A summertime favorite, this black bean and avocado salad is awesome served on a bed of greens or as a dip with tortilla chips.
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: This avocado salad is a crowd-pleaser! Enjoy it as a salad or a dip.
How long it takes: 15 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowl, sharp knife, strainer
Servings: 8 (one cup each)
This stuff is good. Really, really good. It’s similar to “cowboy caviar” or “Texas caviar” but with black beans instead of black-eyed peas. It’s easy, inexpensive to make, packed with healthy ingredients, and so versatile.
I haven’t found anyone who doesn’t like this black bean and avocado salad. Oh, except my father-in-law who won’t eat avocado because it looks like lobster brain. I think I’ll just take his word on that. Almost everyone loves it and if you bring it to your next get-together, I promise you, it will disappear before your eyes.
Ways to Enjoy Black Bean and Avocado Salad
This salad can be enjoyed as an appetizer, lunch, main dish, salad, side dish, vegetarian, and snack. May I add, late night snack? Or, perfect with a cold beer?
- Top a bed of lettuce with a couple scoops for a stunning and easy salad.
- Skip the lettuce and serve it as is, for a side dish.
- Slice a grilled tequila lime chicken breast and add it to the salad for a main dish. Or simply garnish the chicken with a couple spoonfuls of the salad.
- Eat this Southwestern style dip on a crispy, salty tortilla chip. Make your own baked tortilla chips or air fryer tortilla chips. It’s seriously easy.
- Add it to cooked quinoa or rice to make a delicious grain bowl.
- Add nutrition and flavor to a cheese quesadilla, taco, or nachos with a garnish of this dip.
- Eat it straight out of a bowl with a fork.
About This Black Bean Salad Recipe
Good for you! Black bean and avocado salad is quite healthy with lots of chopped up veggies, protein-rich black beans, and a light vinaigrette dressing. Avocado is super nutritious with healthy fats and tons of nutrients (Healthline).
Easy to make. Canned beans and corn make this salad pretty simple. You’ll have to do a little chopping (onions, tomatoes, avocados). The dressing is an easy vinaigrette that is made with a packet of Italian dressing mix.
What You’ll Need
- Black Beans: One can of beans, rinsed and drained, is all you need. I usually buy the low sodium variety. Other types of beans are fine, too. Try black eyed peas for something more closely resembling cowboy caviar.
- Corn: Canned, frozen, fresh, whatever you like or happen to have. If I lived in a perfect world, I would always use fresh kernels cut off the cob because it’s so much better. Even better, grill the corn on the cob first for a nice charred flavor. But to be real, I usually use a can of fiesta corn.
- Tomatoes: Any variety will work. I like Romas because they are more meaty and less juicy and seedy.
- Avocados: Use slightly underripe avocados for best results. Really ripe, soft avocados tend to get mushy and disintegrate a bit. Check out the FAQs for how to choose a ripe avocado.
- Vinaigrette: Make your own with a packet of dried Italian dressing mix, usually found in the dressing aisle of the grocery store. Mix it with white vinegar and oil, as directed. If you prefer, make homemade Italian dressing or use your favorite bottled dressing. You’ll need ½ cup.
- Lettuce, if you’re making a salad; tortilla chips, if you’re making a dip.
How To Make This Salad
It’s pretty simple. Drain the can of beans and the corn, if you’re using canned corn. Add them to a big mixing bowl.
Chop up the tomatoes, dice the avocados, and add them to the bowl. Note: if you’re not planning on serving this salad immediately, wait to add the avocado so it doesn’t turn brown or get mushy.
Stir up the vinaigrette in a small bowl or measuring cup.
Add the vinaigrette to the big bowl, and gently stir it all together. Be careful not to smush the avocado, especially if it’s on the ripe side.
That’s it! So easy and delicious.
Make It Your Own
- Increase the veggie power. Add chopped bell peppers or red onions. They add a nice crunch and a lot of flavor to the salad.
