Just in time for the New Year, here’s a tasty, lighter recipe for Smokey Black-Eyed Peas served up with Garlicky Collard Greens and Cornbread- to ensure luck, prosperity, and good fortune in the coming year. Vegan and GF.🥂
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce
So no, not a traditional Southern recipe, but a lighter, leaner take on it. If going vegan- be sure to check out the vegan version of this Skillet Cornbread (in the recipe notes).
Ingredients in Black Eyed Peas
- Dry black-eyed peas (or substitute canned)
- Onion and Garlic
- Salt Spices: smoked paprika, allspice
- Veggie stock or bean broth
What to serve with Black-Eyed Peas
How to make Black-Eyed Peas
Step one:
Cook the Black-Eyed Peas. You can cook the black-eyed peas in an Instant Pot or on the stovetop. I used the Instant Pot, and cooked on high pressure for 15 minutes without prior soaking. They came out perfect. Feel free to simmer on the stove, covered with an inch of salted water until tender ( about 30-40 minutes).
TIP: At the same time, while they are cooking, you could also make the cornbread and gremolata if using.
A general rule of thumb is 6 cups water +1 teaspoon salt per pound of black-eyed peas. Add aromatics if you like or feel free to cook in veggie broth.
Drain the black-eyed peas, but reserve the Bean Broth.
Step two
In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic, and add spices.
Once the onions are golden and caramelized, add the cooked black-eyed peas.
Season generously with salt. I added a rounded teaspoon. Taste and adjust spices, bumping them up if you like.
Add bean broth or veggie broth to loosen. Keep warm.
Step three
Make the Garlicky Collard Greens. (Do this while the beans are cooking) I like to make a huge batch of this! (3 bunches!) .
Step four
Make the Gremolata. (Do this while the beans are cooking).
Step five
Assemble the Black-Eyed Peas and Collard Green bowls!
Top the black-eyed peas with a big portion of collard greens and drizzle the whole thing with the herby gremolata.
Add extra chili flakes if you like!
Serve with warm cornbread.
The beans and collards will keep up to 4 days in the fridges and the gremolata will keep 5-7 days.
Black Eyed Peas, Collard Greens and Cornbread TrADITION
In Southern tradition- the black-eyed peas represent copper pennies, the collard greens represent cash, and the cornbread represents gold. A very prosperous New Year’s Day meal. 😉 Some folks even suggest serving exactly 365 peas- one for each day. 😉
Black Eyed Peas and Collard Greens – a fun and tasty New Year’s tradition!
✨ Wishing you a very happy and sparkly New Year!
xoxo
More recipes you may enjoy:
- Catalan Sautéed Spinach
- Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green Soup)
- Healthy Vegan Collard Green Wraps!
- Italian Baked Beans and Greens
- Cuban Black Bean Soup (Instant Pot w/ Dry Beans)
- Lemony Corona Beans with Olive Oil, Garlic & Herbs
- Cassoulet Vert
- Our Favorite Vegan Chili
- Our Favorite Homemade Cornbread
Smoky Black Eyed Peas and Collard Greens
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: vegan, main
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: Southern
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Just in time for New Years Day, here’s a tasty, lighter recipe for Black-Eyed Peas served up with Garlicky Collard Greens and Cornbread- to ensure luck, prosperity, and good fortune in the coming year. Vegan and GF.🥂
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried black-eyed peas (or sub 3 x 14-ounce cans)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 cups water or stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 garlic cloves or one shallot
Stewed Black-Eyed Peas
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- one onion, diced
- 8 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- 5 cups cooked black-eyed peas
- 1 teaspoon salt, more to taste
- 1–2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- pinch allspice (1/4 teaspoon, more to taste)
- pinch cayenne- optional
- 1/2–1 cup broth or bean water
Garlicky Collard Greens
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes, more to taste
- 2–3 bunches collard greens (12–15 leaves)
Optional additions:
Instructions
- Cook the black-eyed peas. If using an instant pot, place beans, water, salt, bay leaves, garlic, and pressure cook on high for 15 minutes. Manually release after 10 minutes. Drain, save the cooking liquid. If cooking on the stovetop, place everything in a pot, simmer gently, uncovered, until beans are just tender, adding water as necessary ( you want about an inch of water over the beans). Drain and save the cooking liquid. (If using canned beans, drain and rinse and you’ll need 1 cup veggie broth)
- While the beans are cooking make the gremolata, cornbread and Collard Greens.
