Texas Caviar (Cowboy Caviar) Dip

🇺🇸 The Real Texas Caviar Recipe

Acclaimed New-York chef Helen Corbitt moved to Texas in the 1940s and spent many years working as the culinary director at the acclaimed high-end department store Neiman Marcus. Upon moving to Texas, Helen realized that black-eyed peas were a staple ingredient as well as being popular for bringing prosperity. But according to newspaper interviews, she wasn’t a fan of black-eyed peas.

It is rumoured that to make them more palatable, she created a black-eyed pea pickle by soaking them simply in vinegar with onion and garlic. Soon after, when her cookbook was released, her pickled black-eyed pea recipe was christened Texas Caviar. A more fancy name appropriate for marketing and promotion.

From there on, this dip really evolved and home cooks and restaurants adapted the base recipe with additions like jalapeno peppers, green bell peppers (capsicum), shallots (spring onions), tomato, avocado, hominy, fresh corn and spices. People started using other beans like black beans, pinto beans or garbanzo (chickpeas) as they were more readily available.

❤️ Why You’ll Love My Texas Caviar Dip

In recent times, Cowboy Caviar went viral on Tiktok and became the trending dish of summer 2022 after creator Bria Lemirande shared her version with three kinds of beans and feta cheese. But purists would argue that the real Texas Caviar recipe is characterised by these unique things

1. It only has black-eyed peas and no other bean.
2. It has a zesty, slightly spicy and piquant dressing that is literally a flavour bomb. I call it Texas Caviar juice (pictured below).

And I wholeheartedly agree! My Texas Caviar Recipe is

1. Super easy. It only takes 10 minutes to make from canned black-eyed peas!
2. It is unlike any salsa or dips you might’ve had before. It is truly unique and super delicious!
3. It is bright, fresh, gluten-free, vegan, healthy and packed with protein and fiber.
4. It can be made ahead of time.

Of course, you could make a big old chopped salsa/salad with black beans and corn and avocado and it would be totally delicious. But it would be more Mexican-inspired and not really Texas Caviar. To try out something new, utterly delicious and absolutely fresh, you MUST try out my recipe. It is a recipe that I have created after dozens of tests and reading many old Texan cookbooks, food articles and scouring grainy pictures of Texas Caviar being served in little bowls in pubs, cafeterias and restaurants in America’s south.

📝 Ingredients

To get a beautiful-looking dip that enhances your eating experience, make sure you chop everything finely. A rule of thumb is to follow the size of the central ingredient in this dip – black-eyed peas. Try and chop onion, tomato, capsicum, chilli and spring onion as close in size to the beans for an even texture.

Black Eyed Peas – The original Texas Caviar recipe and most authentic derivations only have black-eyed peas. You can used canned or easily cook black-eyed peas from scratch.

Tomato – Use firm, ripe tomatoes and chop them into small pieces. You don’t need to deseed them.

Chilli/Peppers – Capsicum (bell peppers) and jalapeno are used to add heat to the dip. Use red capsicum if you can find them as they are sweeter and add a lovely balance to the spicy and sour flavours in this dip. Green capsicum tends to be bitter. Deseeded jalapeno chilli is the favourite choice in this dip. It adds a gentle and smoky heat. Poblano peppers are great as well but harder to find. Long green cayenne peppers are a good backup. They tend to be spicier, so make sure you deseed them.

Alliums – Onion and spring onion add crunchy spiciness in this dip. Use red or Spanish onion as they are sweeter and milder.

Herbs – A combination of fresh and dried herbs makes this dip fragrant and flavourful. Use fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves and dried oregano.

Dressing/vinaigrette – A really good Texas Caviar recipe has a strong zesty, briny, lemony dressing. A lot of people use zesty Italian salad dressing for this recipe. But you can easily create that beautiful briny taste unique to this Texan dip with ingredients from your pantry. Lots of lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper form the base of the dressing. Adding two more special ingredients makes this the best Texas Caviar dressing ever – Tabasco sauce and Worcestershire sauce. These two ingredients give it that piquant spiciness balanced by a hint of sweet molasses. Absolutely delicious! See my notes for substitutions.

🥣 How To Make Texas Caviar

1. Make the dressing – Add olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to a small glass jar.
2. Pop the lid on the glass and shake vigorously for a few seconds until the dressing is thoroughly mixed. Store dressing in the fridge until ready to use. It will keep fresh in the fridge for up to a week.
3. If using canned black-eyed peas, rinse and drain them completely in a colander.
4. If cooking your own black-eyed peas, follow the instructions here.
5. Add cooked black-eyed peas to a large bowl.
6. Add onion, tomato, red capsicum, spring onion and green chilli (jalapeno or cayenne pepper) to the bowl.
7. Add the dressing to the bowl.
8. Mix the dip well until everything is evenly coated with the dressing. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour (or a maximum of 8-10 hours/overnight) for the flavours to develop. Serve chilled. Assembled dip will stay fresh in the fridge for up to 4 days.

🔪 Meal Prep

Texas Caviar is a great recipe for meal prepping. It is a wonderful dish to try adding your home-cooked black-eyed peas. To meal prep this dip, follow these four simple steps

1. Cook your black-eyed peas and store them in a lidded air-tight glass container. Stays fresh in the fridge for up to 2 days.
2. Chop your salad veggies and herbs and layer them in an air-tight lidded glass container. These will stay fresh in the fridge for up to 2 days.
3. Make the dressing in a lidded glass jar and store in the fridge for up to 7 days.
4. When ready to eat the dip, mix the black-eyed peas, veggies and herbs and dressing in a bowl and serve.

🥭 Texas Caviar Salad Variations

Try out these delicious variations for exciting new flavours every time

1. Replace half the black-eyed peas with black beans.
2. Add a quarter cup of canned or barbecued corn to the dip.
3. When in season, dice a small ripe mango and add to the dip.
4. Add half a cup of pickled shrimp (in brine) to the dip.
5. Add a finely diced avocado to the dip.

🌮 What To Serve With Texas Caviar?

The best way to serve this delicious dip is with corn tortilla chips. But you can also enjoy Texas Caviar in the following ways,

❓ FAQs

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Recipe

Texas Cowboy Caviar Dressing

• Make dressing by mixing all ingredients together.

• Add black eyed peas, onion, capsicum, tomato, jalapeno, coriander and spring onion to a large bowl.

• Add the dressing and mix well.

• Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving, to allow the flavours to develop.

1. Black-eyed peas – Use canned, rinsed and drained black-eyed peas. You can easily cook black-eyed peas from scratch as well. You can substitute with black beans, borlotti beans or chickpeas.
2. Onion and Tomato – Use red onion and firm, ripe tomatoes. Chop them finely.
3. Chilli/ Peppers – Use deseeded jalapeno pepper for gentle heat. Can be substituted with green cayenne chilli or poblano pepper. Use red capsicum for colour and sweetness. Substitute with green or yellow capsicum.
4. Tabasco sauce – This is the secret to the best Texas Caviar dressing you will ever taste. It adds a piquant sour and spicy flavour to the dip. If you don’t have Tabasco, substitute with Sriracha.
5. Worcestershire sauce – This adds a wonderful sweet and sour tang to the recipe. If you don’t have any, substitute with one teaspoon each of ketchup, white vinegar and light soy sauce.

Calories: 219kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 1307mg | Potassium: 638mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 1975IU | Vitamin C: 71mg | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 3mg