather starts to warm up including Cole Slaw, Macaroni Salad, Pasta Salad, Baked Beans and Potato Salad.
Texas Caviar (Cowboy Caviar)
Texas Caviar, which funnily enough is also called Cowboy Caviar, isn’t exactly authentically Texan or authentically Cowboy, but it is similar to a Corn Salsa like my Chipotle Corn Salsa that is super popular on the site.
It’s made of lots of fun Tex-Mex vegetables tossed with a Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette and it doesn’t just have to be used as a Texas Caviar dip. Many people like to use this recipe as a topping. If you’re making grilled chicken or steak or any other easy proteins for dinner this would make a great side dish.
You can also use Cowboy Caviar as a topping for proteins or chicken or beef burrito bowls.
Why is it called Cowboy Caviar?
The dish was first created at a Neiman Marcus in Houston, Texas. It was served at a New Years Eve party at a country club and to be funny they called it Cowboy Caviar to make it sound like a fancy appetizer with a humorous twist.
Can you add avocado to this Cowboy Caviar Recipe?
Yes you can add avocados to the recipe even though it isn’t a traditional ingredient to add to the recipe. If you’d like to add avocados to this Cowboy Caviar you can chop them into chunks roughly the size of your tomatoes then toss them gently with the dressing before adding them to the rest of the dip.
In case you do add them to this Cowboy Caviar you may want to increase the amount of dressing you create for this dip as well. Avocados as they are added and tossed will naturally create a creamier and denser texture which will make the Cowboy Caviar feel drier even though it has enough dressing.
What other vegetables can you add to Texas Caviar?
- Red Bell Pepper
- Chili Pepper
- Pimento
- Red onion
- Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)
- Avocado
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What can you serve with Texas Caviar?
The most immediate answer would be tortilla chips, my Chipotle Lime Chips (Copycat) would be amazing because they have a Lime and Salt flavoring that complements this Texas Caviar Recipe well.
Texas Caviar can be a great side dish for a number of recipes including Easy Restaurant Salsa, quesadillas, Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken Fajitas, carne asada and Mexican Rice.
Tips for making the perfect Cowboy Caviar:
- Make sure you drain and rinse the beans well to remove the starchy liquid.
- Remove the seeds and membrane from the jalapeño peppers to reduce the heat in your recipe.
- If you’d like to add a bit of spice but not head add some chili powder, cayenne pepper or hot sauce.
- If raw red onion is too strong a flavor for you, soak the red onions in ice water for ten minutes, then dry them off before adding them to your recipe.
- Allow the salad to sit for at least one hour before serving to let the vegetables marinate in the dressing. Since there is no lettuce in the recipe there won’t be any wilting.
- If you want to make a fun and easy salsa recipe for a party you can mix this recipe (minus the tomatoes) with a traditional salsa to make a bean salsa recipe you can also serve with tortilla chips.
- Add additional colors of bell peppers to the recipe to increase the fun colors in the recipe. Red, orange and yellow are all sweet bell peppers but remember green ones have a bitter undertone.
More easy side dishes to enjoy:
Ingredients
- 1 cup corn
- 1 yellow onion , diced
- 1 green bell pepper , diced
- 1 jalapeno , deseeded and deveined and minced
- 1 bunch green onions , diced
- 1 pint grape tomatoes , quartered
- 15 ounces black eyed peas , drained and rinsed
- 15 ounces black beans , drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup cilantro , chopped
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 cloves garlic
Instructions
- Add the corn, onions, bell peppers, jalapeno, green onions, grape tomatoes, black eyed peas, black beans and cilantro together in a large bowl.
- To a food processor add the olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper, cumin and garlic and process until the garlic is smooth then toss it with the ingredients in the bowl and let sit for at least 1 hour before serving.
Nutrition
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You mention corn and its pictured in the gorgeous photos but its not on the ingredient list. Think I’ll try using an equal amount as the black beans.
Looks delicious, can’t wait to make it this weekend!
Thanks for catching that! You’ll want to use 1 cup of corn for this recipe. I’ve updated the recipe card.
Looks amazing! Can this be canned?
Thanks! I’ve never tried canning this before so I’m not really sure, sorry.
Just made this for a family party. I used great northern beans in lieu of black eyed peas and added some mango and pineapple for an extra pop of flavor. It looks and smells wonderful! Can’t wait for everyone to try it, thanks for the recipe.
Sounds amazing!
I love how colorful this is! I can’t wait to make it!
Enjoy!
I make this for all of the potlucks I attend now, and everyone always raves about it! Thank you for the awesome recipe!
You’re welcome, Allyson! Thanks for the 5 stars.
So full of tasty ingredients! I just want to keep on eating!
I won’t judge! Go right ahead.
One of my favorites, such a delicious classic and thoroughly addictive!
Definitely, it’s hard to stop once you start.
This was so easy and so perfect for game day!