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Southern Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas is a delicious, good old fashioned dish that is popular for New Year’s Day feasts. Eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s is a tradition, and is said to be lucky. Make a pot of pressure cooker black-eyed peas to ring in the New Year, or any time you want a super flavorful meal!
Southern Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas
Eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is said to bring good luck. The swelling of the peas signifies prosperity. Cooked with pork, because pigs root forward, and served with greens, symbolizing money.
My Number 1 piece of advice for the BEST tasting Instant pot Southern Black-Eyed Peas is to make sure your ham hock (or whatever meat you use) is SMOKED.
The smoky flavor makes all the difference in the amazing flavor of this recipe!
do I need to Soak the black-eyed peas before cooking them?
No you don’t. These will cook pretty fast, so no soaking needed (but do rinse them well first).
If you do soak them, or use canned black-eyed peas, you can cut the cook time in half, though the ham hock will not get soft enough in that short amount of time.
I would start the ham hock cooking in some water, about 10 minutes, then cook the rest of the dish, adding the ham hock back in.
This is how my mom made black-eyed peas, and I love them!
Southern pressure cooker Black Eyed Peas can be made any time of the year. They are so delicious!
Instant Pot Black-Eyed Peas
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If you make this delicious Southern pressure cooker black-eyed peas recipe, please leave me a comment and a star rating below. I would like to know how you liked them!
Southern Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 lg Onion, chopped
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 6 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 lb Dry Black-Eyed Peas, rinsed
- 1 lb Smoked Ham Hock (make sure it is smoked, for best flavor)
- 4 slices Thick Cut Smoky Bacon, chopped
- 5 cups Water
- 2 tsp Better Than Bouillon Ham or Chicken Base, low sodium
- ¼ tsp Pepper
Instructions
- Turn on the Sauté setting. When hot, add the oil and the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to turn translucent.
- Add the bay leaves and the garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, for 20 seconds.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the pot. Cancel the sauté setting.
- Close the lid and set the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
- Press the Pressure Cook/Manual button, and then the +/- button to select 16 minutes. High Pressure.
- When the cook cycle has finished, turn off the pot and let it sit undisturbed for a 15 minute natural release. Then turn the steam release knob to the Venting position to release the remaining pressure.
- When the pin in the lid drops back down, open the lid.
- Remove the bay leaves and discard. Then remove the ham hocks and get the meat off of the bones. Add the meat back into the pot.
- Taste and add a little salt, if needed.
- Serve alongside some cornbread. You can also serve over rice for a Hoppin' John style meal.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
RESOURCES TO MAKE Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas recipe and more
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Iv’e commented on your black eyed peas before, but I must say again, they are so wonderful !!! This dish gets me a lot of compliments !!! I love it over white rice and make it a Hopin John !!! This recipe is also economical because it goes a long way, as food is so darn expensive now uggggh !!!
Hi, This was excellent yummmmm !!!! I added chopped celery and chopped green and red bell pepper, to the chopped onions and garlic !!! Oh, and I added chopped carrot to the mix with some Slap Your Momma seasoning !!! Served it over Hot White Rice, making it a Hopping John !!! This is absolutely delicious !!!!! Happy New Year !!! (:
It was good but I changed the olive oil to bacon drippings, changed the Better Than Bouillon Ham and water to pork stock (not readily available but easy enough to make), and replaced the Thick Cut Smoky Bacon with thick sliced smoked hog jaw (for me this is more traditional in southern black-eyed peas.)
Also could you should specify the type of onion to use white, yellow, sweet, red? I used yellow.
No sauté of the bacon?
No, I don’t for this recipe. You can if you like.
Excellent recipe that yields cooked peas that are not mushy.