How many calories are in cowboy caviar?
A 1-cup serving of cowboy caviar, 231 g of black beans, corn, peppers and dressing, comes to 217 calories. Per 100 g it is 94 calories, which makes it one of the lighter things you can scoop with a chip. A quarter-cup dip portion is 55. The dressing, not the beans, is what moves that number.
You'd need to walk about 43 minutes to burn the 217 calories in a 1-cup (231 g) serving.
How long does it take to burn off cowboy caviar?
A 1-cup (231 g) serving is 217 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 217 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 43 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 27 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 31 min |
| Jogging | 26 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 48 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (231 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Cowboy caviar quick facts
- US servings, from two tablespoons to a full cup
- Homemade, canned and jarred versions
- Fiber is the win, sodium is the catch
- How does cowboy caviar compare?
- Most popular cowboy caviar brands
- FAQ
Cowboy caviar quick facts
Cowboy caviar has no single USDA entry under that name, because it is a home recipe with a hundred versions: black beans, corn, bell pepper, red onion, cilantro and a vinegar-and-oil dressing. The closest complete match in the database is FNDDS 2707395, "Black bean salad", which is the same construction and the only record with a full nutrient profile plus a household cup measure.
Store-bought cowboy caviar salsas and canned bean salads exist in the database too, in the 67 to 100 calorie range per 100 g, and they belong further down the page rather than in the headline row. The numbers below are for the salad you would make in a mixing bowl.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cup (231 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 94 | 217 | — |
| Total fat | 3.85 g | 8.9 g | 11% |
| Saturated fat | 0.57 g | 1.3 g | 7% |
| Carbohydrate | 12.61 g | 29.1 g | 11% |
| Dietary fiber | 3.4 g | 7.9 g | 28% |
| Total sugars | 3.53 g | 8.2 g | — |
| Protein | 3.08 g | 7.1 g | 14% |
| Sodium | 350 mg | 809 mg | 35% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Two rows are missing on purpose. USDA does not publish added sugars or trans fat for this record, so neither is estimated here. Cholesterol is 0 mg, which is what you would expect from a bowl with no dairy or meat in it, and potassium comes to 487 mg a cup, 10% of the Daily Value.
US servings, from two tablespoons to a full cup
How you eat it decides everything. Two tablespoons on a chip and a full cup next to grilled chicken are the same food with an eightfold gap in calories.
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Tbsp | 29 g | 27 kcal |
| 1 oz | 28 g | 26 kcal |
| 1/4 cup, dip scoop | 58 g | 55 kcal |
| 1/2 cup, side portion | 116 g | 109 kcal |
| 1 cup, main side | 231 g | 217 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 94 kcal |
Only the 1-cup row is a USDA household measure. The half cup, quarter cup, two tablespoons and ounce are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings, which is why they land on round-ish weights rather than the exact grams a lab would report.
The practical trap is that nobody eats cowboy caviar in one clean scoop. It sits on the table in a big bowl next to chips, and four trips of two tablespoons is a 1/2 cup before you have noticed. If you are logging it, decide the container first: a small ramekin at 1/4 cup keeps the whole thing at 55 calories.
Tortilla chips are a separate count. The USDA record used here covers the bean salad only, so the chips have to be logged on their own line rather than folded into these numbers.
Homemade, canned and jarred versions
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homemade black bean cowboy caviar | 94 kcal | 1 cup (231 g) | 217 kcal |
| Cowboy caviar as a dip | 94 kcal | 1/4 cup (58 g) | 55 kcal |
| Store-bought bean salad, canned | 100 kcal | 1/3 cup (100 g) | 100 kcal |
| Southwestern bean salad, canned | 104 kcal | 1/2 cup (125 g) | 130 kcal |
| Three-bean salad style | 107 kcal | 1/2 cup (121 g) | 129 kcal |
| Cowboy caviar salsa, jarred | 78 kcal | 2 Tbsp (32 g) | 25 kcal |
The canned bean salads are close cousins, all within 13 calories per 100 g of the homemade version, but they get there differently. The Southwestern bean salad carries 15.2 g of carbohydrate per 100 g against 12.61 g at home, because the marinade is sweeter. The three-bean style is the odd one: 22.31 g of carbohydrate and no fat at all, since it is packed in a sugar brine instead of oil. Same calorie neighborhood, completely different label.
Jarred cowboy caviar salsas are the lightest thing wearing the name. Trader Joe's runs 78 calories per 100 g, Crazy Fresh and HT Traders both come in at 67, and Giant Eagle's hot version and Risvold's sit at 83. On a 2-tablespoon label serving that is 20 to 25 calories. Bush's Best Cowboy Caviar Bean Salad is the outlier in the other direction at 100 calories per 100 g, because it is a dressed bean salad rather than a salsa.
Texas caviar, the original from the 1940s, leans on black-eyed peas instead of black beans. USDA does not publish a separate black-eyed pea salad record with a full profile, so the numbers above stand in for both. The swap barely moves the calorie count either way.
Fiber is the win, sodium is the catch
Fiber is the reason to put this on the table. A cup delivers 7.9 g, which is 28% of the Daily Value in a single side dish, and beans are the reason: MyPlate counts beans, peas and lentils in both the vegetable and protein groups precisely because they do two jobs at once. Most salad-shaped sides on a cookout table do not clear 10%.
