Red Red (African Stewed Black-Eyed Peas)
This hearty, no-fuss red red recipe is an African-style black-eyed pea stew. Rustic yet flavorful and simple with tomatoes, it’s enjoyed widely throughout Ghana and the rest of West Africa.
Here, in the United States, black-eyed peas are best known in the South as a good luck and prosperity meal. In Africa, it is an everyday, year-round meal, used in all forms, ground, dried, and fresh. They’re a good source of protein and, may I add, very affordable.
Lately, there has been more interest in them, and many home cooks and chefs are transforming these nutritious legumes into exquisite meals. Don’t quote me on this, but rumor has it that the red palm oil and tomato sauce are why we call it red red.f
These beans always make everything better for me, especially after a rough week. I happily eat them for breakfast with puff puff (one of my all-time comfort breakfasts) or serve them with fried plantains for lunch. When I’m on a health kick, I grill or roast the plantains. Their mild taste, smooth texture, and slightly smoky flavor complement their meaty flavor. And they really do have a nice bite compared to other beans.
Are They Peas or Beans?
For those who get upset when we call these little guys beans, let’s set the record straight. Black-eyed peas are, in fact, beans. True peas, though still part of the legume family, are a different genus.
That means, if you can’t find them where you are, you can make this recipe with black, red, white, or any other type of bean you have on hand. Just don’t forget to adjust the cooking time.
How to Make African Stewed Black-Eyed Peas
- Soak the black-eyed peas for 6-8 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse. (Photos 1-2)
- Simmer the beans, covered with water, until tender. They usually take 50-60 minutes on the stovetop and 8-12 minutes in a pressure cooker.
- Drain the cooked beans and set aside. If using canned beans, start from here.
- Sauté the onions for 3-4 minutes, stirring often and scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot.
- Add tomatoes, tomato paste, ginger, garlic, paprika, and bouillon. Cook while stirring for about 60 seconds. Toss in the dried crayfish and simmer for 10-15 minutes, adding water or stock as needed to prevent burning. Continue to cook the sauce, stirring occasionally. (Photos 3-4)
- Add the beans, green onions, and remaining stock or water, and simmer for another 10-15 minutes. (Photos 5-6)
- Serve: Adjust seasonings, add water if it’s too thick, and enjoy!!!
Recipe Notes
- While I absolutely love smoked meat or fish in my beans, it’s more about the flavor than protein. So if you can’t get it, smoked paprika will replace the flavors that are missing.
- I couldn’t resist the crayfish, but you can replace it with mushroom powder for a vegan version.
- Dried shrimp will work if you can’t find crayfish.
What Goes With Red Red Stew
Serve stew with a plate full of white rice, a side of fried plantains (a must), avocados, and boiled or pounded yams make a complete meal. For a non-traditional meal, try Southern cornbread and collard greens.
More Black-Eyed Pea Recipes to Enjoy
Watch How to Make It
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”25KfoV5l” upload-date=”2019-04-25T14:02:31.000Z” name=”Red Red” description=”Red Red Recipe- A hearty tasty and no fuss vegetarian black-eyed peas stewed beans- African Style.”]
This blog post was originally published in December 2016 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video.
Red Red (African Stewed Black-Eyed Peas)
Ingredients
- 1 pound (450g) black-eyed peas (four 14.5-ounce cans)
- ¼-½ cup (60-120ml) palm oil or canola oil (see notes)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon (15 grams) grated ginger
- ½ tablespoon (7-8g) minced garlic
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 2 tablespoons (30g) tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon (9g) smoked paprika
- ⅓ cup (15g) dried crayfish (optional)
- 2-3 cups (470-700ml) stock or water
- 1 tablespoon (10g) bouillon powder (beef, chicken, or vegetable－optional)
- 2-3 green onions, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 habanero pepper or hot sauce (optional)
Instructions
- Rinse dried black-eyed peas, picking through and discarding any foreign objects. Add them to a large pot, covering them with 3-4 inches of cold water. Cover and let them soak for 6-8 hours or overnight.
- Drain the soaked beans, rinse, and place them in a Dutch oven or pressure cooker. For the Dutch oven, cover the beans with fresh water and simmer until tender (adding water as needed to prevent burning). They usually take 50-60 minutes on the stovetop. For the pressure cooker, follow your pressure cooker instructions. They’re usually done in 8-12 minutes.
- Drain the cooked beans and set aside. If using canned beans, start from here.
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Sauté the onions for 3-4 minutes, stirring often and scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot.
- Add tomatoes, tomato paste, ginger, garlic, paprika, and bouillon. Cook while stirring for about 60 seconds.
