Tex Mex Cowboy Salad

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Cowboy salad is a delicious combination of flavors and textures that you’ll enjoy by the forkful! Because it’s a no-cook dish, making this Tex Mex salad recipe will keep your kitchen cool – a definite plus during the heat of summer. Whether you serve it as a summer side or potluck dinner entree, everyone will love this light and refreshing meal!

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Why We Love This Recipe

It’s made with seasonal ingredients that are easy to get your hands on and easy to swap out with garden produce or discount alternatives.
Plenty of serving options.
While it makes the perfect summer salad or side dish, it’s fantastic as a game-day snack, too. Serve it with some chips and treat it like a dip – when do this with Tuscan salad, it’s always a hit!
It’s beyond simple to make.
Just throw everything together, and you’re done. With just 15 minutes of prep, it’s even quicker than a 30-minute meal!

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

Almost everyone is familiar with the corn and black bean salad known as ‘cowboy caviar’ or ‘Texas caviar’. This Tex Mex salad is our tasty take on that popular dish! If you enjoy salads with pasta, you can even make a cowboy caviar pasta salad.

Romaine – hearty, crunchy greens are best for holding up to the heavy weight of the other ingredients in this Mex salad. While it isn’t as nutritious as Romaine lettuce, iceberg can be used in a pinch.
Tomatoes – We like to use cherry or grape tomatoes — small, flavorful varieties with meaty flesh and fewer seeds are the best.

Small bowls with vegetables, black beans and corn next to a large bowl of romaine lettuce.

🎯 TFN Pro Tip

If you’re unable to find any good-quality tomatoes, substitute fresh ones with a can of diced tomatoes! Just be sure to drain the juice so it doesn’t water down the cowboy caviar salad.

Black Beans – Using canned beans is convenient and easy, but there’s no reason why you can’t cook them from scratch if you prefer. Our Instant Pot dried black beans recipe is a quick and easy way to do that.
White Corn – Canned or frozen, either will do, and yellow corn is absolutely fine to use.
Cilantro – This is our favorite herb for southwest and Mexican recipes. But flat-leaf parsley is also delicious and suitable — you could even use both.
Bell Pepper – Use any color you like or a mix of them.
Avocado – The amount of avocado you use is completely up to you! If you don’t have it (or don’t like it), go ahead and leave it out.
Jalapeno – Poblano and Anaheim peppers are great substitutes. To add a big kick of spicy heat, use habanero, serrano, or even a healthy helping of red pepper flakes.
Dressing – Use your favorite! Creamy dressings like Southwest Ranch and Panera cobb salad are fabulous, but lighter options like pesto dressing for salad are tasty on a cowboy salad, too!

Assembling summer side dish in a white salad bowl.

Serving Tex Mex Salad as an Entree

There are a few ways you can make this cowboy salad recipe a bit heartier, while still keeping with the Southwest theme.

For a vegan chopped salad, add some more healthy legumes – chickpeas (garbanzo beans) are a great choice. You can also double the avocado.
These are great ways to add protein, fiber, and healthy fats to your meal.
Add a meat-based protein. If you don’t need a vegetarian dish, another good option is to add some meat.
For example, we bulk up our calico bean casserole by adding ground hamburger and bacon. Chicken would be tasty too!
Add some pasta, like rotini, ziti, macaroni, or shell pasta. Everyone loves zesty pasta salad!

Chopped tomatoes and red onion on top of romaine lettuce with black beans and corn.

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Cowboy Salad Recipe Tips

Take time to properly drain and/or dry the wet ingredients.
The Tex Mex salad contains quite a few wet ingredients: canned corn, canned beans, juicy tomatoes, and lettuce. To prevent an overly wet dish, avoid using large tomatoes, and properly drain the liquid from the canned products.
Use caution when seeding chiles!
Unless you want a fiery bite, carefully remove the seeds and membranes from the peppers. Also, we recommend that you wear kitchen gloves while cutting chiles. This helps to prevent the capsaicin in hot peppers from irritating your skin.

Pouring vinaigrette dressing over a Tex Mex salad.

Chill the ingredients beforehand.
So that you can serve the Tex Mex salad right away, start with everything cold and ready to use. Otherwise, after making the dish, pop it in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes before serving.
Don’t add the dressing until you’re ready to serve.
Not much tastes worse than soggy lettuce, so wait until just before serving to toss it with dressing.

Tossing romaine lettuce, chopped vegetables, and dressing in a large serving bowl.

Serving Suggestions

For a delightful Tex-Mex Cowboy Salad, top it with a generous dollop of creamy avocado dressing and sprinkle with crushed tortilla chips for an extra crunch. Or add it with our street tacos recipe pork. Serve alongside warm, homemade cornbread with creamed corn for a comforting and hearty meal. Pair with a refreshing glass of basil mint lemonade to complete the southwestern dining experience. This salad is also great with main dishes like chicken breast cast iron skillet recipes.

Recipe FAQ

Can I store leftovers?

Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and served as-is. However, the sooner you enjoy it, the better, because the longer it sits in dressing, the more soggy your cowboy salad will become.

Tex Mex salad with avocado, bell peppers, corn kernels, red onion, cilantro, black beans, and diced tomatoes.

More Healthy Recipes To Try…

If you tried this Tex Mex cowboy salad recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!

Deb says

05/29/2023 at 4:45 PM

This salad was easy and delicious. Even my picky husband loved it