- Make Collard Greens. Trim the big stems off of the collard greens and slice them very thinly, set aside. Chop the greens, stacking them – either roll and slice thinly, “shredding” them, or cut into 1-inch pieces. Heat the oil over medium heat in an EXTRA-LARGE skillet. Add the garlic, chili flakes and salt and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the stems, and saute them 3-4 minutes. Then add the leaves and gently wilt. If you like your collards very tender, add a splash of veggie broth or bean broth and cover for a few minutes. Or keep them vibrant like you see here, just lightly cooked. Taste and adjust salt and chili flakes. If you are not making the gremolata- adding lemon zest is a nice tough here. Set them aside.
- Make the Black-eyed Peas: In the same extra-large skillet (wipe it out), add olive oil, onion, and garlic. Saute over medium heat until fragrant. Stir in the smoked paprika and allspice. Add the beans, ½-1 cup of bean liquid (or veggie broth), and salt to taste. You want them slightly loose. Adjust seasonings to taste-feel-free to add more of everything. Add cayenne if you like a bit of heat. If the beans are bland, they need salt.
- Assemble the bowls. Place a scoop of black-eyed peas on the bottom of a bowl, top with a hearty portion of greens, and dot with the gremolata. Enjoy!
Notes
Beans and greens will keep up to 4 days in the fridge. Beans can be frozen.
Gremolata will keep 5-7 days- use any leftovers on soup, avocado toast, etc.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¾ cup beans + 3/4 cup greens
- Calories: 368
- Sugar: 6.6 g
- Sodium: 506.8 mg
- Fat: 10.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 52.4 g
- Fiber: 10.2 g
- Protein: 19.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
My husband picked this recipe for me to try. If using frozen black eyed peas would you cook then first in instant pot then follow the rest of the instructions? I am excited to try.
Hi Terri, I am assuming they are already cooked? If so, you could do the stove top version?
Yum!! Truly enjoyed taking simple ingredients and creating such a flavor explosion! Thanks for showing us how to cook beans, it was my first time! Loved the gremolata with carrot tops 🙂 I didn’t make your fabulous cornbread because I made a sourdough focaccia instead!! All together lovely and filling meal, thank you 🙂
oooo sourdough focaccia sounds yummy! Glad you enjoyed this Angeli :).
What if I don’t have a pressure cooker can I use my Dutch oven to make this recipe
Yes, that should be fine!
I love black eyed peas and collards… But this recipe really missed the mark for me. The allspice was very off-putting. I also didn’t feel the flavors of the different components, including the gremolata, went well together. None of my friends or my husband enjoyed it, either, and we are all pretty adventurous eaters. Would not recommend.
Sorry this didn’t work for you!
Made this today, my first time cooking black eyed peas from scratch, it’s really good! I soaked mine first. Made the greens as well (what a pain lol) but I’m glad I did and now I have meals for days! Can’t wait to see how it tastes once reheated.
Glad you gave it a go Virginie!
So delicious! These black-eyed peas are so good. I prefer with 2 tsp smoked paprika and with the cayenne pepper. Also prefer with good vegetable broth rather than the bean broth. Was out of allspice for this batch so did not have that today and they still came out amazing. I like them both ways. Of course the collard greens and gremolata are amazing, too. Sylvia, you have given us so many gifts. I will eat this often and share with friends. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Hi! Any idea how many cups / pounds one of the greens recipes would equate to the three bunches in the recipe?
