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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 have a bag of frozen sliced okra that I would like to add. Would I need to increase the cooking time?
You can just toss it in and cook it with the peas. No need to adjust the time. It may come out pretty soft.
Delicious! I used 2 1/2 cups of peas, 4 cups of broth plus 1/2 c water, and 3-4 cups of collard greens. Needed a little more but not double. Oh and I accidentally grabbed smoked Turkey necks instead of hocks, but they worked great. Looking forward to making it again.
Hi Jonel! Smoked turkey is so good! I like to use wings. I’m so happy you liked this recipe!
I made this yesterday and it was excellent! Thanks so much!
Thank you, Ernie! Happy New Year!
This is delicious! I adjusted so I could make a whole bag (1 lb.) of peas to feed a crowd. It all fit in the pot! I set the cooktime to 30 minutes to accommodate the extra, and the peas came out perfect. It’s even better after a day in the fridge. I will definitely make this again. Thanks!
That’s great, Britton! Thank you. Happy New Year!
The traditional New Year’s Day good luck meal in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas is pork and sauerkraut, but my kids never want to eat it. So, I decided to try this recipe and it was a hit! I had a bag of chopped kale which I used in place of the collards but otherwise I followed the recipe. I’m having it as a bowl of soup for lunch at this moment! Thank you for sharing this delicious meal…I’m bookmarking it for next year!
That’s great, Rita! I’m glad this was something all of you could enjoy! Thank you. Happy New Year!
Delicious! A great start to our New Year. Thanks! 5 stars! (the rating stars would not fill in)
Thank you, Ellen! It looks like the rating worked. I’m so happy you liked this recipe! Happy New Year!
Great recipe. I have tried black eyed peas on cooktop several times and they never came out right. These were great!
Did not put the greens in this time but will next time. I doubled the recipe in my large instant pot and it was great.
Thanks!
Thank you Mary ann! Happy New year!
Delicious! My whole family loved these, including my 7-year-old finicky eater, who Google searched and selected your recipe for me today. Black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day are a long-standing tradition in my family. My mom’s peas are my favorite, but I can never get mine to taste as good as hers (she swears she just uses a ham bone). I made only minor modifications: added 1 diced carrot, sauteed 2 slices bacon first, and then sauteed the veggies in the drippings (instead of olive oil), used ~4 c homemade chicken stock, two 12-oz packages of pre-soaked black-eyed peas (~3-4 c), and I roasted a meaty ham bone in the oven at 375F for ~1 hour before adding to the Instant Pot. I followed your earlier suggestion and cooked everything except the peas on high pressure for 15 minutes first. I removed the meat from the ham bone and returned the bone to the pot, along with the peas, and cooked on high pressure for another 12 minutes (while I pulled and de-fatted the ham and cooked up a batch of my mom’s cornbread). I ate these over buttered cornbread, with sauteed beet greens, chow-chow and Louisiana hot sauce, and they were wonderful!
Sounds perfect! Thank you for you review! Happy New Year!
This was delicious! I was walking into the grocery store on New Years Day and needed a black eyed pea recipe when I stumbled across this. I was cooking for some friends and everyone loved it! I was impressed, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed black eyed peas before but would definitely make these as a side again! Super flavorful, followed the recipe except no ham hock (I know this is probably a big component but I doubled the bacon instead – used 4 thick cut slices) and no bell pepper due to preference.
That’s great, Megan! Thank you! Happy New Year!
I just made this for New Year’s Day and I’m feeling lucky already! I didn’t want to go to the store on my lazy holiday so I didn’t have any ham, bacon or collard greens to add, but it still turned out just fantastic. I’m definitely making it again in the next month or so with all the ingredients. And if anyone needs to know, I had already soaked my beans so I lowered my pressure cooking time to 10 minutes on high with the natural release and it worked great!
Thanks for the great recipe, Sandy!
That’s great, Sera! Thank you. Happy New Year!