Easy Texas Caviar Recipe
This easy Texas caviar recipe is made with black-eyed peas, corn, diced tomatoes, green onions, and fresh parsley, all marinated in zesty Italian dressing. It takes about five minutes to stir together, and after a couple of hours in the fridge it’s a bright, tangy dip that disappears at every cookout and party.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Texas Caviar
- Serves: 4
- Main Ingredients: green onions, chopped fresh parsley, black eyed peas, petite diced tomatoes, whole kernel corn, bottle zesty Italian dressing
- Why You'll Love It: Texas Caviar is made with black-eyed peas, corn, tomatoes, and green onions all soaked in tangy Italian dressing. It's the perfect appetizer for every occasion!
I first had Texas caviar when I was living in San Antonio, and it was love at first bite. Serve it with tortilla chips, spoon it over grilled chicken, or just eat it with a spoon. It’s also a great partner for cream cheese salsa on a snack table.
Why Is It Called Texas Caviar?
The name is a playful nod to the fancy caviar served at upscale restaurants, since black-eyed peas are about as far from fish eggs as you can get. The story goes that it was created by a New Yorker in the 1940s and first served on New Year’s in Houston, and it’s been a Southern party favorite ever since. You’ll also hear it called cowboy caviar.
Because it starts with black-eyed peas, it’s a natural fit for New Year’s Day, when a lot of Southerners eat black-eyed peas for luck. It’s just as at home at a summer cookout, a tailgate, or a potluck, since it’s served cold and only gets better as it sits.
Ingredients for Texas Caviar
- Black-eyed peas: Canned black-eyed peas keep this quick. If you can find the kind with jalapeños, grab them for a little heat, or cook your own with my crock pot black-eyed peas.
- Corn: Canned whole kernel corn, frozen corn, or fresh corn cut from the cob all work.
- Petite diced tomatoes: These are small enough to scoop with a chip. Fresh Roma or cherry tomatoes are great in the summer.
- Zesty Italian dressing: This is the traditional marinade for Texas caviar, and it does all the seasoning work for you.
- Green onions and fresh parsley: They add fresh flavor and color. Cilantro works in place of parsley if you like it.
You’ll find the full amounts in the recipe card below.
Helpful Tips Before You Start
- Drain the cans well. Extra liquid waters down the dressing, so let everything drain for a minute in a colander. Rinsing the black-eyed peas is optional, but it gives you a cleaner flavor.
- Use kitchen shears for the green onions. Snipping them right over the bowl is so much easier than slicing them on a cutting board.
- Give it time to marinate. At least an hour in the fridge helps the flavors blend, and a few hours or overnight is even better. The same make-ahead idea works for a crunchy refrigerator salad.
- Stir before serving. The dressing settles to the bottom as it sits, so give it a good stir and use a slotted spoon if you’re serving it as a dip.
- Add avocado last. If you want to stir in diced avocado, add it right before serving so it stays green.
How to Make Texas Caviar
1. Combine the Vegetables
Drain all the cans well and add them one by one to a large bowl. Chop the fresh parsley and green onion and add them in too.
2. Add the Dressing
Pour the entire bottle of Italian dressing over everything and stir until it’s well combined.
3. Chill and Serve
Cover and refrigerate for several hours to let the flavors blend. Serve it with tortilla chips, corn chips, crackers, or veggie sticks, the same way you’d serve salsa.
If you’re setting out a whole dip spread, my game day dip recipes are a good place to start.
Easy Texas Caviar Variations
- Add more beans: Use a mix of black-eyed peas and black beans, or swap in any beans you like.
- Add crunch: Stir in a cup of diced bell pepper or swap the green onion for diced red onion.
- Turn up the heat: If your black-eyed peas don’t have jalapeños, add one diced fresh jalapeño.
- Chili lime dressing: Instead of Italian dressing, whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup lime juice, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin.
- A squeeze of lime: Even with Italian dressing, 3 to 4 tablespoons of lime juice brightens it up.
- Make it a meal: Spoon it over a fiesta taco salad or stir in a cup of cooked rice for a hearty rice salad.
What to Serve With Texas Caviar
Texas caviar is great as an appetizer, but it also works as a side dish or a topping.
