About This Recipe
Cowboy caviar is the make-ahead side that earns its place at any cookout: a bright, chunky salad of beans, corn, peppers, and tomato in a tangy vinaigrette. It scoops with a chip and spoons onto a plate, and it only gets better as it sits.
Next to smoky tri tip it does double duty, a fresh, acidic counterpoint to the meat and a dish you can build the night before. Make a big bowl. It disappears.
Cowboy caviar started as a Texas tailgate staple, a no-cook bean salad that travels well in a cooler and feeds a crowd without any fuss. The name comes from the black-eyed peas, which look like little pearls of caviar when dressed in oil and lime.
The jalapeño brings a slow heat that builds alongside the beef without competing with it, and the cold, acidic crunch is the opposite of everything the meat is, which is exactly why the two work together.
Make it the morning of your cook. The longer it sits, the better it gets. The beans soak up the lime dressing, the onion mellows out, and everything comes together into something that tastes like you spent way more time on it than you did.
The recipe
Cowboy Caviar
A cold bean and corn salad with lime and cilantro, crunchy and bright next to sliced tri tip. Make it the morning of your cook and it holds for hours.
Ingredients
- 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15 oz) black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed (or one ear fresh corn, charred and cut off the cob)
- 1 red bell pepper, diced small
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
- 1/2 red onion, diced small
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
Drain and rinse the black beans and black-eyed peas. Combine them in a large bowl with corn kernels, diced bell pepper, minced jalapeño, red onion, and cilantro.
Note Use fresh corn cut off the cob if you have it. Charred on the grill for 2 minutes is even better. Canned works fine for a weeknight version.
Whisk together lime juice, olive oil, cumin, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss until everything is evenly coated.
Note Taste the dressing before you pour it on. You want it slightly more acidic than you think. The beans absorb a lot of the lime as it sits.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, ideally 2-4 hours. The flavors meld and the dressing soaks into the beans.
Note This is a perfect make-ahead side. Prep it the morning of your cook and pull it out of the fridge right before you slice the tri tip. It holds for 2-3 days.
Serve cold or at room temperature alongside sliced tri tip. Scoop it onto plates next to the meat, or set the bowl out with tortilla chips for guests to snack on while the tri tip rests.
Note Add a diced avocado right before serving if you’re using it as a dip. It doesn’t hold as well overnight but it makes the texture unbeatable for a party spread.
Nutrition Facts
Per serving
- Calories
- 145
- Protein
- 5 g
- Fat
- 6 g
- Sat. Fat
- 1 g
- Carbs
- 20 g
- Fiber
- 5 g
- Sodium
- 280 mg
- Cholesterol
- 0 mg
Values are estimates based on standard ingredients and serving sizes.