Cooking Tip
If you want to take away some of the sharp flavor of raw onions, soak them (chopped) in ice water for about 15 minutes. Drain really well, and then add them to the salad.- Love fresh herbs? Add fresh chopped cilantro or parsley to the salad. I add parsley to almost every salad. It’s nutritious and adds visual appeal, too.
- Substitute black-eyed peas, pinto beans, kidney beans, or another type of canned bean for the black beans.
- Looking for a warm dip? Try refried bean dip or Mexican spinach dip.
If you want to get a head start on making this dip, mix everything up except the avocados. Store in the fridge for up to three days. Add the avocados right before serving.
Refrigerate: This salad is best served right away. It will keep two to three days in the fridge but the avocado will discolor and get a bit soft. The dip still tastes great but isn’t quite as attractive. Store leftovers in an airtight container or bowl covered with plastic wrap. The salad will keep for three days, or up to a week, if you haven’t added the avocado. You can freeze it, too, again without the avocado, for a month. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
More Southwestern style recipes
- Southwestern orzo pasta salad
- Southwestern guacamole toast
- Creamy Southwestern black bean dip
- Jalapeño ranch dip
- Slow Cooker Texas Chili – the best crockpot chili!
- Mexicali dip — one of my most popular dips.
- Taco salad — who doesn’t love taco salad?
- 7-layer dip – the best recipe ever!
Black Bean and Avocado Salad (great with chips!)
Ingredients
- 1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can (15.25 oz.) corn, drained (fiesta is fun, but not mandatory)
- 4 to 5 Roma tomatoes, diced
- 4 avocados, diced
- 1 package (0.7 oz.) dried Italian dressing mix (found in dressing aisle at grocery store)
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
- Lettuce or chips, for serving
Instructions
- Put black beans, corn, tomatoes, and avocado into a large bowl.
- In a smaller bowl or measuring cup, mix together Italian dressing mix, white vinegar, and oil with a fork or whisk until combined.
- Pour dressing mixture over the other ingredients and mix gently to combine.
- Serve immediately, on a bed of lettuce or with tortilla chips. Makes 8 cups.
Notes
- Nutrition information is based on a one cup serving and does not include lettuce or tortilla chips.
- Substitute ½ cup bottled Italian dressing, if desired. That will replace the dressing mix, vinegar, and oil.
- Possible additions: Add ½ cup chopped red onions, chopped bell peppers, cilantro and/or parsley.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
Rachcel. yo estaba buscando una receta de hummus como esta , rápida , fácil y sabrosa
muchas gracias
esta es una receta que voy a guardar en mi recetario y lo voy a compartir con mis hijas
Hi Jorge! I used Google translate to read your message since I don’t speak Spanish. I’m so glad you liked the recipe, thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
¡Hola Jorge! Usé el traductor de Google para leer tu mensaje ya que no hablo español. Me alegra que te haya gustado la receta, ¡gracias por tomarte el tiempo de dejar una reseña!
This was delicious! I served it with tortilla chips and refried beans. My husband loved it too. I want to eat the leftovers for lunch but will the avocados keep?
It definitely isn’t quite as pretty the next day, but I’ve eaten leftovers of it for one to two days in the past. It’s too good to toss out! :) Glad you liked it!
I recently made this for my family after seeing it here and it is delicious!! It is an irresistible dip that doesn’t last long!
Isn’t it beyond addicting?! Glad you liked it, thanks for coming back and letting me know!
I love this kind of salad/dip I make a similar one and it gets raves too, you cant go wrong with all those yummy ingredients!
This dip looks great! I had to laugh when you talked about the lobster brain…haha.
This luscious looking dip is part of my holiday round-up today! Happy almost Fourth!
Thanks again! You’re the best :)
Love this dip/salad/salsa idea! Black beans are some of my favorites. I would have added fresh herbs and maybe grilled the corn instead of using a can. But still, GREAT flavors ;)
Grilled corn would be awesome in this! I always trend towards shortcuts, but that wouldn’t take too much more time or effort to add in to this recipe. Maybe we could go all out and use these black beans! ;)
You may have just given me a recipe to take to a barbeque this weekend! It looks great!