Southern Black Eyed Peas Recipe
Southern Black-Eyed Peas, or Hoppin’ John, is a hearty, soul-warming delicacy. This black-eyed peas recipe is smokey, spicy, and pure satisfaction with a deep yet not overwhelming bacon flavor. And it’s a traditional Southern dish served on New Year’s Day to bring good luck!
I love anything with beans! Perhaps it started back in grade school when my Auntie cooked beans for dinner in its modest rusticity – onions, salt, and oil, nothing fancy. That simple recipe made all my troubles go away like magic.
And now, this Southern black-eyed peas recipe is the perfect comfort food with soul-satisfying goodness any time of year. It warms us up even in the coldest weather and graces the best cookouts in the heat of summer. This dish will remind you of home and nostalgic, happy memories. ❤️
Black-Eyed Peas for More Than New Year’s Good Luck
Black-eyed peas are from my native Africa, and they’re so delicious they became popular worldwide. After arriving in the southern U.S. in the 17th century, they became a symbol of prosperity because they resemble pennies and coins. They grow exceptionally well in the heat and so gave birth to a delicious Southern tradition.
People believe eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day brings good luck and a slew of other beautiful things. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this heartwarming dish all year round.
Recipe Ingredients
- Black-Eyed Peas offer a slightly smoky flavor and high protein and fiber content, making them nutritious and delicious.
- Meat – Bacon and smoked sausage add flavor and more meaty goodness. Ham hock or leftover smoked turkey are also excellent additions.
- Seasonings – Caramelized onion, garlic, thyme, celery, bay leaf, jalapenos, Creole seasoning, salt, and pepper deliver fantastic smells and flavors. You can kick up the heat more with a dash of cayenne pepper.
- Chicken Broth is the essential liquid bursting with chicken essence and rich umami flavors to simmer the black-eyed peas.
- Collard Greens – Black-eyed beans symbolize pennies. Collard greens, on the other hand, represent bills in this lucky dish. Plus, adding greens makes it more nourishing.
How to Make Southern Black-Eyed Peas
Prep
- Soak – Rinse dry black-eyed pea beans and pick through and discard any foreign object. Add beans to a large pot, covering them with 3-4 inches of cold water. Let sit for 2-3 hours or overnight.
- Cook the Meat – In a large, heavy sauté pan, fry the chopped bacon until brown and crispy (4-5 minutes). Add sausage and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Remove the bacon and sausage mixture and set aside. (Photo 1)
- Saute – Add the onions, celery, garlic, jalapenos, thyme, and bay leaf, and saute for 5 minutes or so until the onions become translucent and the seasonings release their fragrance. (Photos 2-3)
Cook
- Add Liquid – Then pour in the chicken broth or water. (Photo 4)
- Season – Drain the soaked beans, rinse, and place the beans in the pot—season with Creole seasoning and salt to taste. Mix and bring to a boil.
- Simmer – Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for about 20 minutes. (Photos 5-7)
- Assemble– Toss in the collard greens, bacon, and sausage into the pot, and continue cooking for another 10 minutes or more, stirring occasionally, or until beans are tender and slightly thickened to your desire. (Photo 8)
- Final Touch – Add more stock or water if the mixture becomes dry and thick. The texture of the beans should be thick and somewhat creamy but not watery. Remove the bay leaves.
- Serve – Taste and adjust for seasonings with pepper, Creole seasoning, and salt if needed. Serve over cooked rice and garnish with green onion.
Flavor Variations
- Vegan – Omit the meat and replace the rendered fat with olive oil; then vegetable broth can replace the chicken broth for a vegan version. And to make this dish more nutritious, you can add collard greens, carrots, and bell peppers.
- Crockpot Southern Black-Eyed Peas – This one is more effortless but equally delicious. Put everything in the crockpot, and you’ll have your dinner ready in 5-6 hours on high and about 9-10 hours on low. Imagine the things you can accomplish in those waiting hours. 😉
- Tropical Twist – Make these black-eyed peas with bacon and pork creamy and interestingly yummy with coconut milk. And I bet you’ll love this dish even more.
- Tomato – Fresh tomatoes or tomato sauce will also add a nice variation to this Hoppin John recipe. The kick of tangy goodness will surely make your tastebuds happy.
Recipe Notes
- You can substitute the dried black-eyed peas with canned ones. However, add them 10 minutes before the dish finishes cooking so they have time to heat through because they’re already cooked.
