Description
This Cowboy Caviar (aka Texas Caviar) is a fresh, colorful bean salad packed with black-eyed peas, corn, tomatoes, avocado and a zesty lime dressing. It’s quick to make, easy to prepare ahead of time and versatile enough to serve as a dip with tortilla chips, a cookout side dish or a topping for tacos and grilled proteins.
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 1 1/2 cups corn kernels, frozen or fresh
- 2 15 oz cans black-eyed peas, drained & rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups (12 oz) finely diced cherry tomatoes
- 1 orange bell pepper, finely diced
- 2/3 cup finely diced red onion
- 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup finely diced jalapeño (2 large jalapeños)
- 2 avocados, diced
- Optional: 1/3 cup cotija cheese
For the vinaigrette:
- 1/3 cup avocado or olive oil
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (~2 limes)
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 3/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Diamond kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
Instructions
- Heat about a teaspoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat, then add the corn kernels with a small pinch of salt. Sauté for 5-6 minutes, until softened and lightly browned. Remove from heat and let cool.
- Finely dice all of the vegetables so they're roughly the same size. Optional: if you're not a big fan of raw onion, place the diced onion in a colander and run it under hot water for 30 seconds and then cold water for 30 seconds. This helps take out some of the 'bite'.
- Whisk together all of the vinaigrette ingredients until well combined.
- Add all salad ingredients to a large bowl and pour dressing over the top. Mix until everything is well incorporated. Enjoy right away, or refrigerate for an hour before serving to let the flavors develop. It tastes even better the next day!
Notes
Remove as much moisture from the vegetables/beans as possible. This will keep your salad from getting too soupy! For the beans, we transfer them to paper towel after rinsing with water to remove excess moisture. For the tomatoes, we add the diced tomatoes to a colander with a pinch of salt, give it a stir and set it over a bowl while we prep the other ingredients. After 10 minutes or so, they will release quite a bit of juice. Discard the juice before adding the tomatoes to the salad.
Storage: Keep this stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. Give it a good stir again before serving.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish
- Method: No cook
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 301
- Sugar: 4.5 g
- Sodium: 618.9 mg
- Fat: 17.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 30.3 g
- Fiber: 11.3 g
- Protein: 9.9 g