Texas Caviar

You'll LOVE this Texas Caviar! It's loaded with black-eyed peas, peppers, and tomatoes. Great with chips!

Texas caviar, what a name! Credited with its invention is the legendary Austin-based Neiman-Marcus chef Helen Corbitt, who popularized this bean dip in the 1940s.

What Is Texas Caviar?  

Texas caviar (also called "cowboy caviar") is a vibrant, cold black-eyed pea salad packed with chiles, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, and sometimes corn. It’s lightly dressed with a tangy vinaigrette that brings all the flavors together, making it refreshing and addictive.

Originally created in the 1940s by Helen Corbitt, a New York-born chef working in Texas, this dish quickly became a Southern favorite. Despite the name, there’s no actual caviar in it — the term was coined humorously to make humble black-eyed peas sound fancy.

How To Serve Texas Caviar  

Texas caviar can be served either as a little side salad, perhaps on some butter lettuce if you like, or it can be used as a dip, like salsa, for tortilla chips.

You will find that if you make it as a dip, well, it takes a steady hand to keep the beans from falling of the chips. But, it's well worth it. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked black-eyed peas (2 15-ounce cans, rinsed and drained)

• 8 green onions, just the green parts thinly sliced

• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

• 3 jalapeño peppers, stems and seeds removed (wear gloves! do not touch your eyes after handling them!), finely chopped

• 2 plum tomatoes, diced, or 1/2 cup of canned diced tomatoes, drained

• 1 yellow bell pepper, seeds and stem removed, diced

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons lime juice

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Mix the salad ingredients: In a medium bowl, combine the black-eyed peas, green onions, cilantro, chopped jalapeño, tomatoes, bell pepper, and garlic. Stir until everything is evenly mixed.

2. Prepare the dressing: In a separate small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, and cumin until well combined and emulsified.

3. Combine and season: Pour the dressing over the black-eyed pea mixture and stir gently to coat all the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Chill and serve: For the best flavor, cover and chill for several hours before serving. Enjoy cold as a side salad or scoop it up with tortilla chips as a dip.

[Source: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/texas_caviar/]