Cowboy Caviar is one recipe everyone raves about!
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!
I tried cowboy caviar for the first time at a potluck last summer and was instantly obsessed
I didn’t expect it from this unassuming, summery dip that at first glance I confused with chunky salsa or pico de gallo, but one bite and I knew that I was hooked for life.
The saltiness of the chips combined with the freshness of the tomatoes, the crispness of the pepper, the subtle heat of the jalapeno, the faint hint of lime and garlic…. It was heaven.
A replication of the highest order was necessary, and since that first fateful bite last year, I have perfected my own recipe for cowboy caviar and I am so excited to share it with you today.
I made this cowboy caviar for my family last weekend for Easter, and after baking both my signature carrot cake and coffee cake for brunch, I wanted something a little less sweet, and definitely something that wouldn’t require turning on the oven.
This cowboy caviar is easy to make, just a matter of chopping your veggies and tossing everything together.
If you ask me, the trick to the best possible cowboy caviar is to dice the ingredients that need dicing (the tomatoes, onion, pepper, etc — not the beans!) very small, the smaller the better. Try to keep your tomato and avocado pieces petite rather than big and chunky (about bean-sized works great!). An easy way to do this is with my favorite chopper, including for the tomatoes!
To easily cut my avocado, I like to slice it in half and then score it into small pieces using my knife, then just scoop everything out into the bowl with a large spoon!
Everyone who tried this cowboy caviar loved it and the bowl was scraped clean in record time.
P.S. As you can see in the pictures, I love serving these with tortilla chips, but cowboy caviar also tastes amazing eaten straight by the spoon!
Ingredients
- 3 Roma tomatoes seeds removed, diced
- 2 avocados diced
- ⅓ cup diced red onion
- 15 ounces canned black beans 1 can, rinsed and drained
- 15 ounces canned black eyed peas 1 can, rinsed and drained
- 1 ½ cups frozen corn kernels thawed
- 1 bell pepper diced, any color
- 1 jalapeño seeds removed, finely diced
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- Tortilla chips for serving
DRESSING
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- 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.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, red wine vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Pour dressing over other ingredients and stir/toss very well.
- Keep refrigerated. If not serving immediately, be sure to toss/stir well before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Appetizer
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
More Recipes You Will Love:
FANTASTIC! I’m in Canada so our beans are 19oz cans and corn was closer to 2 cups. Just added a bit more of everything for the dressing and it was still delicious! I omitted the tomatoes because I don’t like them. I will definitely make again, even my 2 year old ate this!
Brought to a potluck and most people just ate it without the chips. I think this would be excellent in a modified 7 layer dip!
Delicious recipe! I added cucumbers, feta & kalamata olives. I have to mention, for those of us who lack fancy gadgets & aren’t speed choppers, this takes about an hour to make.
So delicious! I added cheese and broke up taco shells to make taco salad. Love the lime juice! I will be making this a lot.
I’m making this for an NFL game tailgate but my husband detests red onion (and apparently all raw onion in general). Any suggestions as to another ingredient I could substitute for the onion while keeping the flavor integrity?
You can leave the onion out or add a little bit of onion powder in place.
Fabulous! I haven’t followed a recipe in years and I only made minor changes to this one—I omitted the chips, garlic and onions, and just used the olive oil for a little drizzling. Also—I served this as a side dish with rotisserie chicken. I made enough for two days so I added the avocado only when I served it. This is a wonderful find and I plan on taking it whenever I am asked to bring a dish. Keep up the good work!
Love this recipe! I added hot sauce and cumin to the dressing. So good! Thanks for sharing.
This is a delectable mix of ingredients. So fresh and delicious.
My whole family loves it. I serve it as a side salad with barbecue.
Fantastic recipe.
Can you can this?
Hi Angel, I have never looked into canning this recipe but would love to hear what you find!
It reads serving size 12 but what is a serving size? Just trying to figure out calories
I LOVE THIS RECIPE!
Serving size and nutritional information are both estimates and can vary based on the ingredients you use. Our recipe came out to approximately 3 cups which makes each serving roughly 0.25 cups. I hope that helps!
Doubled recipe minus the avocado and it turned out delicious!
Love this recipe. I did triple the fresh lime juice. Just my taste. Plus I used monk fruit sweetener in place of sugar. Our whole family loved it!
Yum!!!! So dang good!
I love cowboy caviar and this is a great recipe. It has less sugar than the one I used to make. Thanks!
Dang! You can toss almost antyhing in there. No oil on hand oops, Used sour cream. green olives, wht/red onion/scallions, everything-bagel-seasoning, garbanzos, kidney, corn, black beans, powdered garlic….
All good n tasty
I love this version. Must admit I added more than double the salt. Thanks for posting it!
my daughter-in-law introduced me to Cowboy Cavier and it is fantastic.
Super easy and super delicious. Oh, and super fresh. This is our family favorite and is perfect when we want or need something vegan. The dairy is not missed AT ALL. We love it even more than 7 layer taco dip and that’s saying something. Thanks for an amazing recipe.
I love this stuff I crave it all the time! I can’t have it without throwing in some feta cheese! Yummy!
How far in advance can you make your cowboy caviar? If I don’t add avocado until it’s served, is it OK to make 24 hrs ahead?
You can definitely make it 24 hours ahead, but you are right. I wouldn’t add the avocado until ready to serve!
Is canned corn okay? What is the benefit to frozen corn? Thanks!
Readers have made this recipe with both frozen and canned corn and have had great results. I find that frozen corn tends to stay a bit firmer though. I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
Has anybody ever charred their corn kernals first? I love charred corn.
I have not tried it, but I think that sounds delicious.