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 is a delicious, good old fashioned dish that is popular for New Year's Day feasts.
- 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
- 1/4 tsp Pepper
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Turn on the Sauté setting. When hot, add the oil and the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to turn translucent.
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Add the bay leaves and the garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, for 20 seconds.
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Add the remaining ingredients to the pot. Cancel the sauté setting.
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Close the lid and set the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
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Press the Pressure Cook/Manual button, and then the +/- button to select 16 minutes. High Pressure.
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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.
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When the pin in the lid drops back down, open the lid.
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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.
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Taste and add a little salt, if needed.
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Serve alongside some cornbread. You can also serve over rice for a Hoppin' John style meal.
This recipe can be made in a 3 qt by reducing ingredients by 1/3. Keep the cook time the same.
This can be a "Dump and Start" recipe if you don't want to do the sautéing steps.
RESOURCES TO MAKE Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas recipe and more
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Nene
Made mine and they turned out absolutely wonderful. I accidentally bought smoked neck instead of hocks, still delicious.
Tamara
These were very good and a life saver because I was short on time and did not soak my black eyed peas last night.
I did not add the ham, just bacon and the flavor was amazing. I think they needed more water -maybe 1 cup more, unless they are being eaten immediately. I had to add more water/broth, as I transferred the peas to a crock pot to keep warm while awaiting our company.
Brenda
This was so easy! I had salt pork as we are at the hunting lease for the new year. Thank you for sharing. They are wonderful!!
P@
Love this recipe! So amazing that it can be this good in less than an hour, from dry beans to “oh yum”!
Dodge
I made this recipe today for a NYE party. The black-eyed peas taste delicious. I also added in collared greens (which is an option in one of your other recipes), and they taste pretty good too. My only question is how much liquid should be left when the cooking is done. Right now, everything is thoroughly cooked, but there’s enough liquid for this to be a soup. Should I filter out the liquid before serving? (Did the addition of the collared greens cause all the excess liquid?)
Sandy
Adding greens will increase the liquid only a little. Soaking the beans and cooking without decreasing the liquid will also make it soupy. Or not using the correct amount of beans/water. Using a potato masher to mash up some of the beans will thicken it a bit. Or just scoop some of the liquid out.
Randi
I have not made this yet but wonder if you can use chicken broth instead of the water? I will make Jan 1 for company.
Sandy
Yes you can, it’s delicious!
Bill
Wonderful recipe. And thank you for setting up your page the way you did. I love the fact that you have a button to click that takes you right to the recipe and a button to go to the comments. I wish everyone did this.
Sandy
You are very welcome! Thank you for your comment and feedback!
Tom
I’ve made ham hocks and beans many times. This recipe came out just great! I used small navy beans as a substitute for the black eye peas. Still came out wonderful. Several of my extended family had never had this before. They are hooked now!
Angela
I also made your recipe for Collard Greens, which was excellent by the way. My question is about the ham hocks- in that receipe the total cook time is an hour but in this one for the peas it is much less. Did I miss something?
Sandy
This recipe is for a more meaty ham hock, the other uses a small ham hock mostly for flavor, so the cook time is a bit different.