- Toss in the crayfish and simmer for 10-15 minutes, adding water or stock as needed to prevent burning. Continue to cook the sauce, stirring occasionally.
- Finally, add the beans, green onions, and remaining stock or water, and simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
- Adjust seasonings, add water if it’s too thick, and serve.
Tips & Notes:
- Red palm oil is NOT the same as the controversial palm oil used in ultra-processed foods. However, if you want a lower fat content, feel free to reduce the quantity or omit it altogether.
- How long it takes to cook beans depends on their age, your altitude, and your stove temperature. The fresher the beans, the faster they cook.
- There is quite a debate about when to add salt. I’ve tried it three ways: soaking, cooking, and after. And honestly, I prefer adding it to the soaking water. The beans cook up tender and flavorful, but feel free to add salt when you want.
- Please remember that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe.
Hi
I am Ghanaian, and we eat red-red all the time. I grew up watching my mother cook this , and its delicious with kele wele or regular fried plantain. Thank you for sharing our wonderful home dish.
Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.
Today I’m preparing this Red, Red stew for the second time!
This has got to be the best way to serve a very plain legume in the most aromatic way! Definately becoming one of our favorite comfort foods!
Awesome!! So glad to hear this. Thanks for letting me know.
Want to be sure of two ingredients before making this dish. Is the ginger fresh or powdered? When do you use the habanero pepper?
It’s fresh ginger . The habanero pepper is added with the onions , garlic and tomatoes or towards last 5 -10 minutes of cooking- If you prefer less heat.
Red red is a fav of mine. Especially with soft plaintain. Now I have to make some today.:-)
I like that and luv Black Eye Peas. There isn’t a single thing on that list that I don’t already have on hand in my kitchen. So I’ll be making it this week. But I might not be able to resist that throwing some fairly large shrimps in before the beans finish cooking.
Your awesome cooking and elegant dishes are a constant variable in my impromptu weekly menu. That’s a good thing as you keep me inspired. You’ll know how it turned out I’m sure.
Made the Stewed Back-Eyed Peas and do like it. It was actually much easier than I thought making it with the hard beans, soaking then cooking it etc. I had some Palm oil around a while and was first time ended up using it. I can definitely taste the flavor in the Stew. Used Smoky Paprika also. I’ll definitely make it again using it as a dish by itself, side or take for office lunch. One can definitely keep it vegan if need. But I may add some smoky meat and some Thyme to kick up the flavor to it a bit more. Big thumbs up on this one.
AWESOME! Thanks for the feedback urban. Happy New Year
Ms. A! I’m a previous student of yours from Crenshaw High. I subscribed to your recipes last year and they have been amazing compared to my college cafe. Thank you for such deliciousness!
Hi Briana! Trying to recall which year or class- am old – LoL. So happy to have you here and thank you so much for trying out my recipes .
Can’t wait to make this and share with my co worker who loves black eyed beans like I do!…
Awesome ! I think she is going to love it.
My hubby smokes turkeys so I’m going to add smoked turkey for extra ZING…My co worker is from Jamaica and I’m Canadian …..she and I discuss recipes to encourage adding ZING to anything…our mutual ground is black eyed peas.(chicken is close by)…I even eat them alone with a simple EVOO and vinegar dressing/red onions for a quick diet…lol…Love your site and you for sharing such wonderful recipes and ideas…you are a great presenter of exciting recipes. .thank you!
Aww thank you! You are just too kind . Am SOOO Jealous Karen! I love smoked turkey but only get the super-market varieties. I bet it tastes 10x better!
It will definitely take this stewed peas over the top. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Hi, Mrs. Imma,
I just discovered your blog today and am really enjoying looking at the recipes. I was born in the south and my mother made a lot of similar recipes. She made black eyed peas and added ham hocks sometimes. When I grew up and married, my husband said he did not like any meat in his beans or greens. So I have been preparing the meat separately from beans, collard greens, mustard greens, etc. Now he is almost 97 years old and has to have his food pureed. Do you have any suggestions on how I can adapt these recipes so he can enjoy them? He has dementia and his caregiver is not familiar with the foods he used to eat.
I am looking forward to trying these recipes for my daughter and her new husband and four boys…!
Linda
Hi Linda, Glad you are here. Will you be cooking the same recipes for your daughter and grand kids? Most of the recipes here can be easily prepared without meat. Just like this one here. Which ones do you want to try out? Do let me know so I can customize it for your family. Thanks for for reaching out! Happy Cooking!!!
Hi Imma!