- As a dip: set it out with chips next to pimiento cheese dip, cheesy baked Vidalia dip, or Tex-Mex dip
- As a topping: spoon it over grilled chicken tenderloins, steak, or fish
- As a side: serve it with crock pot chicken fajitas in place of salsa or pico de gallo
- At a cookout: pair it with more cold sides from my ultimate list of BBQ side dishes
Storing Texas Caviar
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Any longer and the vegetables start to get mushy. Since it holds up so well, it’s a great make-ahead dish for parties, and it’s an easy one to bring to a potluck next to a batch of bruschetta with a Texas twist.
Ways to use the leftovers
- Mix it with cooked rice for a vegetarian rice salad.
- Toss it with fresh greens for a quick lunch salad.
- Fold it into an omelet.
- Spoon it over grilled meat or fish for supper.
Texas Caviar FAQs
What’s the difference between Texas caviar and cowboy caviar?
They’re usually the same thing. Some cowboy caviar recipes add black beans, avocado, or a lime dressing, but both are built on black-eyed peas, corn, and tomatoes in a tangy dressing.
How far ahead can I make Texas caviar?
You can make it the day before. It actually tastes better after it marinates overnight.
Can I use fresh black-eyed peas?
Yes. Cook them until tender, let them cool completely, and use them in place of the canned peas. My crock pot black-eyed peas are an easy way to do it.
Is Texas caviar served hot or cold?
It’s served cold, which makes it perfect for cookouts, potlucks, and parties.
Texas Caviar
Ingredients
- 2 green onions
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 cans black eyed peas with jalapeno if available
- 1 can petite diced tomatoes
- 2 cans whole kernel corn
- 1 bottle zesty Italian dressing
Instructions
- Drain the cans well and pour the contents into a large bowl or dishpan. Add the chopped parsley. Cut the green onion and add as well. Add the entire bottle of Italian dressing and stir well.2 green onions, 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, 2 cans black eyed peas, 1 can petite diced tomatoes, 1 bottle zesty Italian dressing, 2 cans whole kernel corn
- Refrigerate. Serve with tortilla chips or corn chips.
HI Christy,
I know this post is old, so I hope you get this comment.
Your cooking website is the ONLY food-related website I follow, and I am very new here. I am also fairly new to Southern cooking, even though we have lived here for 20 years.
But, here is the funny part…I thought I had invented this recipe! Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous.
About 4 weeks ago, I threw the following items in a bowl and we LOVED the result:
1 can bi-color corn, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes with chopped green chilies
cilantro
black pepper
minced garlic
olive oil
lime juice
My 19 year-old said it would be great as a main dish with some cooked chicken tossed in.
Imagine my chagrin when I saw it on your website.
Anyway, I wanted to share my funny story with you!
Bye,
Gail
I love this recipe but mine is just a tad different – shoe peg corn for that extra burst in your mouth flavor, green onions AND regular onions, a large jalapeno pepper, and BOTH parsley and cilantro. Making it for a girl’s night out this weekend as it’s always one of us Southern girls’ favorites!
Christy….
Just wanted to let you know I made the Texas Caviar and the Butterfingers Cake for the Super Bowl game today… both were a great hit.
Thanks so much for all the wonderful stories and recipes you send.
Blessings to you and your family.
Linda in Keithville Louisiana
“Go Cardinals”…. They played a great game and gave it their all!!
Looking for recipes today and found your site and I love it!! In fact I will be making several for some very special meals during the holidays. Only one thing that I wish you could do and that is give some clue as to how many people these feed. Thank you and I will be back!!!
Thank you, Jinxi!
I have heard a few people say they use Cilantro. I think this is one of those recipes where you can just vary it so much and either way it turns out wonderful! Most folks use jalapeno, too. I tend to like things a little on the mild side though and often kids are eating this when I make it.
I’m sure they will love it and I’ll have to try it with cilantro next time!
I took this to school on the first day for the faculty and it got rave reviews! I was a little worried, I usually take baked goods and didn’t know how this would go over but WOW.
I bet they will love it and on the extremely off chance they don’t…MORE FOR YOU!!!
😀
Thanks for commenting and I hope you come back often!
Im making this for a family get-together today but I added cilantro rather than parsley-my coworker is a Texan and thats how she makes it.. so I will let you know if its a hit or not. Hopefully so because it sure made a lot!!
ps: I just found your blog through another cooking site-keep up the good work! 🙂
I like this one because I have most of the ingredients most of the time!