I have a two-pound bag of chopped fresh collards to eat. 🙂
I would guess 7-8 cups, cut and packed? 15 whole leaves.
A great foundation for my own version of this time-honored New Year’s dinner. I subbed baby bok choy for the collard greens and served everything atop a creamy polenta. Healthy and YUM!
Thanks for the inspiration Sylvia!
Yum! Sounds super tasty!
Woo hoo! We loved this – we make beans + greens a fair bit but all the smoked paprika totally elevated the beans and esp the gremolata is DELICIOUS!! It really is a breath of fresh air, total game changer for me. I will keep the gremolata on heavy rotation. 10 / 10
Awesome to hear Barbara!
So good! I will make all of these again and again. Made the black eyed peas with 1 ½ tsp smoked paprika, the collard greens cooked lightly so pretty and green, and the gremolata with arugula instead of parsley and with lots of olive oil. The loose lemony gremolata sauce is an amazing addition to so many things. Thank you for sharing all of your recipes, Sylvia! Appreciate them so much!
Thanks Hannah- gald you liked it!
Yum! This is amazing. The gremolata adds such a lovely brightness. This would be really good with roast chicken 🐔 Thank you for the recipe!
Glad you enjoyed this Jenae!
Thank you for your Stewed Black – Eyed Pea recipe. They have so much flavor and the taste is wonderful. I just made a pot and can’t stop eating them. I will be cooking them again.
Great to hear Wanda!
It was very good as we made it, but I should have cooked the onions longer to bring out more flavor. Would the garlic not burn or turn bitter when thrown in with the onions to caramelize? That’s what I was worried about. Thanks!
Hi Ewa, you can cook the onions a bit before adding the garlic if you wish. Cooking rough-chopped (bigger cut) garlic over medium heat, shouldn’t easily burn,so I skipped a step here to save time. 😉
Is soaking the beans required for this receipt?
Hi Adaisha- no,it is not required but if you are sensitive to lectins, feel free to soak first. 🙂
Thank you, this recipe was amazing and super fast with canned black eyed peas. This was my first for black eyed peas and collards so it was a small gamble. Definitely will keep this one on a regular.
Awesome to hear Dawn!
This was delicious, thank you! Looking forward to making this again.
I’m so happy you enjoyed this Michelle!
This was a very filling, tasty meal. I soaked my beans first, which was not indicated in the recipe. I subbed kale for the collards. I subbed cilantro for the parsley since that’s what I had on hand. I wasn’t sure about the gremolata when I tasted it separate from the meal but once it was on the other ingredients it was a game changer, good stuff (even using the cilantro). I was thinking of making the vegan cornbread but the recipe didn’t seem complete (no vinegar, for example) and I was afraid it would be flat or dry. I’d love to read comments about how it turned out…the original cornbread recipe turned out well.
Hi Deb, glad you liked this. I just made the vegan version of the cornbread and it puffed up beautifully.
Soooooo delicious! Easy to put together especially having cooked the beans, stovetop method, the day before. I had to sub the collard greens for spinach because 3 supermarkets didn’t have any. Will make this again and again. I’ve not tried any recipe of yours that hasn’t wowed me with flavour. Many thanks Sylvia for sharing your talent!
Thanks, Liza- happy you enjoyed this!
Made this with the vegan corn bread and peas and greens were very good. But not sure about the gremolata yet. It did not turn out as tasty as I had expected as the oil was not mixed in well. . Maybe it will be better tomorrow.
Oh? Yes, I bet flavors of gremolata will meld overnight.
It was delicious and easy. Perfect for meatless Monday or any stormy night.
Awesome Janet!
Made it again and this time I made the black eyed peas in my pressure cooker and used Kale instead of Collards. I am not a huge Kale fan but both my husband and I loved it. It is such a winner.
Grea to hear Janet!
Great to hear Janet!
Thanks for this perfect New Year’s Day recipe. My family of 4 loved it. Subbed kale for collards as I had it on hand. It’s a keeper. Thanks!
Great to hear Carey!