- For a thicker consistency, I suggest mashing a few softened beans against the side of the pot with the back of your spoon. The mashed beans will make a creamier and thicker broth. Or remove about a cup, puree them in a blender or food processor, and then pour the puree back into the pot and give it a good stir.
Making-Ahead and Storage
Surprisingly, this bean stew freezes well. So go for it and make a large batch. It’ll come in handy when a soul-food craving hits.❤️ Transfer the black-eyed peas stew into a clean, airtight container or heavy-duty freezer-safe ziplock bags once cooled.
Refrigerate for 3-5 days or freeze for 6 months. Pack them in a freezer bag, either the whole thing or in single-serving sizes, for easy thawing and reheating. Thaw overnight in the fridge when ready to serve. Reheat in a pan on medium-low heat or in a microwave. You may add more chicken broth or water as needed.
FAQs
Technically, you don’t need to soak black-eyed peas. However, soaking them for a few hours or overnight shortens the cooking time. It’s totally up to you.
Adding bacon, sausage, and seasonings intensifies this dish’s flavor. But to take this dish to another level, add tomato sauce or coconut milk.
As a tradition, Southerners put clean pennies and dimes into their pot of black-eyed peas, believing they’ll bring luck and prosperity. They believe the one who gets the most coins in their bowl is the luckiest.
What to Serve With Black-Eyed Peas on New Year’s Day
Double your luck by serving this black-eyed peas recipe with collard greens (representing money) and cornbread (for gold). Pork (because it roots forward) will complete a traditional New Year’s dinner. No lobster or chicken if you’re going for good luck. Oven-baked pork chops, smoked bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, or fried pork chops are all good.
More Traditional Southern Dishes to Try
- Southern Mac and Cheese
- Butter Biscuits
- Southern Fried Cabbage
- New Orleans BBQ Shrimp
- Southern Deviled Eggs
Watch How to Make It
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”8AgprXDl” upload-date=”2019-04-01T07:08:53.000Z” name=”Black Eyed Peas Recipe” description=”Southern Black Eyed Peas Recipe or Hoppin’ John is a hearty, warm and soulful food. This black eyed peas recipe is smokey, spicy with a deep yet not too overwhelming bacon flavor. A Southern traditional dish served on New Year’s Day to bring good luck charm!”]
This blog post was originally published in December 2017 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video
Southern Black-Eyed Peas Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound (453g) black-eyed peas
- 4-5 thick slices bacon, chopped
- 5 ounces smoked sausage or turkey, diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 2-3 teaspoons garlic, minced
- 1 optional jalapeno, minced (can replace with ¼ teaspoon cayenne)
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, minced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1-2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
- 7-8 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups (or more) collard greens (or you can use kale)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse dry black-eyed pea beans, pick through, and discard any foreign objects. Add beans to a large pot and cover with 3-4 inches of cold water. Let sit for 2-3 hours (or overnight).
- In a large, heavy sauté pan, saute chopped bacon until brown and crispy (4-5 minutes), then add sausage and saute for 2-3 more minutes. Remove bacon and sausage mixture, and set aside.
- Throw in the onions, celery, garlic, jalapenos, thyme, and bay leaf, and saute for 3-5 minutes until the onions are wilted and aromatic.
- Then pour in the chicken broth or water.
- Drain the soaked beans, rinse, and place them in the pot. Season with Creole seasoning and salt to taste. Stir and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 20 minutes.
- Toss the collard greens, bacon, and sausage into the pot, and continue cooking for another 10 minutes or more, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and the broth thickens to your desired texture.
- Add more stock or water if the mixture becomes dry and thick. The texture of the beans should be thick and somewhat creamy but not watery.
- Remove the bay leaf.
- Taste and adjust seasonings with salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning if needed. Serve over rice and garnish with chopped green onion.
I am a Southerner, and black eyed peas and collard greens are a New Years tradition. I found this recipe and I loved everything about it. I couldn’t wait to try it. I think this is the prettiest pot of black eyed peas I’ve ever seen. I added a can of rotel and served with buttermilk cornbread. My husband and I both love this recipe. I’ll make it every year now.
Yay! You will definitely enjoy this!
First time I have really loved black eyed peas! Great recipe! I’ll make it again next year for eating our good luck black eyed peas for New Years!
Third year making this recipe for New Year’s. It’s fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing.
I’m not a big fan of black eyed peas but we have them every year (traditions) but lawdy this recipe sold me, absolutely delicious. I used left over ham from Christmas instead of sausage and I cannot wait to make this again this year. So good!
Just curious if purple hull peas could be subbed for the black eye peas.
