Southern Black Eyed Peas

Southern Black Eyed Peas are hearty, soul-warming, and absolutely delicious! This traditional recipe features smoky bacon, savory sausage, tender black-eyed peas, and fresh collard greens all simmered together in a flavorful broth. Whether you’re celebrating New Year’s Day or just craving some serious comfort food, this dish delivers every single time.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Hearty, smoky, and full of Southern charm, these Black Eyed Peas are comfort food at its finest. Slow-simmered with onions, garlic, and a touch of bacon or ham, they’re rich in flavor and tradition. Perfect for New Year’s Day or any cozy meal, this classic dish symbolizes good luck.

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Ingredient List

Beans and Broth:

• 1 pound (453 g) dried black-eyed peas
• 7–8 cups chicken broth (or water for a lighter base)

Meats (Flavor Base):

• 4–5 thick slices bacon, chopped
• 5 ounces smoked sausage or smoked turkey, diced (about 1 cup)
• Optional: ham hock or leftover smoked turkey parts for extra depth

Aromatics and Seasonings:

• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 2–3 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeño, minced (or 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper)
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, minced (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1–2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Greens:

• 2 cups collard greens, chopped (or kale – more if you love greens!)

Optional Finishers:

• Dash of red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• Chopped green onions for garnish
• Cooked rice for serving

Substitution Notes: Andouille sausage if you want heat. Turkey bacon works but won’t taste as good. I never buy Creole seasoning, just shake some paprika and garlic powder together with cayenne.

Why These Ingredients Work

Bacon fat makes everything taste better. Period. Restaurants know this. Home cooks are scared of it. Don’t be. The sausage doubles the smoke flavor. My aunt showed me this trick in 1998 – always use two meats, never just one. She cooked at a church in Mississippi for thirty years, so I trust her.

Every Southern cook starts with onion, celery, garlic. Build from there and you can’t screw it up. Jalapeño brings heat without burning your mouth. My husband hates spicy food, complains about everything. Never says a word about this.

Collards balance the fat. Skip them and it’s too heavy, too greasy. That vinegar at the end – forgot it once, my mother-in-law knew immediately. Asked me what I changed. Nothing gets past her.

Essential Tools and Equipment

• Large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven (at least 6 quarts)
• Sharp knife and cutting board
• Wooden spoon for stirring
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Colander for draining beans
• Ladle for serving
• Optional: Potato masher (for creating that creamy texture)

How To Make Southern Black Eyed Peas

Step 1: Soak the Beans

Rinse beans under cold water. Pick through them with your hands. Found a rock once that would’ve cracked a tooth. Put them in your biggest bowl. Cover with water – way more than you think, three or four inches above the beans. Walk away for a few hours. Overnight if you remember. Drain before cooking.

Skipped soaking for years because I was impatient. Got mushy outsides with crunchy middles every time. Not worth it. Just soak them.

Step 2: Brown the Meats

Put your pot on medium heat. Drop in the bacon. Let it cook until it’s crispy and brown, maybe five minutes. Kitchen smells like heaven. Add the sausage, cook two more minutes. Scoop out the meat with a slotted spoon. DO NOT pour out that fat. Every drop stays in the pot.

Step 3: Sauté the Aromatics

Dump in onion, celery, garlic, jalapeño, thyme, bay leaf. All of it goes into that bacon fat. Stir with your wooden spoon. Cook five minutes until the onions get soft and clear. House smells like somebody’s grandmother lives there.

Step 4: Build and Simmer

Pour in the broth. Add drained beans. Sprinkle Creole seasoning and a pinch of salt. Just a pinch. Bacon’s salty, sausage is salty, everything’s already salty. Crank the heat until it boils. Drop it down to barely bubbling. No lid. Twenty minutes.

Step 5: Add Greens and Meats

Stir in collards. Put bacon and sausage back in. Keep bubbling gently, ten more minutes minimum. Stir every couple minutes. Beans should be soft when you bite one. Broth should look thick, like gravy.

Beans stayed hard for thirty minutes extra once. They were from the back of my cabinet, probably five years old. Just kept cooking until they softened.

Step 6: Adjust and Serve

Too thick? Add broth. Want it creamy? Mash some beans against the pot side. Fish out the bay leaf. My grandmother swore eating one brings bad luck. Taste it. Add salt, pepper, whatever it needs.

Spoon over rice. Green onions on top.

You Must Know

Do not salt heavy at the start. Made this mistake in 2015. Salted them like I salt pasta water. Beans stayed hard for three hours. Never softened. Had to throw out the whole pot. Between bacon, sausage, and Creole seasoning, there’s enough salt. Add more after beans soften if needed.

