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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!
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Sugar: The recipe reflects how we make it in my family. But YES, it has a lot of sugar. Please feel free to reduce it or omit it entirely. If you want to reduce it, mix the dressing with just a tablespoon of sugar to start, taste it, and go from there.
- White wine vinegar: Or substitute apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or even lime juice. It changes the flavor, but not in a bad way.
- Extra sweet “shoepeg” corn: Regular canned sweet corn or frozen corn may be substituted for the extra sweet corn. The closest measurement for either option is ¾ cup, but feel free to use the whole 15-ounce can of corn.
Step-by-step instructions
- 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).
- 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.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes about 12 cups of Cowboy Caviar (more or less depending on the size of your bell peppers).
- Storage: This recipe keeps about 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
- Make ahead: You can make the dressing up to 3 days in advance. You can assemble the full recipe a day in advance too, but the bell peppers might soften a bit in the dressing.
- Avocado: Avocado is good with everything. The avocados may darken over time, so the salad may not last as long in the refrigerator.
- Italian dressing: Many readers like to use a store-bought or homemade Italian dressing in Cowboy Caviar. Start with about 1 cup of dressing, taste it, and see if you want more.
- Cowboy Rice Salad: Mix some Cowboy Caviar with leftover cold cooked rice.
Recipe FAQs
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
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!
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Cowboy Caviar
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 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
For the vegetables:
- 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
Instructions
- 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).
- 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.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Sugar: The recipe reflects how we make it in my family. But YES, it has a lot of sugar. Please feel free to reduce it or omit it entirely. If you want to reduce it, mix the dressing with just a tablespoon of sugar to start, taste it, and go from there.
- White wine vinegar: Or substitute apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or even lime juice. It changes the flavor, but not in a bad way.
- Extra sweet “shoepeg” corn: Regular canned sweet corn or frozen corn may be substituted for the extra sweet corn. The closest measurement for either option is ¾ cup, but feel free to use the whole 15-ounce can of corn.
- Yield: This recipe makes about 12 cups of Cowboy Caviar (more or less depending on the size of your bell peppers).
- Storage: This recipe keeps about 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
- Make ahead: You can make the dressing up to 3 days in advance. You can assemble the full recipe a day in advance too, but the bell peppers might soften a bit in the dressing.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
It was really yummy and a huge hit at happy hour. Next time I think I will reduce the olive oil a tiny bit and add a little extra vinegar
Hi Amanda, I’m so glad you loved it! Take care! – Meggan
I really like this. I love to bring it to potlucks because it is so easy to make, and is vegan. It can be served as a dip, or a side dish, or, my favorite as a hearty veggie lunch.
I’m so glad you love it, Nancy! Thank you for your comment! Take care! – Meggan
This is a great combination of sweet and “kick.” However, I did scale back the chili pepper and add the juice of 1/2 a lime. Doubled the recipe and took it to a church dinner. There we no leftovers! Definitely a keeper.
Hi Barbara, thank you for your comment! Glad it was a hit! Take care! – Meggan
I absolutely love this recipe! My kids, husband AND father-in-law all LOVED it. My favorite part about this dish is that it’s so versatile; it can be a topping, a dip(with corn chips delish), or a side dish. You can make it a day before serving, I think it even tastes better the next day so its great to take to a party. Its also a mix of fresh veggies & some canned so super easy to throw together and actually there’s no cooking involved so anyone cam make this
Hi Kelly, thank you! I agree, it tastes so delicious the second day! Take care! – Meggan