Black Eyed Pea Soup
Make this Back Eyed Pea soup when you want an easy way to include black-eyed peas in your New Year’s feast! It’s easy to make and fun to include in your festivities. And it doesn’t hurt that they’re considered good luck for the coming year.
For years I labored under the pretense that I didn’t like black-eyed peas. I tried so many different recipes and they were all fails. I love dried beans (yes, they are beans, keep reading!)and I couldn’t figure out why these didn’t seem to taste good. (HINT: It was because I was being boring. Don’t be like me, make this soup instead!)
Then I struck gold with this recipe full of bacon and smoked sausage. I mean, who wouldn’t like that kind of recipe for black-eyed peas? It’s also got onions, carrots, tomatoes, and kale. So much goodness in just one soup!
What Are Black-Eyed Peas?
Black-eyed peas are actually beans, not peas, despite their name. They are a type of legume, and botanically, they belong to the bean family.
These small, creamy-white beans have a black or dark spot, which is where they get their name. Black-eyed peas are commonly used in various dishes such as stews, soups and salads. They’re mild-tasting and versatile!
What you need to make black eyed peas soup
The best thing about this soup is there are no special hard-to-find ingredients. And if you don’t have kale, you can use spinach instead!
- Dried black-eyed peas
- bacon
- onion
- carrots
- smoked sausage, sliced
- minced garlic
- Italian seasoning
- salt
- pepper
- canned diced tomatoes
- chicken broth
- Kale, any kind will work
- optional, shredded parmesan
- Dutch oven
- silicone spatula
- ladle
Serve this soup with some kind of bread. Either my Quick Dutch Oven Bread or my Jalapeño Corn Bread. Both make the perfect side for this soup.
How to Cook Beans
Beans are dried and take a while to cook. You can shorten that time by soaking them overnight before cooking. Just rinse them, cover with water and let them soak.
If you forget, like me, no worries, just use the quick soak method. Wash and sort beans, cover with fresh water and cook for 10 minutes then cover the beans, turn off the heat and leave to sit for an hour.
Either way you go, overnight soak or quick soak, to use the beans, just rinse them, add fresh water and simmer until they’re soft.
Other Iconic New Year Feast Ideas
You can make a special New Year’s feast for New Year’s Eve OR New Year’s Day. OR BOTH! We do a little of each and typically make black-eyed peas on NYD while we have a fun sushi night, or Prime Rib Dinner for NYE. We’ve also done Oven Roasted Turkey because it gives us lots of leftovers.
But you can also do a whole fun appetizer dinner idea for NYE too. We make stuffed mushrooms, blackened shrimp, chips and queso, homemade pretzels and more!
To Store Leftovers
You can store the leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will keep for 2-3 days.
Black Eyed Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb black eyed peas soak overnight OR do a quick soak directions on the bag or below
- 4 strips bacon
- 1 onion diced
- 1 large carrots diced
- 1 14 oz. package smoked sausage sliced, the ring style sausage
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ¾ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 cans 15.9 oz diced tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups kale stems removed, roughly chopped (can also use spinach)
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese *OPTIONAL* garnish
Instructions
- Sort beans and wash, then soak black eyed peas overnight, or do a “quick soak” by covering peas in a generous amount of water and bringing them to a boil, boil for ten minutes, turn off heat, cover, and let sit for an hour
- Once beans are soaked overnight OR quick soak before cooking cover with fresh water and cook for 45 minutes to one hour until just soft
- Once beans are cooked soft move on with the rest of the recipe: Fry strips of bacon over medium-high heat until crispy
- Remove strips from pan, and drain
- And reduce heat to medium and add onions, carrots, and sausage to hot bacon grease, and sautee until vegetables are softened, and sausage has some caramelization
- Add garlic and cook, stirring, another 30-60 seconds
- deglaze the pan with a cup of water and scrape up any browned bits into
- Remove from heat
- In a large soup pot (at least 4 quart), add beans, tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and sauteed vegetables and sausage
- Cover with chicken broth, and stir everything together
- Cover pot and bring to a simmer
- Simmer until peas are tender, about 60-70 minutes
- When soup is finished cooking, crumble bacon and add it and kale to the soup
- Stir until kale is wilted
- Serve hot as desired
Looks great
Yummy