Slow Cooker Black Eyed Peas Recipe

Most of my relatives are from the South and every New Year is a celebration of traditional dishes that supposedly bring prosperity for the starting year. The dining table must always have at least these three dishes: oven roasted collard greens, a traditional ham, and Southern-style slow cooker black eyed peas. The greens represent folded money while the peas and pork are for good luck. I’m not as superstitious as my folks, but I have to admit that I am a fan of their slow cooked black eyed peas recipe that’s always bursting with meaty and savory flavors.

I asked one of my relatives to share their recipe so I could enjoy it all-year round and not just for the New Year’s! I learned that it’s so easy to make this recipe since it’s all cooked and blended together in a single crockpot. You can cook this on a stove top as well, but I honestly preferred using the crockpot since this recipe includes dried peas and ham hocks as its main ingredients. Slow cooking helps with creating a slightly creamier texture for the peas, and tenderizes the ham hock as well.

For this slow cooker black eyed peas, I pre-soaked the peas for at least 4 hours before cooking the dish. Doing this lessens the cooking time and also reduces the amount of chicken broth used. Other crockpot black eyed peas recipes, however, don’t pre-soak their beans so it’s really a matter of preference. If you don’t plan on soaking the peas, then make sure to cook on High for 7 hours and add 7 cups of chicken broth instead. Alternatively, you can also use one of canned peas for this recipe. Using this will cut the cooking time by an hour. Just make sure that you drain and rinse these before adding them to the big pot.

Aside from the peas and ham hock, there are also chopped ham and smoked sausages in the dish. Smoked turkey also works as a delicious alternative to the chopped ham. Also, if you want a vegetarian or vegan black eyed peas recipe, then you can easily swap out the ingredients with non-meat alternatives. For instance, use water or vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Omit the bacon and ham, and add in half a teaspoon of liquid smoke and smoke paprika for flavor. Then, add more salt at the end to imitate and make up for the saltiness of the missing pork meat.

Once you have all your ingredients, cook them all in the crockpot on High, and then serve alongside rice or a homemade cornbread. I particularly like pairing these with cornbread since it reminds me more of fun New Year’s day with my relatives. But you’re free to enjoy it as is or with any other dishes!