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Instant Pot Black-Eyed Peas are so delicious, and they are a fast cooking bean! Don’t even bother soaking them, just season them with great ingredients, and have a fortuitous bowl of good-luck-bringing, pressure cooked black-eyed peas. Don’t forget the collard greens, this recipe has them as a tasty option! Make pressure cooker black eyed peas and Steam in the New Year!
Originally published 12/29/2017
Instant Pot Black-Eyed Peas
A long held tradition in the Southern United States is eating black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Year’s Day for good luck. The more black-eyed peas you eat, the more luck you will have.
The peas (actually beans) swell when cooked, so they symbolize prosperity; the greens symbolize money; the pork, because pigs root forward when foraging, represents positive motion (according to Wikipedia).
This tradition is very popular, and black-eyed peas appear in recipes such as Cowboy Caviar in Texas, to Hoppin’ John in Alabama, to Peas with Ham up in North Carolina (according to Southern Living).
The Black-Eyed Peas are usually cooked with some kind of pork, for flavor, and though I was told that a good Southerner does not cook collard greens with the black-eyed peas, I did anyway. I’m from Seattle (Mom from the South).
This Instant Pot Black-Eyed Peas recipe is fast cooking, for a dry beans recipe, so it makes sense, and tastes great, to cook the collards with the beans. However, if you do not like that method, I have a fabulous Instant Pot Collard Greens recipe that you can make separately!
If you like a more traditional version of black-eyed peas, try my Southern Black-Eyed Peas recipe
Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas with Collard Greens (or without) are a delicious meal to enjoy any time of the year!
This has been a fun and also challenging year for me, and I’m curious to see what the next year will bring!
I want to thank you all for reading my blog posts, trying my recipes, and supporting Simply Happy Foodie in this first couple of years of being an official food recipe blog. If you ever have ideas or requests, please reach out to me. You can find me on Facebook, Pinterest, or leave me a comment here.
Happy New Year!
Southern Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas
Instant Pot Collard Greens
Instant Pot Ham Hock and Bean Soup
Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice with Sausage
Instant Pot Baked Potatoes
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If you make this amazing pressure cooker black-eyed peas recipe, please leave a comment with a star rating below. I’d love to know how you liked it!
Instant Pot Black-Eyed Peas
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 small Onion, chopped
- 2 Celery Ribs (Stalks), diced
- 1 Bell Pepper, red or green
- 2 small Bay Leaves
- 2 sprigs Fresh Thyme, or 1/2 tsp dried
- 3 tsp Smoked Paprika
- ½ tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Coarse Salt, or 3/4 tsp table salt
- 4 cloves Garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 Jalapeño Pepper, seeded and diced small
- 3 ½ cups Chicken Broth, low sodium
- 2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 1-2 slices Bacon, chopped
- 1 small Ham Hock (or meaty ham bone)
- 1 ¼ cups Black-Eyed Peas, dry*
- 2 cups Collard Greens, (optional) chopped in 2" pieces
Instructions
- Turn the pressure cooker on to the Sauté function. When the display reads Hot, add the oil.
- Add the onion, celery, and bell pepper, and bay leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to turn translucent.
- Add the thyme, smoked paprika, pepper, and salt. Stir.
- Add the garlic and jalapeño. Cook for about 30 seconds, stirring frequently.
- Add the broth, balsamic vinegar, bacon, and ham hock.
- Stir in the black-eyed peas, and collard greens, if using.
- Place the lid on the pressure cooker, locking it in place. Set the steam release knob to the Sealing position. Cancel the Sauté function.
- Press the Pressure Cook/Manual button (or dial) and use the + or - button (or dial) to select 17 minutes (for firmer beans choose 14 minutes). High Pressure.
- When the cooking cycle has ended and the pot beeps, let it sit undisturbed for 15 minutes (15 minute Natural Release), then turn the steam release knob to the Venting position to release the remaining steam/pressure.
- When the pin in the lid drops down, open it and give the contents a stir. Discard bay leaves and ham hock (the ham hock won't be tender, it is for flavor, but if you can get some meat off of it, add it to the pot!).
- Serve over rice for a Hoppin' John, or as is. Enjoy with cornbread to sop up that yummy broth! Happy New Year! Or, any time of year!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I’m trying this tomorrow. The recipes seems solid and all the reviews make it sound outstanding.
I just got an instant pot and I’m ready for action.
