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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!

Black-Eyed Peas in a white bowl next to spoon on wooden board
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

Black-Eyed Peas in a white bowl next to spoon on wooden board

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!

you might also like
Southern Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas
Instant Pot Collard Greens
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Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas

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!

Black-Eyed Peas in a white bowl next to spoon on wooden board
4.98 from 163 votes

Instant Pot Black-Eyed Peas

By Sandy Clifton
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. Don't forget the collard greens, this recipe has them as a tasty option! 
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 17 minutes
25 minutes
Total: 52 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
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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

*If you soaked the Black-Eyed Peas, reduce the cook time by about half. You can always add time if you need to.
This recipe doubles nicely. Don't double the cooking time.
 
If you want a more traditional black-eyed peas recipe, Try my Instant Pot Southern Black-Eyed Peas recipe.

Nutrition

Calories: 324kcal

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dinner, Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Tried this recipe?Mention @simply_happy_foodie

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Hi, I’m Sandy!

My style of cooking is casual, uncomplicated, and everything is made from my heart. I hope my recipes will help you get the meal on the table a little easier

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261 Comments

  1. Kat says:

    Such a great change of pace from my usual New Year southern peas and collards – 2 separate and pretty basic dishes. This combined the two, super flavor and SO easy in the instant pot. Will definitely make again!

  2. Donna says:

    This came out really good. My husband loved it!

  3. Tracy b says:

    DELICIOUS! The only thing I did different was use 4 cups of chicken bone broth, 2 cups of black eyed peas and only half a jalapeno. It was AMAZING.

  4. Valerie M says:

    Fantastic recipe! Easy and DELICIOUS!!! It only uses about a 1/4 of a bag of black-eyed peas, so I ended up multiplying the recipe to make the remaining beans after this recipe was soooooo good!

    The only change I made when multiplying the recipe was NOT fully doubling the liquid. The final result of the beans the first time I made it was so soupy, that I reduced it the second time I made it.

  5. Juju says:

    Delicious! Glad I found this recipe!

  6. Jenn Lewis says:

    This is a great recipe – I used a spicy paprika and the flavor was fabulous. I cooked my collards separately so I could do a 2x batch in my Insta I only put in 5 cups of broth to stay below the max line in the smaller Instapot.

  7. CMH says:

    This recipe is fabulous! So flavorful and turned out perfect.

  8. Sam Cobbs says:

    This has been my go to recipe for Black Eye Peas for years. My family loves it.

  9. Laurie says:

    I doubled this recipe. Followed exactly except substituted hot links for the bacon and Hamhocks. I did add the collard greens. My southern boyfriend was impressed that this So Cal girl could make excellent black eyed peas 😁. Great recipe and will definitely make again.

  10. P Shaw says:

    So well balanced! Excellent flavor profile. Excluded celery and bacon as they were unavailable at the time.