Yes 🙂 you can use purple hull or pink eye purple hulls for the black eyed
I doubled the recipe. Amazing flavor but still watery consistency. Do I just let it simmer longer to thicken up? Thank you!
Yes. Or you can mashed about a cup of black-eyed beans and add it back to the pot to thicken.
Very nice, made it twice so far. Second time I used Chicken breast + 1/8 Tsp smoked paprika, and regular thin bacon. Turned out great. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Glad this turned out great, Kim! How about some pastry, too? Here’s one you might want to try Mexican Cornbread. Enjoy! 🙂
I really enjoyed this! So much flavour! I had a hard time getting the beans to soften and the sauce to get thicker. I tried my best and I’m extremely happy with the result! I had to approximate the creole seasoning but it was extremely tasty anyway! Ate with some corn bread and will definitely try again and recommend to others. Thanks!
This is the best black eyed pea recipe I’ve ever made, including the recipe my southern mom and grand mom made. I didn’t have celery so I added a small amount (about 1/4 tsp) of celery salt. Also didn’t have any greens but will definitely add some next time. Used smoked andouille sausage. Since I used fresh peas, I reduced the stock to 6 cups for 1-1/2 lbs peas. The liquid cooked down enough to make a liquor with a lot of depth without making the peas watery. Try this recipe. Really delicious!
Thanks for sharing, Marion! And thank you for recommending this recipe 🙂 Don’t forget to make some yummy dessert, too. You can take your pick from my list of 25 Insanely Good Summer Desserts. Enjoy!
My family went Vegan about 2 years ago after watching the documentary “Game Changers.” I grew up with southern parents so I’m always trying to recreate southern dishes to southern vegan dishes. I’ve always loved black eyed peas and now appreciate the health benefits of them as well. Appreciate your vegan suggestions for this dish. I’m gonna try it out tonight.
Thank you, Scott! Let me know how it goes. Enjoy! 🙂
This recipe was so good, my family who doesn’t care for Black eye peas said they would even eat them because of the way I cooked them. I used them to celebrate Juneteenth, but I left out the greens because I didn’t have any either way these were amazing and even better the next day! I’ll definitely be making these again!
Woohoo! Thanks so much, Terri!
We really enjoyed this recipe. Thanks a lot.
Thank you, Veronica! 🙂
Yummy
Wow this turned out great! I used pork stock I made after easter which was terrific. I also used a smokey Andouille sausage. I wish I had cubed the bacon with it partially frozen, much easier to do. Thanks!
Yum yum! Thank you for sharing, Kelly! 🙂
I have made this recipe 3 times now. It is my Hubs favorite. I used deer sausage and turnip greens each time (what I had on hand) and it turned out so good! I made it last night and wanted some extra Vit C, so added about a cup and a half of red, yellow, orange bell peppers in the saute, and added a large can of organic diced tomatoes when I added the meat. It was a nice that these extra ingredients married well with the base recipe. Thanks so much for this keeper!
These were incredible! I’ve been trying to incorporate more beans into my diet and my Southern Husband said this one of his favorite recipes of all times. I also used beef/pork jalapeno cheddar brats for the sausage so good. FYI for instant pot people, I did simmer everything except the meat for 20 min, then cooked on high pressure for 15min, let it naturally release for 10. I also simmered another 10 minutes because I wanted some of the liquid to evaporate but that was just my preference.
Thank you for sharing, Laura!
I’ve been doing the New Years Ever BEPs for years, but never thought to put my green in with the peas! Awesome idea! I also added a can of diced tomatoes w/their juice like I always have. Our recipes are quite similar. You’ve got a gift!!! Thanks!
So good & delicious!
Thank you, Shirley!
Can you use this recipe in a slow cooker.
Yes you can. Cook on low for about 7-8 hours or on high for 6 hours or until tender or to your liking.
Best black eyed peas recipe I’ve found. I used smoked turkey and bacon and even my adult son that doesn’t like black eyed peas ate 2 bowls of them and said they were good.
Wow! I’m happy that you and your son love this! Thank you, TA Victor 🙂
On a side note, And feel free to delete this side note as you wish, let me also say I receive many great recipes from your sight and others. Yours is the very first sight where I’ve been invited to leave a review without divulging much personal information.
Thank you, I will be back soon.
Thanks for sharing this with us.
This recipe is still simmering as I type this review but I’m going to give it 5 stars. It smells terrific, looks terrific and I’m going to bet my stars it will taste terrific.
It sure will. Bon Apetit!!