I will probably be making it without meat. One of my grandsons is autistic and is very picky about what he eats.
I am trying to get him to at least try different foods. I am looking forward to serving pinto beans, black eyed peas, collard greens, etc. I will be making salmon croquettes the way my husband Elijah likes them…with corn meal and egg mixed with canned salmon and fried in oil. I’m getting hungry just thinking about them!
Thanks for responding. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Linda
Imma,
Sorry, I forgot to say which one I am going to try. I have pinto beans so I want to see if Red Red beans will work using those instead of black eyed peas.
Linda
Woah! am getting hungry too! Would definitely want try out those salmon croquettes. Sound Delicious!!! !Yes. Red, black, pinto beans would work just fine. Tried and tested several times. Keep me posted on the out. Thanks Linda.
Hi. I tried your recipe with smoked turkey wings and it was delicious! Thank you! I’d like to try it now with the dried crayfish so I located an African store here in Atlanta and got some. How much should I use? Your recipe says one third crayfish, do you mean one third cup?
Silly me. Yes, it’s 1/3 cup.
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe. I’m in Sydney Australia and was excited to see canned black eyed beans on my supermarket shelf for the first time. I grabbed some in the hope of finding a recipe to go along with it. I made your Red Red tonight, even though I was a little concerned that my 13 year old stepson who had just played football, was still going to be hungry afterwards. He really liked it and was full very quickly. This probably sounds strange to you but I accompanied it with socca and it was all eaten heartily. A hit with the whole family!!! Thank you again.
Glad it worked out for you. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.
5 ⭐⭐ dish.
I stumbled upon your wonderful site just a few days ago and since then I find myself coming back to it again and again, studying your recipes one after the other for feasability.
Yesterday I started following you by preparing your ‘african hot sauce’ – it turned out simply superb.
And today I cooked your ‘red-red’ stew. What an explosion of flavours on the palate! So easy to prepare and so delicious. It will be eaten very often from now on, as we absolutely love it.
Next, I will do your mango pineapple chutney.
Immaculate, you are a god-sent!
Immaculate, you are a god-sent!
Awww, this means a lot to me , Ingrid. Thank you so much. Glad you took the time to subscribe. Please let me know which ones you try. Thanks again
Dear ‘god-sent’,
we have reached a point, where life without your red-red would not be worth living! I keep cooking it again and again… it is just too darn delicious!
My question now, would it be possible to freeze the ready made dish?
Thanks for your reply in advance and greetings from sri lanka.
I was quite worried about the smell and taste of this beans but to my surprise, it was well blended and taste very good. Thanks.
I went through your website and i did learned a lot of ideas on how to cook various African food . You are such a blessing to me.
Thanks
Aww, thanks Ruth! Thanks for taking the time to write such a sweet comment. Please let me know which ones you try!
Oooh, I love your African recipes! Because I don’t know any myself. Always amazes me how I have most of the ingredients I need!! I’d love to try an African meat casserole. I need to browse through your collection!
Unfortunately, we don’t have too many of those. I hoping to experiment on a few.
I love red red and yours Immaculate looks really delicious!!
Thanks Chichi
Immaculate you can cook!!! This stew looks hearty and delicious. How did you get the lovely lines on the plantain? Welldone.
Thanks Chio! This is a crinkle knife- just google and all kinds would show up.
I’m a vegan and I’m always looking for another hearty meal that packs a real punch of flavour. This did not disappoint, and I’ll be eating it all week for lunch with some mealie pap! Thank you so much, you are so bookmarked for bringing a bit of heat and sunshine to this cold, wet Yorkshire town 🙂
Hey Catriona! So glad I could help! Feeling so guilty, here in Southern California our temp is over 80 degrees.
Dear you do make everything look delicious. My foodie cousin Naa, a follower of yours was right. Keep up the good work especially of sharing African cuisine with the world.
Aww, thanks it is always great to hear-so glad I did not disappoint Naa. Always welcome and love her comments.. AND now she spreading the word. Give her a big hug for me!
The infamous white board is back. Imma you already know I’m all about health and this one meets my approval. I will give one a try with my homemade veggie stock.
Yes, it is Charlene. Girl I am trying to make this work. Do give it a try… I know you are going to love it.
Imma I love your blog and I use your recipes all the time. I am from Cameroon. This year, my husband and I want to eat more healthy, can you sugget some of your healthy recipes?
Hi sheila! So glad to hear you are a frequent visitor. This would be a good place to start ; https://www.africanbites.com/5-simple-healthy-recipes-start-new-year/. Do let me know if you are looking for any specific recipe. Thanks