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Trader Joe's Cowboy Caviar Pasta Salad

Easy★ 4.7Yields: 6 servings

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Trader Joe's Cowboy Caviar Pasta Salad

Trader Joe's (TJ's) Cowboy Caviar Salsa is already great straight out of the jar, but turning it into a cold pasta salad is the move that makes you a potluck legend. Cowboy caviar is one of those recipes that sounds like a joke until you eat it and then you understand why people bring it to every single barbecue, cookout, tailgate, and potluck from May through September. The real power move is dumping it over cooked rotini pasta, adding diced avocado and a fat squeeze of lime, and turning it into a cold pasta salad that feeds a crowd and takes fifteen minutes to make. This is the dish that makes people say 'who brought this?' and then your name gets permanently associated with 'the pasta salad person' at every future gathering. You think you'd be annoyed by that label but secretly you love it because being the person who brings the best dish is a power that can't be bought. The pasta absorbs the vinaigrette from the cowboy caviar as it sits, so it actually gets better over time. Make it the night before a barbecue and by the time you set it out, it's fully marinated and every bite is packed with flavor. This is low-effort, high-reward cooking at its absolute peak. Let's fucking go.

Ingredients

1 lb rotini pasta (or any short pasta with ridges that can catch the sauce)
1 (16 oz) jar Trader Joe's Cowboy Caviar Salsa
1 ripe avocado, diced
Juice of 2 limes
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (skip if you're one of those soap-gene people, I don't judge)
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: diced jalapeño, crumbled cotija, extra corn

Instructions

1
Cook and cool the pasta
Boil the rotini in very salty water until al dente. You want it slightly firm because it's going in a cold salad and overcooked pasta in a cold salad is like wet cardboard with seasoning. Drain it, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking and cool it down, then drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil so it doesn't clump into a pasta brick.
2
Dump and toss
In a large bowl, combine the cooled pasta with the entire jar of Cowboy Caviar Salsa. The beans, corn, peppers, and vinaigrette from the jar are doing all the heavy lifting here. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the lime juice. Toss until everything is evenly distributed.
3
Add the avocado and season
Gently fold in the diced avocado and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. The cowboy caviar is already seasoned but the pasta dilutes it so you'll probably want to add a bit more salt and definitely more lime juice. This salad should taste bright, tangy, and a little punchy. If it tastes flat, add more lime. Lime is the answer to most of life's problems.
4
Chill and serve
You can eat this immediately but it's better after at least an hour in the fridge. The pasta absorbs the vinaigrette and the flavors meld together. Before serving, give it a good toss and taste for seasoning again. Cold food needs more seasoning than hot food because cold dulls your taste buds. Add more salt, more lime, more pepper. Make it pop.

Baker's Notes

Rinse the pasta with cold water. I know some Italian food purist is screaming right now but this is a COLD pasta salad, not a hot pasta dish. You need to stop the cooking and cool the pasta quickly. Rinsing also removes surface starch that would make the salad gluey.
Add the avocado right before serving if you're making this ahead. Avocado browns fast and nobody wants to eat brown avocado. Everything else can be mixed together the night before.
If you're one of the people who think cilantro tastes like soap, skip it. It's a genetic thing and not your fault. Add extra lime zest instead for a similar brightness without the soap situation.
This feeds a crowd cheaply. A box of pasta, a jar of cowboy caviar, and an avocado costs maybe $8 total and feeds 6-8 people. That's potluck economics at their finest.
Throw some grilled chicken or shrimp on top and this goes from side dish to full meal. The cowboy caviar vinaigrette works as a dressing for the protein too.

Nutrition

Calories

340

Fat

10g

Carbs

52g

Protein

11g

Sugar

4g

Serving

1/6 recipe

Notes

“The recipes are good. The language is bad. You're welcome.” - fuckingdelicious.co

FAQ

What is cowboy caviar?

It's a Texan bean and corn salsa dip that has absolutely nothing to do with actual caviar. Black beans, black-eyed peas, corn, peppers, onion, and a tangy vinaigrette. It's called 'caviar' because it's the most luxurious thing a cowboy can make with pantry staples. TJ's sells it jarred and ready to go.

Can I use a different pasta shape?

Yes but use something with ridges or tubes that catch the chunky salsa. Rotini, fusilli, penne, and cavatappi all work great. Avoid long noodles like spaghetti or linguine. Eating cold spaghetti covered in beans at a barbecue is a visual that nobody needs.

This is too mild for me. How do I spice it up?

Add a diced jalapeño (seeds in for heat, seeds out for flavor without fire), a few shakes of TJ's Green Dragon Hot Sauce, or some of that Chili Onion Crunch we keep talking about. Pickled jalapeños are also great stirred in.

How long does this last in the fridge?

3-4 days without the avocado. The pasta absorbs more vinaigrette each day so you may want to add a splash of olive oil and lime juice when you pull it out on day 2-3 to freshen it up. With avocado added, eat it within a day before the browning starts.

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