What is Cowboy Caviar?
Cowboy caviar is a bean-based salad made with mainly black beans and corn. It is a great summer dish that can be kept for days. It's a great salad to bring along if you want to bring a side to someone's BBQ. It's also known as black bean salad and Texas Caviar. 
I've had it at other people's places for years and never really loved it. I don't like raw onions or peppers (including red!). Weird, I know! So, I was looking for a recipe I'd like and I couldn't find one. Some made their marinade with up to a cup of sugar! I wanted a healthy bean-based salad. I was looking for less sugar, a flavorful dressing and more fiber - and low in fat. Well, I knew what I wanted, couldn't find it so I made my own marinade. And I decreed that many ingredients are optional!
I figured out if I made a 'black bean base salad' and then added fresh ingredients to my daily serving, I could enjoy this for a week. It is wonderful to have options when people in your household have different tastes. Everyone can get the 'extras' that they like. But, you don't have to eat what you don't like.
Ingredients used for Texas caviar (Black bean and corn salad)
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 can black-eyed peas
Ingredients for marinade / dressing (Black bean and corn salad)
⅓ cup balsamic vinegar (or whatever vinegar you have/like)
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic salt
¼ cup fresh cilantro (or ½ cilantro & ½ parsley) – finely chopped
Optional ingredients
Avocado
Onions
Tomatoes
Green onions
Peppers
Black Bean Salad / Texas Caviar
Cowboy caviar is the perfect salad for the summer! It's actually pretty delicious as a dip using tortilla chips.
Ingredients
- The best part of this recipe is you can add only what you like!
- 1 can corn
- 1 can black beans
- 1 can black-eyed peas
Marinade
- ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar (or whatever vinegar you have/like)
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro (or ½ cilantro & ½ parsley) - finely chopped
Optional ingredients
- Avocado
- Onions
- Tomatoes
- Green onions
- Peppers
Instructions
- Mix marinade in a jar so you can shake it (or small bowl so you can stir it).
- I like the taste of onion but not biting into a raw onion. I add thinly sliced onions to the marinade but discard the onions prior to pouring over the bean/corn mixture.
- Let the mixture sit for about ½ hour (stir or shake every few minutes)
- Dump corn, black beans and black eyed peas in a bowl.
- Don't those black eyed peas look like beans??
- Mix these three together.
- After marinade sits for a bit, pour over black bean mixture. Stir regularly so that marinade coats everything. Let the beans and marinade become friends for at least a couple of hours before serving. Personally, I'd make this the day before.
- The bean/marinade mixture can be kept in the refrigerator for about a week. I bet longer but I just don't want to try 🙂
- Extras can be added! Add fresh just prior to serving.
- When we love more flavor and variety. Avocado, onions, tomatoes and red peppers.
I hope you enjoy this black bean salad recipe. It's great to keep in the fridge and enjoy a few times during the week. Just make sure you add your fresh ingredients the day you serve it.
Let me know what other optional ingredients you love!
Other fresh summer favorites to bring along.
Tomato bruschetta with fresh basil
Tomato, cucumber and feta appetizer
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