Cowboy Caviar Recipe

Cowboy Caviar is one of my favorite appetizer recipes! It is easy to make, has the perfect balance of flavors, and is always a hit with guests!

I want to live in a world where it is socially acceptable to sometimes just eat appetizers for dinner. Because, I have in fact eaten a whole recipe’s worth of Cowboy Caviar by myself before.

In my defense, it’s that good.

I have no regrets.

Cowboy Caviar Ingredients

• canned corn
• black-eyed peas
• red onions
• avocado
• roma tomatoes
• cilantro
• extra virgin olive oil
• apple cider vinegar
• hot sauce
• salt and pepper
• garlic

How to Make Cowboy Caviar

1. Combine all of the main ingredients in a large bowl.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the soft.
3. Very gently fold everything together so the avocado doesn’t break up.

How to Pick Avocados for this Recipe

When making this recipe, look for an avocado that is firm to the touch. You want it to just have a very slight give when you push on it. When you to go to slice it, it will easily cut up into cubes and will hold up well in the dip recipe.

Substitutions and Variations

• Use grilled corn. To kick this recipe up a notch, grill two ears of corn and replace the canned corn with that.
• Swap out the black eyed peas. A lot of people cannot stand black eyed peas. If you are one of them, take them out and use black beans and instead.
• Leave out the cilantro. If you are one of the unfortunate souls who tastes soup when you have cilantro, just skip it.
• Add a jalapeño. You already have a lot of heat in this recipe from the hot sauce, but if you want to add a different flavor of spice, throw in a diced jalapeno.

Serving Cowboy Caviar Dip

I think Cowboy Caviar is best served with tortilla chips.

To make Cowboy Caviar low carb, replace the corn with black beans. Then serve this with something like these cheese crisps.

This Cowboy Caviar easily serves a group of 8. It makes 4 cups, so that’s a half cup for each person, with chips.

If you have a lot of people coming over, this is an easy recipe to double. Or if you are putting out a million other snacks, you will be fine as is. (See my list below for other great ideas for a party.)

Make Ahead Cowboy Caviar Recipe

This recipe is fine to make ahead of time. The vinegar in the dressing will keep the avocado from turning brown. Cowboy Caviar will keep in the refrigerator for four days.

That said, if you are hosting, I suggest making this right before your guests come over. It will look best that way.

OTHER GREAT PARTY RECIPES

Like I said above, this is a great recipe for parties. Here are some other great recipes that would go well with it.

My Corn Salsa is a great recipe to put out because you can just put one bowl of tortilla chips between the two. They are different flavors, but both delicious.

Along that same line of thinking, you could add in my Guacamole.

My Spinach Dip in my Beer Bread Bowl is perfect for parties.

If you make any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you! Let me know what you thought and if you made them for people you love, even better.