Sodium is where it turns. The homemade record is 350 mg per 100 g, so a full cup is 809 mg, 35% of the Daily Value, or about a third of a teaspoon of table salt sitting in one bowl of vegetables. Canned versions push harder: Bush's lists 730 mg per 100 g, more than double the homemade figure per gram. If you are watching sodium, the fix is not the beans but the rinse and a lighter hand with the salt in the dressing.
The oil is the other lever, and it is the bigger one for calories. The homemade record carries 8.9 g of fat in a cup, only 11% of the Daily Value, but a single tablespoon of oil is roughly 120 calories on its own. Four tablespoons of dressing in a batch nearly doubles the bowl. Cutting the oil back and letting lime juice and vinegar do the work is the single change that most affects the total.
Saturated fat, meanwhile, is a non-issue: 1.3 g a cup, 7% of the Daily Value, and no cholesterol at all.
How does cowboy caviar compare?
| Bean salad | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cowboy caviar (black bean salad) | 94 kcal | 1 cup (231 g) | 217 kcal |
| Bean salad, yellow or green string beans | 109 kcal | 1 cup (150 g) | 164 kcal |
| Three bean salad, Green Giant | 107 kcal | 1/2 cup (121 g) | 129 kcal |
| Southwestern bean salad, Read | 104 kcal | 1/2 cup (125 g) | 130 kcal |
Our take: cowboy caviar is the lightest of the four per gram, at 94 calories per 100 g against 104, 107 and 109 for the canned bean salads, and it is the only one of the four whose published fiber figure clears a quarter of the Daily Value in a serving. It only looks heavier in the table because a cup of it weighs 231 g while the canned salads are sold in half-cup portions. Match the portions and it wins on every axis except sodium. For a lighter plate, serve it in a 1/2 cup ramekin at 109 calories; for a filling side that actually holds you until dinner, the full cup at 217 is the better call.
Most popular cowboy caviar brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Bush's Best Cowboy Caviar Bean Salad | 100 cal |
| Giant Eagle Cowboy Caviar Salsa Hot | 83 cal |
| Risvold's Cowboy Caviar Salsa | 83 cal |
| Trader Joe's Cowboy Caviar Salsa | 78 cal |
| Crazy Fresh Cowboy Caviar | 67 cal |
| HT Traders Cowboy Caviar Salsa | 67 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Cowboy caviar FAQs
How many calories are in a cup of cowboy caviar?
A 1-cup (231 g) serving of black bean cowboy caviar is 217 calories, based on the USDA record for black bean salad at 94 calories per 100 g. That cup also carries 7.1 g of protein, 7.9 g of fiber and 809 mg of sodium, so it eats more like a side dish than a condiment.
How many calories in 1/4 cup cowboy caviar?
About 55 calories for a quarter-cup scoop, roughly 58 g. That is our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure of 94 calories, not a USDA household serving. Two tablespoons, the size most jar labels use, works out to about 27 calories at 29 g.
Is cowboy caviar healthy?
By the numbers it holds up well: 217 calories a cup with 7.9 g of fiber, 28% of the Daily Value, and no cholesterol. The weak spot is sodium at 809 mg a cup, 35% of the Daily Value. A lighter hand with the salt in the dressing changes that picture more than anything else.
How many carbs are in cowboy caviar?
A cup has 29.1 g of carbohydrate, 11% of the Daily Value, of which 7.9 g is fiber and 8.2 g is total sugars from the corn, peppers and dressing. Per 100 g that is 12.61 g. A quarter-cup dip scoop lands near 7 g of carbohydrate.
How much protein is in cowboy caviar?
7.1 g in a 1-cup serving, which is 14% of the Daily Value, and 3.08 g per 100 g. The black beans do most of that work. It is a useful side next to a lean protein, but it will not carry a meal on its own the way a bowl of bean chili would.
How much sodium is in cowboy caviar?
A cup of the homemade style runs 809 mg, 35% of the Daily Value and about a third of a teaspoon of table salt. Canned versions run higher per gram: Bush's Best Cowboy Caviar Bean Salad lists 730 mg per 100 g against 350 mg for the USDA homemade record.
Is cowboy caviar the same as Texas caviar?
Same dish, two names, and the calorie math does not change: 94 per 100 g, 217 a cup. Texas caviar is the older name and traditionally uses black-eyed peas, while cowboy caviar is usually built on black beans and corn. USDA files both shapes under bean salad records.
Is cowboy caviar good for weight loss?
At 94 calories per 100 g it is one of the lighter things you can put on a plate, and 7.9 g of fiber in a cup makes a serving feel substantial. The dressing is what moves it: a tablespoon of oil is about 120 calories, so four in a batch nearly doubles the bowl.
Similar foods
- Chinese Chicken and Broccoli — 206 cal per cup
- Clam Chowder — 237 cal per cup
- Pomegranate — 72 cal for 1/2 cup arils
- Pork And Beans — 273 cal per cup
- Turkey deli meat — 89 cal for 3 slices
- Chicken Tikka Masala — 257 cal per cup
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the bowl and BodyPal counts the cowboy caviar for you, dressing and all.
