This southern red neck caviar recipe combines fresh ingredients such as beans, corn, and peppers that are tossed in Italian dressing. This healthy dip is so addicting and can be made in 10 minutes. Serve with tostitos scoops or frito scoops.
It’s one recipe that goes by various different names. You might have heard it called bean salad, cowboy caviar, southern caviar dip, carolina caviar, hillbilly caviar, and more. What you or someone else might call it can depend on where you’re from.
What Is Red Neck Caviar?
Red Neck Caviar is a delicious salad that features black eyed peas with other vegetables that are tossed in a salad dressing. It’s typically eaten as a dip with chips. This dip takes no time at all to make. For the best results, I recommend that you make this the night before or at least a few hours before you serve it. This will allow the beans and vegetables to soak up the dressing before it’s served.
The Ingredients
This cowboy salsa contains fresh veggies that are delicious when combined. One of my favorite things about this recipe is how you can make substitutes based on your personal taste. Have something else on hand? Throw that in.
The most common ingredients you can find in red neck caviar are:
- red onion or sweet onion
- black-eyed peas
- green bell pepper or red bell pepper
- fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes
- cilantro and/or green onions
- corn
In this recipe we use two types of beans, black eyed peas and black beans. Both add delicious flavor. Use canned and make sure they’re rinsed and drained for the best results. If you have other types of beans on hand such as a can of pinto beans, feel free to throw those in as well or in place of the black eyed peas or black beans.
We love adding corn to this recipe. I used frozen sweet corn because it was easy to find and it's a good substitute to shoe peg corn. If you’re using frozen let the corn thaw before eating. Shoepeg corn is typically found in this bean salad. This is a white sweet corn that has a mild flavor. If you come across this, use it! You can also use fresh corn while it’s in season.
Instead of using regular diced tomatoes, I highly recommend rotel. There’s way more flavor and it comes with green chili peppers. You can choose between original ro-tel tomatoes, mild, and hot. I like the original because it adds a little heat but not too much. On the other hand, if you don’t have rotel you can use diced tomatoes instead. You can always throw in green chiles separate to get a similar flavor that you find in rotel.
Speaking of heat, I add diced pickled jalapenos. This great additions adds more heat and acidity. If you want more heat but want to keep it fresh you can always use jalapeño peppers in its place. On the other hand if you’re sensitive to the spice you can keep these out all together.
Salad dressing is totally necessary for this red neck caviar. It’s most commonly paid with italian dressing. Use your favorite brand. They all taste slightly different but will complete the salad. If you want to keep the salad very fresh you could use fresh lime juice, fresh cilantro, a little olive oil, and balsamic vinegar as a delicious substitute. Is it by the original recipe? No. But is it delicious, absolutely!
Serving The Salad
For the best results serve the salad in a large bowl. I recommend that you refrigerate the red neck caviar before serving for the best results. Add the zesty italian dressing before placing in the refrigerator so the vegetables have time to absorb the dressing. You’ll want to stir frequently because the dressing will collect at the bottom. Mix beans before serving. This great recipe can be served as a side dish or on its own. You can store the salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Making The Dip
This southern redneck caviar is such an easy recipe. You only need 10 minutes, a cutting board, and a mixing bowl. Chopping the vegetables is the part that takes the longest. Once you’re done prepping the ingredients you need to combine them in a mixing bowl and stir until mixed well. Add the dressing and refrigerate. Stir well before placing in the refrigerator. Stir again before serving to redistribute the dressing.
More Like This
For more delicious recipes like this try this Fire Roasted Chipotle Salsa here!
10 Minute Redneck Caviar
Ingredients
- 1 can black beans rinsed and drained
- 1 can black eyed peas rinsed and drained
- 1 can shoe peg corn or thawed frozen corn
- 1 can rotel drained of excess juice
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper diced
- 1 red onion chopped
- 1-2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños optional
- 8 oz Italian dressing
- Fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir in cilantro and italian dressing. Stir well and refrigerate. Stir before serving to redistribute the italian dressing.
I've been making a version of this for years. But finding the one with the Italian dressing was a wonderful easy surprise. I make this to take to all my food gatherings. Everyone loves it!
So glad you enjoyed the twist with Italian dressing! It really adds a burst of flavor, doesn’t it? Thanks for sharing it at your gatherings—happy to hear it’s a hit!