This fresh and colorful Cowboy Caviar recipe combines two types of beans, delicious summer vegetables, and a sweet and tangy lime vinaigrette dressing to make a bold and versatile dish that you’ll find yourself making all summer long. It’s a great chip dip, party appetizer, taco topper, salad add-on, or just a simple side dish. Plus, Cowboy Caviar holds up great in the fridge, so it has become my go-to healthy meal prep. I literally never get tired of it!
What is Cowboy Caviar?
Cowboy Caviar, sometimes called Texas Caviar or Mexican Caviar, is like a cross between a bean salad and a fresh salsa. It combines two types of beans, black beans and black-eyed peas, with a colorful medley of fresh vegetables and a tangy balsamic-lime vinaigrette. It can be served as a side dish, or a garnish for any number of foods like tacos, salads, grilled meats, and more.
Ingredients for Cowboy Caviar
Cowboy caviar combines a medley of super fresh, colorful, and vibrant ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make this super fresh bean salad:
- Beans: We use a combination of black beans and black-eyed peas for maximum color. You can substitute pinto beans for the black-eyed peas if needed.
- Peppers: A mix of bell pepper and jalapeño add a deliciously fresh crunch to the salad. You can use any color bell pepper, yellow or orange add the most color to the cowboy caviar.
- Onion: Red onion gives the salad a nice spicy bite, more color, and even more crunch! You can substitute with green onion if you need a milder flavor.
- Cilantro: A handful of fresh cilantro adds even more color to this bold mix and a breath of fresh green flavor. If you can’t eat cilantro, I suggest adding a little green onion.
- Dressing: We make our own lime vinaigrette for this Cowboy Caviar recipe using olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lime, cumin, chili powder, salt, and sugar. But, if you’re in a rush, this salad also tastes great using bottled Italian dressing!
Where Do You Find Black-Eyed Peas?
Because black-eyed peas are technically a “pea” (vegetable) they’re sometimes found with the canned vegetables rather than the beans. You can also often find them in the freezer aisle, although you’ll want to boil those black-eyed peas first, according to the cooking instructions on the package. And if you can’t find black-eyed peas, you can substitute pinto beans or navy beans.
Cowboy Caviar Variations
This Cowboy Caviar recipe is extremely versatile and there are tons of other ingredients you can add to make it your own. Here are some other ingredients you can add:
- Avocado for a creamy finish
- A dash or two of hot sauce to make it extra spicy
- Skip the jalapeño to make a mild cowboy caviar
- Use green onion in place of the red onion to make it more mild, or in place of the cilantro if cilantro isn’t your thing!
- Sweet corn adds more color and texture to the mix and can be a great low-cost substitution for yellow bell pepper
- Fresh garlic adds a savory-spicy kick!
- Add canned hominy (drained) for more color and texture
- Use garbanzo beans in place of any of the beans
How Long Does it Last?
Well, if you don’t eat it all in one sitting (it can happen!), this Cowboy Caviar recipe holds up extremely well in the refrigerator and will stay good in the refrigerator for about 4-5 days. While the vegetables will let off a little water, most of the ingredients are very sturdy. Just be sure to stir the salad before serving to redistribute the dressing. This salad will probably not freeze well, due to the fresh herbs and vegetables.
How to Serve Cowboy Caviar
There are SO many ways to eat Cowboy Caviar that you’ll probably find yourself adding it to everything you eat. But here are a few ideas anyway:
- Serve it as a side dish with dinner
- Use as a chunky dip for tortilla chips
- Use it as a topping for tacos
- Stuff it into a burrito or as part of a burrito bowl
- Sprinkle a spoonful or two over a green salad
- Add it on top of scrambled eggs
- Use it as a quesadilla filling
…and so much more. If you have a favorite way to eat your Cowboy Caviar, feel free to share it with the rest of us in the comments below!
Cowboy Caviar
Servings 10 (1/2 cup each)Ingredients
DRESSING*
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 fresh lime (2 Tbsp juice) ($0.33)
- 1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp chili powder** ($0.05)
- 1 tsp ground cumin ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp sugar ($0.02)
Salad
- 1 15oz. can black beans ($0.89 )
- 1 15oz. can black eyed peas ($1.09)
- 1 bell pepper (any color) ($1.50)
- 2 Roma tomatoes ($0.86)
- 1 jalapeño ($0.12)
- 1/4 red onion ($0.20)
- 1/4 bunch fresh cilantro ($0.20)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, 2 Tbsp of juice from the lime, balsamic vinegar, chili powder, cumin, salt, and sugar.
- Rinse and drain both cans of beans in a colander. Once well drained, transfer them to a large bowl.
