Texas Caviar Recipe For Y’All
I had Texas caviar when I was living in San Antonio and it was love at first bite. With delicious ingredients such as black eyed peas, tomatoes, corn, and fresh green onions, what’s not to love?
Have you been introduced to Texas caviar yet? If not, you’re truly in for a treat! It’s so simple and easy to make, but the ingredients combine to make such a flavorful and fresh side dish. My Texas caviar recipe includes black eyed peas, corn, diced tomatoes, Italian dressing, and fresh parsley and green onion. All you have to do is combine the ingredients, let it sit in the fridge and marinate, and then it’s time to dig in!
I serve mine with tortilla chips but many a person has been known to eat it simply with a bowl and spoon. However you decide to partake of it, this recipe combines the best of flavors and lets you spoon up the good life for you and your guests!
You can serve it as a dip or appetizer, as a substitute for salsa or Pico de Gallo, or alongside a main dish like chicken fajitas. The choice is all yours.
Why Is It Called Texas ‘Caviar’?
Well, my friend Wikipedia aptly points out that it is a humorous comparison to the fancy-schmancy caviar dish that you find at upscale restaurants. But what I didn’t know is it was made by a New Yorker in the 1940s. Now, who would’ve thought! Also known as Cowboy Caviar, the word is that it was first served on New Year’s in Houston. It truly has become the caviar of the south.
Recipe Ingredients
- Whole kernel corn
- Black eyed peas (with jalapeno if you can get them)
- Petite diced tomatoes (feel free to substitute for fresh Roma or tomatoes if you have them available to you).
- Zesty Italian dressing
- Fresh parsley
- Green onion
How to Make Texas Caviar
Drain all of your cans well and dump them one by one into a dishpan or a large bowl.
Chop up some fresh parsley and add that in there along with the chopped green onion.
Hint on the green onions: I just cut mine up with kitchen shears. So much easier than trying to slice them.
Pour the entire bottle of dressing over the ingredients and stir.
Refrigerate for several hours to let the flavors blend and serve with veggie sticks, homemade tortilla chips, crackers, or corn chips, like you do salsa.
Enjoy each scoop as the flavors burst in your mouth!
Storage
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Any longer and you’ll probably find the ingredients get very mushy.
- Here are some ways to use the leftovers:
- Mix with a cup of cooked rice for a delicious vegetarian rice salad.
- Add some fresh greens to make a salad for lunch.
- Add to an omelet.
- Spoon a serving over grilled meat for dinner, like chicken tenderloins, steak, or fish.
Recipe Notes
- Chill the Texas caviar dip for at least one hour or overnight for maximum flavor. This is the perfect appetizer to make ahead of time.
- Here are some variations to make this Texas caviar recipe your own:
- Substitute the black eyed peas for any kind of beans, or do a combination of black eyed peas and black beans if you like.
- Substitute the fresh parsley for fresh cilantro.
- Add a cup of diced bell pepper.
- Substitute the green onion for a red onion.
- Add diced avocado right before serving.
- If you don’t get a can of black eyed peas with jalapeno, you can simply add 1 medium jalapeno.
- You can use canned, fresh corn, or frozen corn kernels in this recipe.
- Instead of Italian dressing, which is the traditional way to serve Texas caviar, make a homemade chilli lime dressing. You’ll want to combine 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup lime juice, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin.
- You could also just add 3 to 4 tablespoons of lime juice to this recipe when you add the other ingredients to enhance the flavor.
You might also enjoy these Texas-inspired recipes:
Pimiento Cheese Dip Good N Gooey
Bruschetta with a Texas Twist (Video)
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!