Start the New Year off right with this delicious recipe, it’s as lucky as it is delicious!
Simmered with savory spices and a meaty ham hock, this black-eyed peas recipe is hearty, healthy, wholesome, and the perfect meal for a wintery day!
Ham and Black Eyed Peas For The New Year (and beyond!)
- Black-eyed pea soup is a Southern staple that’s been enjoyed around the New Year as it promises to deliver good fortune all year long!
- Budget-friendly black-eyed peas with ham are perfect for post-holiday gatherings! Serve it warm from a slow cooker with a side of cornbread or croutons.
- Make black-eyed peas a vegetarian dish by omitting the ham hock and adding extra veggies like spinach, kale, or potatoes and serving it over rice or collard greens.
What You’ll Need For This Recipe
- Ham Hock: Ham hocks are a great way to add flavor to the broth and peas as well as add a little meat to the mix. You can replace it with a leftover ham bone from your holiday meal.
- Black Eyed Peas: Black-eyed peas are a legume; this recipe starts with dried black-eyed peas, so they will need to be soaked overnight.
- If using frozen or canned black eyed peas, reduce the broth by 1 cup and simmer the ham hock on its own for 90 minutes to 2 hours adding the onion mixture during the last 30 minutes. Remove the meat from the bone, add the peas with the tomatoes (step 5), and cook uncovered 20 to 30 minutes to thicken.
- Vegetables: Tomatoes are added near the end of cooking to keep them from interfering with the rehydration process of the peas. Canned Rotel tomatoes can be used to add a little kick.
How to Make Black-Eyed Peas
- Soak black-eyed peas as directed in the recipe below.
- Simmer the ham hock and seasonings.
- Meanwhile, soften onion, celery, and garlic in bacon grease.
- Add the onion mixture, black-eyed peas, and bell pepper to the pot and simmer until peas are tender.
- Remove the meat from the bones and add it back to the pot!
We serve this recipe over rice alongside collard greens (with a big slice of Homemade Cornbread).
Storing Black Eyed Peas
- Keep leftover black-eyed pea soup with ham in a covered container for up to 4 days. Reheat portions in the microwave.
- Freeze portions in zippered bags for up to three months and thaw them overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
More New Years Favorites
Did you make this Black Eyed Peas Recipe? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Black Eyed Peas Recipe (with Ham)
Tender and smokey ham and black-eyed peas are simmered in an easy broth with veggies and seasonings!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 smoked ham hock
- 6 cups water or low sodium chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 6 slices bacon
- 1 onion diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 pound black eyed peas dry
- 10 ounces canned diced tomatoes with chilies
Instructions
- Rinse black eyed peas and remove any debris. Place in a bowl/pot and soak 8 hours or overnight.
- In a large pot, combine ham hock, chicken broth, bay leaf and thyme. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover for 60-80 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a frying pan, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside. Cook onion, celery and garlic in bacon grease until slightly tender.
- Add onion mixture, black eyed peas and green bell pepper to the pot and simmer an additional 45-65 minutes or until black eyed peas are tender skimming off any foam.
- Remove ham hock and cut off any meat from the bone. Add meat back to the pot with canned tomatoes (undrained), salt and pepper to taste. Simmer uncovered an additional 20 minutes or until black eyed peas reach desired consistency.
- Discard bay leaf, stir in bacon and season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve over rice with greens.
Notes
Note: If using ham in place of ham hocks, there is no need to pre-cook the meat.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 204 | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 166mg | Potassium: 363mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 105IU | Vitamin C: 16.9mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 2.2mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Entree, Main Course, Pork
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super delicious.
Amazing!
can I do this in a crockpot?
I haven’t tried this recipe in a Crockpot, but I think it should work just fine. I would follow this recipe for Ham and Bean Soup for cook times. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Wonderful recipe. I omitted bacon to cut back on sodium a bit. I also didn’t use peppers because they don’t agree with my brother, and added carrots instead. Serve it with homemade dinner rolls every New Year’s.
Great recipe!! Husband, son and daughter-in-law loved it!
This recipe is boss! Have mad it a few times beyond New Years, and making it again tonight❤️
Best black-eyed-pea recipe. will be using again
It is only my daughter and myself so can I freeze some since it makes so much and it is so delicious.
Yes, this can be frozen for up to 6 months. Enjoy!
I used ham instead of ham hocks. I do not like green pepper so I substituted half a red pepper and half a yellow pepper. It also make the dish look colorful. Very good. Perfect for our New Year’s meal with cabbage, of course.
I had never cooked black eyed peas before because my husband always said he didn’t like them. This recipe looked good so i tried it yesterday. We ate it with cornbread and both loved it. Will definitely save this one for future.
This recipe is the absolute best! My black eyed peas are the most delicious black eyed peas I have ever had! And very easy to make!❤️
Absolutely Outstanding. Used a ham hock.
I have made a similar recipe for years,but I always add my greens to the pot with the beans. It is delicious, specially if accompanied with corn bread.
If using a leftover ham bone from a cooked ham do I need to cook it for the 60-80min when do I add it in?
You can add the ham bone in step 2 in place of the ham hock as it flavors the broth. Enjoy!
I’ve been looking for a recipe like this for the New Year. My Grandma and Mom used to make these with a ham hock. We would go to Grandma’s on New Year’s day and eat our soup, walk around a chair backwards for good luck. Maybe we should all try this for this next year. Who knows maybe it will change our horrible luck:) and make 2021 a better year. Cheers!
What a great memory Sally, thank you for sharing! Happy New Year to you and all the best for 2021!
Yummy. I used my leftover hambone from Christmas….turned out great. My son and I wanted something for our first rainy day in months and months. This will be our new go-to recipe for all
our leftover holiday hambones. Couldn’t think of anything that would improve it- it was already terrific. Cornbread is a good idea.
Delicious… and the instructions were perfect and easy to follow. Happy new year!
So glad you enjoyed it! Happy New Year to you and your family too!
I know you say to serve with a side of greens, I have been making a similar recipe for years ,but I always add my collard greens to my beans while they’re cooking. It is delicious.
Sounds great Carron!
Could I do this in the crock pot and avoid soaking the beans?
I haven’t tried this in the slow cooker without soaking although I do cook a Ham and Bean Soup without soaking so it might work. Let us know how it goes!
you could boil about 6 cups water add the beans turn ring off soak for 1 hour, then rinse peas until water is clear add to crockpot then follow the recipe here that’s a quick soak it works great!!!!
I absolutely love all your recipes Holly. You are my kind of “cooker”. On this recipe could one use canned black eyed peas to speed up the process? I will try this recipe as well as a whole stack i have copied. My family think i rock, because of you! Thanks for your time.
Aw! Many thanks Vivi! I think using a can would be fine if you are in a rush. I hope your family loves the recipe!
So when do the beans go in the large pot?
Hi Mandi, in step four you will want to add the remaining ingredients to the pot.