Black-Eyed Pea Soup
Jump to RecipeBlack-eyed peas are a tradition in the South, particularly for ringing in a New Year. They are said to bring good luck and prosperity. We kick in some greens in hopes that the next Powerball jackpot will finally be ours (greens will bring us wealth, right?). Even if it doesn’t work, at least we tried! Regardless, what better way to kick off a new food blog and a new year than to lead with a black-eyed pea soup? The traditions actually date back to Africa and continued through several cultures but, alas, I will spare you a trip down that rabbit hole for a time when you really want to fire up the Google machine, are bored with your Alexa, or maybe just secretly want to be on Jeopardy someday.
There are an infinite number of ways to consume black-eyed peas: soups, stews, salads and the list goes on. Today – and we will try to carry this practice throughout the blog – we are going to keep it simplified and flavorful. This soup, like many soups, starts with a nice flavorful base of carrots, onions, and celery. Then, we bring in the garlic and the meat. While I typically would use leftover ham for a soup like this I had a rare moment where ham was AWOL in my fridge and freezer so I went with bacon. Really, any salty/smoky pork item will do the trick so why discriminate and, more importantly, why make an extra trip to the store?!
Preparation: Black-eyed Pea Soup
You’ll want to get everything nice and prepped up front to make it easier when it comes time to add ingredients to the pot. For this recipe, I used an Instant Pot (affiliate link) but this can just as easily be done on the stove in a stock pot. It will just increase the cooking time and who wants that?
There are instructions in the recipe below so I won’t go into too much step-by-step detail here but once the carrots, celery, and onion begin to soften you want to add the garlic and bacon (or ham if that is what you have handy). Stir that in and enjoy the smells!
Next you will add in everything except the tomatoes and kale. Progress!
Set your pressure cooker to “Soup” setting or manually on high pressure for 10 minutes. Allow to naturally depressurize. If the cooker is still holding pressure after 20 minutes or so, help it out (use caution!), and release the remaining pressure slowly to avoid hot liquid shooting through the pressure release. Simple enough? Voila! Congratulations, you just made black-eyed pea soup.
Ladle into a bowl, grab your favorite soup spoon, flip on some college bowl games, and enjoy this simple, flavorful soup.
Equipment: Black-Eyed Pea Soup
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Flavor Bible is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you. Thanks for your support.
You can certainly read about our affinity for the Instant Pot here. It really is a time saver for all kinds of meals. We definitely love it for soups, especially on a weeknight. The one we use is below. There are certainly many other models to choose from but this is a good place to start. Well worth it in our opinion (affiliate link below)!
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Black-Eyed Pea Soup
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Medium Sweet Onion, Diced
- 1 Large Celery Stalk, Diced
- 1 Cup Carrots, Diced
- 2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
- 1 Lb Black-Eyed Peas Frozen or Dried
- 8 Cups Chicken Stock Homemade or Quality Store Bought
- 12 Oz Bacon, chopped Ham or other salty seasoning meat will work too
- 2 Cups Stewed Tomatoes Diced or other canned varieties will work too
- 2 – 3 Cups Kale Frozen or Fresh work here
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 dash Liquid Smoke
- 1 tsp Dried Thyme 1 Tbsp if using fresh
- Sea Salt If desired, can omit if limiting sodium or using high sodium canned ingredients
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper to taste, a few turns of the grinder should do
Instructions
- Set pressure cooker to saute.
- Add olive oil and and heat for 1-2 minutes. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Saute for 3 minutes, or until they begin to soften.
- Add the garlic and bacon (or ham). Saute for 2 additional minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the chicken stock, black-eyed peas, smoked paprika, bay leaf, and thyme. Stir.
- Set pressure cooker to soup setting (if applicable) or high pressure for 10 minutes.
- Let cooker depressurize naturally. If not depressurized after 20 minutes, cautiously depressurize manually. Be aware that hot liquid can come through the pressure release and exercise caution when doing this.
- Stir in kale and tomatoes, allowing kale to wilt under the heat of the soup.
- Ladle into bowls and enjoy!
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