Here’s a Black Eyed Pea Soup recipe to start the new year with abundance! It’s wholesome, nourishing, and loaded with veggies, and easy to make. Vegan and gluten-free.
This black-eyed bean soup feels so nourishing! Simple ingredients come together synergistically to create a whole, greater than its parts. It consists of lots of wholesome veggies- carrots, celery, onion, tomato, bell pepper and kale, and dry black-eyed peas. Yes, you can absolutely use canned black-eyed peas to shorten the cooking time, which honestly isn’t that long- about 30 minutes once the beans get simmering-they are tiny little guys, that don’t require soaking. Plus, I hear they are lucky, bringing prosperity and good fortune. Who couldn’t use a little bit of that? Serve with our Vegan Cornbread Muffins!
Why You’ll Love This!
- Incredibly nutritious. The colorful veggies are full of vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals! Vegan and Gluten-free!
- Quick and easy. Only 20 minutes of prep time—perfect for busy nights!
- Warm and nourishing. A comforting, cozy soup, perfect for winter.
What you’ll need!
- Dry black-eyed peas: Or use 2 x 14-ounce cans. The dried beans do not require soaking and only require about 30-35 minutes to cook.
- Vegetables: Onion, Garlic cloves, celery sticks, carrots, red bell pepper (or sub green bell peppers or yellow)
- Diced tomatoes with juices: Or use 1 1/2 cups of diced fresh tomatoes.
- White wine: Use a dry white wine or skip and add a splash of vinegar at the end.
- Vegetable broth: You can also use 5 cups of water with 1 tablespoon “Better than Boullion” vegetable broth.
- Spices: Red pepper flakes, granulated garlic powder, smoked paprika, dried thyme (or sub dried Italian herbs), bay leaves, black pepper, cayenne pepper
- Soy sauce: Or use gluten-free liquid aminos. This is optional but adds depth.
- Lacinato kale: Or collard greens.
- Italian parsley
How to Make Black-Eyed Pea Soup
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.
Add onion and garlic and saute, stirring 3 minutes, add chili flakes and stir 1 minute. Lower to medium heat, then add the carrots, celery, and salt. Saute 4 more minutes.
Deglaze the pan with the wine, and cook this off.
Add the tomatoes and juices, bell pepper, black-eyed peas, vegetable broth and all the spices.
Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 30 minutes or until black eye peas are tender.
Taste the broth, adding more salt as necessary. If you want more depth, add more veggie bouillon or a tiny splash of soy sauce. Fold in the kale and half of the parsley, cook for 1-2 mins.
Serving Suggestions
To serve, divide among bowls, drizzle with good olive oil, and sprinkle with fresh Italian parsley. A little pecorino is nice too (obviously not vegan, but tasty).
Serve with Cornbread or our Vegan Cornbread Muffins!
FAQs
Black-eyed peas do not need to be soaked. Add them to the soup, and once simmering, they cook for about 30 minutes.
Cornbread or cornbread muffins are delicious with this soup. It is said that cornbread eaten with black-eyed pea soup on New Year’s Day represents gold!
You can add diced bacon or a ham hock, or even use ground beef or turkey that has been seasoned and browned. Ground sausage, chorizo, or soyrizo work well here too. Feel free to use chicken broth, or bone broth!
Black-eyed peas are so small that they cook rather quickly and don’t absolutely need to be soaked. Soaking does quicken cooking time and may increase digestibility, so if you have time, it is not a bad idea.
Storage, Freezing & Reheating
Black Eyed Pea Soup will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. You can store this soup in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating. To reheat, warm back up in a pot over the stovetop.
Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.
More Favorite Recipes
Black Eyed Pea Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 7 cups 1x
- Category: soup
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A New Year’s Day tradition, this black eye pea soup brings property and good luck! This recipe is full of healthy veggies and delicious flavors.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, more for drizzling
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 celery sticks, diced
- 2 large carrots, peeled, sliced into 1/2-inch thick rounds or half-moons
- 1 teaspoon salt, more to taste
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes with juices (or 1 1/2 cups of diced fresh tomatoes)
- 1 red bell pepper, big diced ( or sub green bell peppers or yellow)
- 1 1/4 cups dry black-eyed peas ( or 2 x 14-ounce cans)
- 5 cups vegetable broth (or 5 cups water plus 1 tablespoon “Better than Boullion” vegetable broth)
- 2 teaspoons granulated garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme (or sub dry Italian herbs)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- pinch cayenne pepper
- 1–2 teaspoons soy sauce or GF liquid aminos– optional, for depth.