Personal Secret: Mash about a quarter cup of beans against the pot right before serving. Makes the broth go from thin to thick and silky. My sister-in-law asked for years why mine looked creamier. Finally told her in 2022. Now she won’t make them any other way. One small move that changes everything.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

Stir every ten minutes. Beans burn on the bottom fast. Scrubbed three pots black before I learned this.

Check them at twenty-five minutes. Grab a bean, bite it. Should be creamy inside, holding its shape outside. Still hard? Keep cooking.

No tomatoes or vinegar early. Acid toughens bean skins. Save vinegar for the end.

Forgot to soak? Add twenty more minutes cooking time. Or quick-soak – boil two minutes, turn off heat, let sit one hour.

Ham hock changes the game. Toss it in with the broth. Pull it out before serving, pick off the meat, throw meat back in.

Flavor Variations / Suggestions

Tomato Twist: Neighbor dumps in canned tomatoes last ten minutes. Makes it tangier. Not traditional but pretty good.

Creamy Coconut: Replaced two cups broth with coconut milk once. Totally different, almost Caribbean. Really good.

Extra Veggie: Add carrots, peppers, sweet potato. Kids eat vegetables when they’re hidden.

Vegan Version: Skip meat. Use olive oil for vegetables. Vegetable broth instead of chicken. Smoked paprika for smoke flavor. Cousin makes it this way, brings it everywhere.

Spicy Kick: Andouille instead of regular sausage. Extra jalapeño. Hot sauce on the table.

Herb Garden: Fresh parsley or cilantro on top. Looks nice, tastes fresh.

Make-Ahead Options

Better the next day. Everything blends together sitting overnight. Prefer leftovers to fresh.

Advance Prep: Soak beans night before. Chop vegetables, store in fridge. Next day just cook.

Full Make-Ahead: Make three days ahead. Fridge in sealed container. Reheat on stove. Add broth to thin it out.

Freezer-Friendly: Cool completely. Freezer bags. Date them. Six months easy. Thaw in fridge overnight.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

Buy beans from busy stores. Old beans never soften. Sat on shelves too long, won’t cook right.

Chicken broth tastes richer. Water works with bacon and sausage. Vegetarian needs good vegetable broth.

Pot liquor at the bottom – people soak cornbread in it. Best part of the meal.

Beans thicken sitting. Always thin leftovers with broth when reheating.

Serving Suggestions

Over white rice. That’s it. Rice soaks up pot liquor. Every bite perfect.

Traditional New Year’s Plate: Black-eyed peas with collard greens, cornbread, pork. Peas for luck, greens for money, pork for progress. Grandmother wouldn’t eat anything else January first. Superstition or not, it’s a great meal.

Complete the Meal: Goes with:

• Cornbread hot from the oven, butter melting
• Fried chicken, still crispy
• Mac and cheese, extra creamy
• Coleslaw, vinegar-based
• Sweet tea, ice cold

Garnish Ideas: Green onions chopped. Butter if you’re splurging. Hot sauce on the side. Parsley for fancy.

How to Store Your Southern Black Eyed Peas

Refrigerator: Cool completely. Container with lid. Three to five days. Better on day two.

Freezer: Wait until cold. Freezer bags or containers. Leave room at top, they expand. Date with marker. Six months.

Reheating: Pot on medium-low. Stir often. Add broth or water if thick. Microwave works – one minute, stir, repeat. Frozen ones thaw in fridge overnight first.

Allergy Information

Common Allergens:

• Contains: Celery, maybe gluten in Creole seasoning
• May contain: Soy in some sausage

Substitution Suggestions:

• Gluten-free: Check Creole seasoning label and sausage package. Most fine, not all.
• Dairy-free: Already dairy-free.
• Low-sodium: Low-sodium broth, no added salt, low-sodium meats.
• Nut-free: No nuts.

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

Do I really need to soak the black-eyed peas?

No, but do it anyway. Saves twenty minutes cooking. Makes everything cook even. Can skip if you’re rushed, just cook longer. Black-eyed peas are forgiving, they’ll work out.

Can I use canned black-eyed peas instead of dried?

Yeah. Three 15-ounce cans. Drain, rinse. Add last fifteen minutes after cooking aromatics. Just need to heat up and absorb flavor. Total time drops to thirty minutes.

My beans are still hard after cooking – what happened?

Beans are ancient. Too much salt early. Hard water. Beans from someone’s cabinet for years won’t ever soften. Next time, wait on salt until beans start softening. Hard water? Use bottled or add tiny bit baking soda.

Why do Southerners eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day?

Luck thing. Peas bring luck. Greens bring money. Pork brings progress. Eat this New Year’s Day, have a good year. Every Southern grandmother believes this. Real or superstition? Don’t know. Tastes amazing, so why not?

💬 Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and rating below! Tell me how they came out! New Year’s batch? What’d you serve? Tag me in pictures – love seeing them!