Black-eyed peas make an excellent everyday dinner, perfect for the New Year’s Day meal. A dish of black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is thought to bring prosperity for the coming year. The peas symbolize coins or wealth. Greens and pork are often added to a New Year’s Day dinner, with cornbread and slaw rounding out the meal.
The peas should soak overnight, so plan your preparation accordingly.
Recipe Variations
- Replace the ham with mild or spicy smoked sausage.
- Replace the carrot with a chopped bell pepper and add Cajun seasoning, to taste.
- Use a meaty ham bone or ham hocks. Just before the peas are done, remove the meat from the bones and add it back to the peas.
Black Eyed Peas With Ham
Start the New Year right with a dish of black-eyed peas with ham!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Soak Time: 8 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Total Time: 9 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Beans
- Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pound dried black-eyed peas
- 1/2 pound pork belly, thick slab bacon, or salt pork, cut in strips
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 1 cup diced onion
- 2 cups chicken broth
- water
- 8 ounces diced cooked ham, about 1 cup
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Pick peas over, discarding malformed peas and any small stones. Rinse and put in a large bowl. Add water to about 2 to 3 inches above the peas. Let stand at room temperature overnight.
- Drain the peas and rinse.
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook the pork belly or salt pork with the onion, celery, and carrot until onion is translucent and the pork is browned. Add the drained peas, chicken broth, and enough water to cover the peas. Add the ham, crushed red pepper, and black pepper. Cover and simmer for about 1 hour, or until tender. If using pork belly, remove and shred the meat, discarding the fat.
- Add the meat back to the peas and add salt, to taste.
- Serve with rice and cornbread.
