Short answer
Yes. Caviar is the salted roe (eggs) of sturgeon, which is a fish, and the roe of a halal fish is halal, including in the Hanafi school, which allows only fish from the sea. Salmon roe (ikura), lumpfish roe and flying fish roe (tobiko) are halal too, as long as nothing haram is added.
Sturgeon is a fish, so its roe takes its ruling and caviar is halal; the roe of any fish is halal and needs no slaughter. Sea urchin (uni) is not a fish and is not eaten by Hanafis.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
True caviar is the salt-cured roe of sturgeon, a large, ancient fish of the Caspian and Black Seas, now mostly farmed. Cheaper roes sold as caviar or fish eggs come from salmon, trout, lumpfish, capelin (masago) and flying fish (tobiko).
In the Hanafi school, every true fish is halal, however unusual it looks. Sturgeon has bony plates rather than ordinary scales, but it is a fish with fins, gills and a backbone, so it is halal, and its eggs take the same ruling. Fish needs no slaughter, so roe from a non-Muslim supplier is fine. The four schools agree.
What to check:
- Some sushi roe, especially ikura, is marinated in soy sauce with sake or mirin. Ask, or choose plain roe.
- Coloured tobiko is dyed with plant or synthetic colours, which are halal (see food colourings).
- Sea urchin (uni) looks similar on a sushi menu but is not fish, so Hanafis avoid it.
- Seaweed-based imitation caviar is halal.
For more on the sea, see what seafood is halal and is sushi halal.
The evidence
Quran, Surah An-Nahl 16:14
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى سَخَّرَ ٱلْبَحْرَ لِتَأْكُلُوا۟ مِنْهُ لَحْمًۭا طَرِيًّۭا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُوا۟ مِنْهُ حِلْيَةًۭ تَلْبَسُونَهَا وَتَرَى ٱلْفُلْكَ مَوَاخِرَ فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ﴿١٤﴾
And it is He who subjected the sea for you to eat from it tender meat and to extract from it ornaments which you wear. And you see the ships plowing through it, and [He subjected it] that you may seek of His bounty; and perhaps you will be grateful.
Food from the sea is a blessing.
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:96
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ صَيْدُ ٱلْبَحْرِ وَطَعَامُهُۥ مَتَٰعًۭا لَّكُمْ وَلِلسَّيَّارَةِ ۖ وَحُرِّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ صَيْدُ ٱلْبَرِّ مَا دُمْتُمْ حُرُمًۭا ۗ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ٱلَّذِىٓ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ ﴿٩٦﴾
Lawful to you is game from the sea and its food as provision for you and the travelers, but forbidden to you is game from the land as long as you are in the state of ihram. And fear Allah to whom you will be gathered.
Sea food is lawful; for the Hanafis this means fish and what comes from fish.
Sunan Abi Dawud 83
Graded sahih... هو الطهور ماؤه الحل ميتته ...
"Its water is pure and its dead are lawful."
Fish need no slaughter.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Dhaba'ih, on water animals. All kinds of fish are eaten without slaughter.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.