Black Eyed Peas are a classic Southern dish filled with flavor. This black eyed pea soup recipe with bacon is the perfect thing to eat for New Year’s (a good luck tradition), and it makes a great dinner or side dish for any comforting meal!
Black Eyed Peas Recipe
This black eyed peas recipe is the best ever (in my humble opinion)! I appreciate some good ole’ Southern food, and this dish is a classic. It’s so comforting and flavorful!
This soup is filled with beans, bacon, onion, garlic, broth, and so much more. It makes a great side dish for hearty meals, and it works as a meal on its own too!
Eating black eyed peas for New Year’s is a Southern tradition, so this is the perfect time of year to make up a batch of this and dig in. Add in a nice ham, some cornbread, and you’ve got a deliciously filling dinner ahead!
Learn how to cook black eyed peas for New Year’s, a tasty side dish, or as a warm winter soup.
What are black eyed peas?
Black eyed peas are not actually peas; they are a type of bean (close enough though, right?). They get their name from the dark, black spot in the middle of the otherwise light-colored bean. And I guess they’re known as “peas” because they come from a cowpea plant.
With this black eyed peas recipe, you get a nice mixture of soupiness and hearty ingredients. So you can serve it and eat it like a soup!
Are they healthy?
Beans are a great source of protein and fiber, which keeps you feeling full. So eating a soup filled with beans and a few other ingredients is a good choice for a simple filling meal.
How to Cook Black Eyed Peas
This recipe is pretty easy to make, but soaking the beans and letting them soften will take some time. Other than that, it’s just adding ingredients to a pot, letting everything cook together, and done!
Ingredients:
- Dried Black Eyed Peas (not canned)
- Bacon
- Chicken Broth or Vegetable Broth
- Yellow Onion
- Garlic
- Water
- Bouquet Garni Seasoning
- Italian Seasoning
- Bay Leaves
- Granulated Sugar
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Hot Sauce (I like Tabasco)
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Parsley (for garnish)
How To (Quick Overview):
- Rinse and sort beans.
- Soak beans (about 1 hour).
- Cook bacon.
- Add other ingredients into a pot and let them simmer.
- Add in the peas/beans and bacon, and let mixture simmer (1-1 1/2 hours).
- Serve garnished with parsley.
See the recipe card for the detailed instructions and step-by-step process.
Do black eyed peas need to be soaked?
Soaking the beans before cooking hydrates them and shortens the overall cooking time.
How to Soak:
- Rinse and sort the peas (discard any that are dark or damaged).
- Place them in a large pot and add 4 cups of broth.
- Bring to a boil over high heat for 2 minutes and cover.
- Remove from heat and let them soak (covered) for 1 hour.
Note: Don’t remove the lid while they soak and don’t drain them. You’ll pour the beans along with the broth into the rest of the soup mixture later.
How long do they take to cook?
Cooking the black eyed pea soup takes about 2-2 1/2 hours.
What to eat with black eye peas?
You can eat this as a main dish or as a side dish. If you’re serving it as a side to a larger meal, it goes well with things like ham, mashed potatoes, collard greens, cornbread, rice, green beans, or other vegetables.
Eating Black Eyed Peas for New Year’s
In the South, black eyed peas and the accompanying meal have become a tradition for good luck. So eating it on New Year’s day is meant to bring prosperity for the rest of the year.
According to Wikipedia, here’s the full meal and what each food represents:
- Black Eyed Peas = Prosperity
- Collard Greens = Wealth and Money
- Pork (there’s bacon in the soup and these dishes are often served with a ham as the main dish) = Positive Motion
- Cornbread = Gold
Why do people put a dime in black eyed peas?
Some people will put a dime in the soup, and whoever gets it in their serving will get EXTRA good luck. (Admittedly this could be dangerous if people don’t notice the dime in their soup!).
Whether you eat this black eye peas recipe for New Year’s, or make it for another meal throughout the year, I hope you love it as much as I do. So yummy!
Check the recipe card for full details on how to cook black eyed peas. Enjoy!
Be sure to try these other classic Southern recipes:
This black eyed peas recipe is a Southern tradition for good luck, and it’s just plain delicious!
- ½ pound bacon
- 1 pound dried black-eyed peas
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon Bouquet Garni herb seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½-1 teaspoon Tobasco or other hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- Garnish: chopped fresh parsley
Rinse the peas and discard any that are damaged or dark. Place the peas in a large pot set over high heat. Add 4 cups broth and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, and cover the pot. Remove the pot from the heat, and let the beans soak 1 hour. Don’t lift the lid and don’t drain the beans after the hour has passed.
Cut the bacon strips into ¼-inch slices, and place in a large Dutch oven set over medium heat. Cook the bacon until crisp. Transfer bacon to a paper towel (leaving the rendered bacon fat).
Place the diced onion in the Dutch oven and cook until onion is translucent. Reduce the heat to low, add the garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds, stirring often.
Slowly add the water while scraping the bottom of the pot to deglaze the pan. Add the Bouquet Garni, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, sugar, kosher salt, black pepper, hot sauce and apple cider vinegar. Set heat to low and simmer about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat until peas have softened.
After the peas have softened (about 1 hour), add them and the broth to the onion mixture in the Dutch oven and stir well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and add all except 3 tablespoons crisped bacon. Replace the lid and simmer the peas until tender (or about 1-1½ hours), stirring every 20 minutes. Season, if needed, with salt and black pepper.
To serve, ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle with reserved crispy bacon and chopped parsley.
Enjoy!