I hope you enjoy it, Patricia! Happy New Year!
Delicious! Even hubby ate them! But too much paprika for our taste. Will “tweek” the recipe next time.
I’m thinking of trying your two step collard green recipe and increase the time to 45 mins in step one. Then add collards and peas in step two for 15 mins.I love a lot of ham in my peas and collards.
Sounds great!
This is a great recipe! Rich, smoky flavor reminiscent of BBQ. I was given a garage sale pressure cooker more than a year ago and never used it until now. I returned home from a bike ride and nothing in the refrigerator but some ham and and some year old black-eyed peas in my pantry so I looked for a recipe and found this one online. These black-eyed peas were fantastic! I modified it by adding one can of chicken broth and one can of diced tomatoes, some carrots and some diced ham. Really, really satisfying.
That’s great, Tracy! Thank you for your review!
Just made this and thought it was great. Will definitely make it again. Followed the recipe as written except I didn’t have any balsamic so I used a mixture of red wine and cider vinegar. Surprised at how the onions, pepper, garlic and celery disappeared into the dish. Really loved the little bit of heat and thought 14 minutes of cooking was plenty. Thanks for another yummy recipe! Tried to give it five stars but that function doesn’t appear to work.
Hi Lee, the stars seem to have worked. Thank you so much for your review! I’m so happy that you liked it!
I just love this soup! I have been making this every other week and even my grandson loves it. I have made it with and without the vinegar but I’m just wondering what the vinegar does in this recipe because I haven’t noticed a difference in taste.
I’m so glad you like this! Thanks for your review!
I made this last week. Only difference I used about a tablespoon of canned green chilies that I had in the freezer as no Jalapeños at home. Also works out to 1-2 points per serving on Weight watchers freestyle
Program. Fabulous taste and texture.
That’s great, Linda! Thank you for letting me know!
If I increase to 2 lbs black eyed peas, what would the adjustment be for liquid and time setting?
Hi Renee. That would be about 4 cups of peas, which is about 3 times what this recipe calls for. So, 3x more liquid, or a little over 10 cups. I don’t know if I would use that much liquid. I might try to get away with using a little less, like 8-9 cups. Just remember that with beans in the pressure cooker, you want to only fill about 2/3 full, and do a longer natural release with a fuller pot.
I just made this and it’s the best back eyed peas my husband and I have ever had. And we’re from the south, and I’ve been making them for years. Kind of hurts my feelings but I’m thankful for the recipe just the same 🙂
Awwww, Suzanne. <3 I'm so thrilled that your hubby likes this recipe! I am grateful that you are leaving such a sweet review. Thank you.
Me again… we love this recipe so much and I’ve made it SO many times now!
I like to make a triple batch and freeze part of it for later (and to take to my FIL, who also loves this recipe!). I prefer to use fresh or frozen black-eyes (just don’t forget they take less water and time than dried, like I did at first!). The first time I tripled this, the paprika was too much (I think a bag of frozen peas yields a bit less than a bag of dried) so I reduced it to 1 tablespoon per bag of peas and it’s just right. Using frozen onion/pepper/celery (holy trinity) all but eliminates prep time. I started substituting ham hocks with smoked turkey legs a while back… they’re every bit as flavorful, and unlike hocks, turkey legs yield an abundance of delicious *and* lean meat. And I’ve always been a HUGE fan of okra in my peas so I improvised there as well.
After a couple of tries I’ve come up with this big-batch version:
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 bags frozen trinity (10 oz)
3 large bay leaves
1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
1 ½ teaspoons black pepper
2 ¼ teaspoons table salt
3 tablespoons smoked paprika
10 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
6 cups water (the turkey legs eliminate the need for stock)
1 can diced jalapeños (4oz), drained, or undrained for more heat
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 bags frozen black-eyed peas (16oz)
1 bag frozen cut okra (16oz)
2 smoked turkey drumsticks
Method is largely the same as the original, except cooking time is 6 minutes.
This quantity requires an 8-quart cooker.
Thanks again for such a great recipe!!!
My feelings exactly. After cooking black eyed peas every New Year’s these had the most flavor. This recipe will be used more than once a year!
Our whole family (2 parents and 3 teenage boys) went crazy over this recipe! II didn’t even really like black-eyed peas until now. It’s a keeper, and not just for New Year’s Day!
High Pressure or Low?
High.