Cowboy Caviar
Servings 5 cups
Calories 267kcal
Ingredients
- 1 14 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 14 oz can black eyed peas drained and rinsed
- 1 14 oz can whole kernel sweet corn drained
- 4 medium Roma tomatoes diced
- 1 medium poblano pepper seeded and diced
- 1 medium red bell pepper seeded and diced
- 1 medium red onion diced
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro optional
- 2 medium avocados peeled and cubed
- Lime Dressing:
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar or honey
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dark chili powder or paprika
- 1 tsp granulated garlic or 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp onion powder
- few dashes hot sauce i.e. Cholula or Valentina optional
- 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
Instructions
- Prepare the Vegetables: Thoroughly clean and prep the vegetables.
- In a large mixing bowl, toss together, tomatoes, black beans, black eye peas, corn, poblano, red pepper, onion and cilantro. (Reserve avocado to add before serving.)
- Dressing: In a small mixing bowl whisk together lime juice, salt, sugar, cumin, chili powder, garlic and onion powder and hot sauce. Slowly drizzle in the oil whisking constantly until slightly thickened.
- Pour dressing over the rest of the ingredients. Stir well. Chill in an airtight container for 4 hours.
- Mix diced avocado into the cowboy caviar just before serving as an appetizer with your favorite tortilla chips, a side dish or as a topping for salads and tacos.
Notes
- Add the Fresh Avocado Last - It's important to wait until just before serving to add the diced avocado. This is so that it will maintain its bright green color and not oxidize and turn brown before serving.
- Corn - If you'd like to use fresh corn, it can be grilled, steamed or fried prior to adding to the rest of the ingredients.
- Beans - You can use a different variety of beans in place of black eyed peas, if you prefer. Pinto Beans, light red kidney beans or red beans would work in the same amount.
- Dressing - For a shortcut, you could toss the fresh ingredients with Italian dressing or a bottle of cilantro vinaigrette.
- Adjust the Salt to Taste - Salt is a seasoning that is completely subjective. It's important to taste and add more or less, to personalize the amount to your taste.
- Lime Juice - Lime juice is my first choice for the dressing but you could use lemon juice, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar, in a pinch.
- Oil - I don't recommend using olive oil for the dressing in this recipe.
- Peppers - You can use green bell pepper in place of poblano and jalapeño pepper along with the red bell pepper for a milder flavor.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 267kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Sodium: 479mg | Potassium: 681mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1645IU | Vitamin C: 70mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 1mg