- Finely dice the bell pepper, tomatoes, jalapeño, and red onion. Try to dice the vegetables into pieces that are roughly the same size as the beans. For a less spicy salad, scrape the seeds out of the jalapeño before dicing. Roughly chop the cilantro.
- Add the chopped vegetables to the bowl with the beans.
- Pour the dressing over the salad, then stir until everything is well coated. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to eat.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Cowboy Caviar – Step by Step Photos
Make the dressing first so the flavors have a few minutes to blend. Whisk together 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp lime juice, ½ Tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp cumin, ½ tsp chili powder, ½ tsp sugar, and ½ tsp salt.
Rinse and drain one 15oz. can of black beans and one 15oz. can of black-eyed peas in a colander.
Gather one bell pepper (any color), two Roma tomatoes, one jalapeño, 1/4 of a red onion, and 1/4 bunch of cilantro. While any color bell pepper can be used, I like the colorful pop of yellow or orange bell pepper.
Finely dice the bell pepper, tomatoes, jalapeño, and red onion. The idea is to get the pieces close in size to the beans so that you have a “caviar” type appearance in the end. Roughly chop the cilantro leaves. Place the chopped vegetables in the bowl with the rinsed beans.
Pour the prepared dressing over the salad.
Stir the salad until everything is coated in the dressing. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat. This is one of those salads that tastes even better after it has time to chill in the fridge, so it’s great to eat over the course of a few days!
This Cowboy Caviar recipe makes a great snack with tortilla chips, a topper for tacos, bowl meals, or salads, or spoon some onto baked or grilled fish for a nice light meal!
As I was waiting for it to chill, Loved it with leftover eggs I had, just to taste it! Looking forward to hell it will be after it’s all in the fridge!
This is a great recipe. I’ve used all kinds beans, and even once lentils when I opened the wrong can. Tastes good every time.
Love this recipe. Been using it for several years and it has become a go to dish for me. Very flavorful and an easy way to get lots of healthy beans and veggies into your diet. Have made it using a number of variations in both veggies and beans and it has come out well each time. Cooked from scratch beans adds even more flavor. It also keeps well in the fridge which is important as this recipe makes a big batch. Highly recommend.
Earlier today I made a HUGE bowl of Cowboy Caviar and just brought it out of the fridge. Always fresh, tasty, and awesome not to mention good for you.
Unfortunately one of our family members carries the ‘cilantro gene’ so we substitute with flat leaf parsley.
I also add a generous sprinkling of mild chili powder.
When I portion off some for myself I always add some Habanero hot sauce for a bit more kick.
Love this dish and love this recipe! Will never cook the peas again. I make an all-black-eyed-pea version of this for New Years. Got a new recipe now. I will say this, this is definitely better chilled, and even better chilled overnight.
Very delicious 😍😋👌
This similar recipe works so well in your “Burrito Bowl” recipe. We eat this as a meatless meal. It’s so filling. Sometimes, I cook my rice with a can or bottle of beer. Other times I use bullion or vegetable stock to make it more flavorful. Either way, it’s one of our favorites. Easy and quick and leftovers work well for vegetable patties or for use as veggie burgers. It can also be added to soup. So many options. Thanks for sharing.
So tasty!! It was so fresh!!!
In East Tennessee I’ve always seen this called “Redneck Caviar” 😁 Though I think this would be tastier because of your dressing!
Excellent recipe. Quick, easy and flavourful. Improved based on what I had on hand. Used a full onion instead of a 1/4. Added a can of corn and estimated on amounts of olive oil and lime. Result was fantastic. Will get more flavourful as it marinades. Recipe makes a huge batch.
I made a batch of this and ate it for lunch the next day. I was sad when it was gone. Very good dish…because I now have a double batch in the fridge!
I’ve made this for more potlucks than I can count, and I always hope for leftovers b/c it’s so easily adaptable to other meals – mix with scrambled eggs for breakfast; on its own or in a tortilla for lunch; toppings for sweet potato or tacos for dinner, etc. Thank you for the wonderful website and recipes. I use it more than any other.
Can you add a avocado to this? Will it last in the fridge as well or become soggy?
I’m sure you could add avocado. It will likely turn brown over time (In a day or two) but the dressing will slow the process down a little bit. You could keep the avocado separate and add when you’d like.
You definitely can!
Could I substitute fresh salsa for the tomato/onion, etc? And add the line juice?
You definitely could try it out Judith!
We love this recipe as is, but it is also easily adaptable. We add cooked and seasoned ground turkey and serve it over lettuce or coleslaw mix to make a complete meal out of it.
That’s a great idea!