- big handful of lacinato kale chopped or chopped collard greens
- 1/2 cup Italian parsley
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add onion and garlic and saute, stirring 3 minutes, add chili flakes and stir 1 minute. Lower to medium heat, then add the carrots, celery, and salt. Saute 4 more minutes.
- Deglaze the pan with the wine, and cook this off.
- Add the tomatoes and juices, bell pepper, black-eyed peas, vegetable broth and all the spices.
- Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 30 minutes or until black eye peas are tender.
- Taste the broth, adding more salt as necessary. If you want more depth, add more veggie bouillon or a tiny splash of soy sauce. Fold in the kale and half of the parsley, cook for 1-2 minutes.
- To serve, divide among bowls, drizzle with good olive oil, and sprinkle with fresh Italian parsley. A little pecorino is nice too (obviously not vegan, but tasty).
- Serve with Cornbread or cornbread muffins!
Notes
Black Eyed Pea Soup will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator, or freeze for up to 3 months in the freezer. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
If you’d like to add meat– try browsing diced bacon or adding a ham hock, or use ground meat ( ground beef, turkey) that has been seasoned and browned, or ground sausage or chorizo. Soyrizo would work too. Feel free to use chicken broth, or bone broth!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 219
- Sugar: 8.5 g
- Sodium: 815.3 mg
- Fat: 6.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 31.5 g
- Fiber: 6.3 g
- Protein: 9 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
So easy & delicious! I used spinach instead of kale or collards & it was wonderful. Thanks for this recipe. I’ll definitely make it again.
so glad you enjoyed Mary!
Hello, This sounds good and I will be making it but it seems heavy on garlic. Is the recipe correct in that it calls for both fresh and granulated garlic? Thank you.
Hi, I used both- but love garlic, so feel free to cut back!
That was delicious! Made as written with the addition of 3 slices chopped bacon and ground beef. Cooked chopped bacon in Dutch oven. Then the onions and garlic, then ground beef. Then followed all the steps. 10/10. I wasn’t even sure I like blacked eyed peas until now! Thanks!!
Sounds great!
Tasty and colorful+ healthy.
Substituted the black eye peas with cranberry beans. Same cook time.
O
Good to know Karen- thanks!
Used 4 cups of broth, canned carrots, collards, fire roasted tomatoes, heaping tsp of miso. Served with cornbread. Will probably add additional broth with leftover.
Thanks Lan.
Yum!
My grocery was out of black eyed peas so I’m planning to use black beans! Any considerations for using them instead?
If using dry black beans you may need to cook them longer, and maybe add more liquid? I think they are slightly bigger than Black Eyed Peas.
Being a southern transplant, trying this recipe really appealed to me. As always, any recipe that Sylvia drops is down right delicious. I did double the recipe and added sweet potatoes and some miso and used only 3 cans of roasted diced tomatoes and 5 cups of veggie broth to make a stew instead of a soup since we had been having lots of soup. I also added some lemon juice to brighten the stew. I shared it with virus ailing meat loving neighbors and they LOVED it! Thank you so much Sylvia! I’ve never had one of your recipes fail to delight. You’ve taught me how to be a better cook.
Sounds perfect Betty! Glad you enjoyed it!
Could I substitute fresh spinach for the kale or collard greens? Thank you.
Yes, that should be fine!
Thank you!
Every single recipe that you post is so delicious! This one is no exception. I used chicken bone broth to increase the protein content and it was fantastic. Thank you for another amazing recipe.
Thanks so much Erin- glad you enjoyed this one!
Loved everything about this Black-eyed pea soup, will make it again!
Thanks so much Sara!
I’m a Southerner who wasn’t interested in Southern (or any type of) cooking when I was young. Now that I’m middle-aged, I love to cook. This recipe gave me a wonderful nostalgia for the South even though I haven’t lived there in 20+ years. Thank you.
Awesome Cat, glad this brought back some good memories!
This soup turned out delicious!
Great to hear Kenny!
delicious!
Great soup!
Great to hear!
I made this as I had most of the ingredients. A little short on the celery, no white wine but used a little red. No parsley but I think it turned out great.
Love that you improvised Anita!
As soon as I saw this new recipe I knew I had to make it. It did not disappoint at all. I did make this in the instantpot and came out very good. Thanks again for this recipe, I love all your vegan soups.
So glad you enjoyed Cindy!
Alternative to wine
Hi Maria, how about a splash of broth to deglaze the pan, and at the end maybe adjust to taste with a drop or two of vinegar, for a hint of acid.