Low fat southern style black eye peas with ham, made in your crock pot! It’s really a bean rather than a pea, and an excellent source of calcium, folate, vitamin A and fiber. A perfect recipe for that leftover ham bone, but a ham steak would work great too. These have a mildly spicy flavor, you can adjust the heat to your taste. I served this over brown rice but this would also be great to eat as a soup.
I get a lot of requests for crock pot recipes, so I decided to experiment with dry beans in my slow cooker. I was prepared to call it a loss if they didn’t turn out good. Boy was I was pleasantly surprised! The beans cooked to perfection and this couldn’t be easier. I’m excited to make some of my other dry bean recipes in the crock pot now that I know how good they came out. Crock pot recipes tend to need more seasoning, I found seasoning the beans the last hour of cooking allowed for maximum flavor.
And since so many are asking, although I have and love my Instant Pot, I still love my slow cooker! I have the 6 Quart Hamilton Beach Set ‘n Forget Programmable Slow Cooker (affil link). I love it because you can adjust the time you want it to cook, and it automatically turns to warm when it’s done. It also has a probe for meat that automatically shuts off when done. I hated my old crock pot, it burnt everything and my food had a weird taste. This slow cooker is so great, I actually own several!
Slow Cooked Black Eyed Peas with Ham
Ingredients
- 8 oz smoked lean ham steak, diced (or a ham bone would be perfect)
- 1 pound dried black-eyed peas, rinsed and soaked overnight
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced
- 1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced
- 1 to mato, diced
- 1/2 tsp chili powder, I used chipotle
- 1-1/2 teaspoons cumin
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Soak peas overnight in 6 cups of water.
- The next morning, drain peas and add to slow cooker.
- Add 4 cups of water, bay leaves and ham.
- Cover and cook on high 6 hours or until the beans are tender.
- After 6 hours, in a large frying pan, add oil and sauté onion, garlic, bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, and tomato until soft, about 6 minutes.
- Add to the slow cooker and season black eyed peas generously with salt, cumin, chili powder and black pepper.
- Cover and cook on high 1 to 1 1/2 more hours.
- Discard bay leaves and serve.
How does this freeze? Hoping to pre-make it this year!
Just love this, Made it for new years eve this year along with pressure cooker collards, and some winter squash roasted on side too. I did a fast pre cook of the beans two minutes in pressure cooker with 6 cups water, drained and then put in the slow cooker. I had a smoked turkey leg that I put in with them. I did all else as listed plus a teaspoon of smoked paprika, and one of dried thyme too. I added two stalks celery to the onion tomato red pepper mix as well. I really need to make this more often then just for new Years.
My family really enjoyed this with sun Krustez southern corn bread.
I made some modifications.
I added 2 tbsp of chicken bouillon base with the 4 cups of water
I add 2 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of chili powder
1/4 of cayenne
1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes.
Made this for New Year’s Day – was super delish, used mix of canned black eye peas with jalapeno and pinto beans
Could I substitute bacon instead of ham? If so, do I need to cook it first?
Delicious black eyed peas!
This was my first year making black eyed peas (PNW girl here, currently living in Texas)- as my husband’s grandma usually does the honors— they’ve always been “meh” to me, but he’s grown up on them & loves ‘em. So I decided to try this recipe this year since the grandma had other plans.
My southern husband pouted all day when I told him I needed cumin and chili powder for his precious black eyed peas this New Year’s Day. He likes those flavors, but only in small doses, and thought it would ruin the whole dish. I didn’t even think he was going to try them! But once he did- he kept OMGing- they are so good! He literally told me to count him out on whatever else I’ve planned on cooking this week Bc he just wants to eat these 🤣 I’m pretty sure he’s serious. Thanks for the amazing recipe! We did use a leftover hambone as mentioned in the recipe- everything else followed exactly. 🙂
I’m not a good cook. I can follow a recipe and get a reasonable good meal together. This Slow cooker recipe was hailed as the “best black eyed peas’ my dad has ever had! Even my picky 13 year old boy who eats only carbs said it was a definite do-again! High praise from such a boy. We had it with cole slaw and sweet corn bread. It was a great way to ring in the new year!
Awesome!!
I’ve made your recipe for years and just never thought about writing a review. Everyone I have served these to love them as well and ask for the recipe. It is definitely better with a ham bone, but never cook big hams. Don’t forget the cornbread. Got too late of a start for them to night. Will put them on in the morning. I’ll prep veg and saute them tonight them ready for tomorrow.
I just found out my local Wegmans grocery sells beef marrow bones frozen. I wonder if they have ham bones. I do know that Better than Bouillon makes a ham base for soup. I love their low sodium rotisserie chicken base. I’ll even make a cup and drink it or add frozen veggies for a quick cup of soup.
We make this for New Year’s Day… this is our 3rd year! We LOVE it & eat it with cornbread.
Very filling and satisfying! Really good!
What would you add to make it into a soup? Rotel tomatoes with jalepeno and chicken broth?
This is the third year that I have served your black eyed peas recipe at my family’s New Year’s Day lunch gathering. Everyone loves it. This year I made a double batch and now have lots of left overs. Have you tried freezing it?
Wonderful!!
If I cook this in my instant pot, would I still add all the veggies or add at the end? Would you cook for 25 minutes on high, natural release?
I am so excited to try this recipe and have the black eyed peas soaking right now to make for tomorrow! Instead of using the slow cooker (and I am a HUGE slow cooker fan), I will be attempting this in the electric pressure cooker instead. Thank you for making cooking fun, healthy eating possible, and weight loss exciting! 2017 was a life-changer in our family because of you, and 2018 will be starting the year with your deliciousness once again! Thank you!
You’re welcome Amy! Happy New Year!
I’ve made this for New Years Day the past 4 years and my whole family absolutely LOVES IT!! I just got a new Instapot for Christmas though. Any advice on how to adjust the recipe to cook it in there??? Thank you SO much!!