Hoppin’ John – Black Eyed Peas New Year’s Recipe
This Hoppin’ John black eyed peas recipe is an annual Southern New Year’s tradition! It’s dish usually served on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day for good health, prosperity and good luck in the coming year.
It consists of black-eyed or purple hull peas, seasoned with celery, onion, bell pepper (also known as The Holy Trinity) and is often served over white rice or brown rice.
The peas represent prosperity in the New Year, and who couldn’t use a little of that?
Most often, this dish is served as a New Year’s Eve entree, to ensure a prosperous year, but if you’re serving a large meal, it’s an excellent side dish along with some slow-cooked Southern collard greens and a piece of homemade cornbread!
What is Hoppin’ John?
It’s a Southern New Year’s “good luck” dish (also known as South Carolina Peas and Rice.) You can use dry beans, frozen or canned; dry black eyed peas do not require an overnight soak.
It consists of “field peas,” typically black-eyed peas or purple hull peas, onion, celery, bell pepper, and seasonings. It is usually cooked with bacon or a ham hock and served with rice and collard greens. Some folks add leftover turkey, chicken or sausage to their recipe.
The theory behind this annual, Southern “good luck” dish is this: eat a bowl of Hoppin’ John at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve with a side of Southern greens – mustard greens, turnip greens or collard greens– and a slice of cornbread and celebratory glass of bubbly for good luck in the New Year!
The Hoppin’ John ingredients are all about good fortune in the new year and represent the color of money: the brown peas represent “pennies” or coins, the greens represent “dollars” and the cornbread represents “gold.”
You can add Kielbasa sausage, or Polish sausage to this dish to make it even heartier! Or, if you prefer, you can use vegetable broth, omit the meat and have a vegetarian Hoppin’ John recipe.
Ingredients
There are many variations of this New Year’s black eyed peas recipe, but here’s how I make it.
- Black eyed peas – this particular recipe uses frozen black eyed peas, however, you can use canned or dried black eyed peas. (See recipe notes below for cooking canned or dried.)
- Seasonings – bacon. The traditional Southern way to season black-eyed peas (and other types of peas) is to use some sort of fat in the cooking water– either bacon, smoked sausage, smoked ham hock, or smoked turkey leg. This gives the broth and peas a deep, rich flavor.
- Chicken broth – or chicken stock. You can also use plain water. For vegetarian or vegan versions of this recipe, omit the meat and use either water or vegetable broth.
- The remaining ingredients are pretty simple: yellow onion, a few celery stalks, green bell pepper, (you can use red bell pepper as well), garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper and prepared long grain white rice. Grab a few green onions for garnish.
You can dress up Southern Hoppin’ John to your liking, but this traditional “soul food” recipe is pretty simple, with simple ingredients, but very flavorful. I find myself serving this on New Year’s Day as a side dish to slow cooker corned beef brisket and cabbage!
How to make it
The traditional way to make Hoppin’ John on the stovetop in a large pot or Dutch oven. The black-eyed peas cook pretty quickly, so there’s really no need to use a slow cooker or pressure cooker.
This recipe uses frozen black eyed peas which are are slightly blanched when processed. Simmer the peas for about 30-45 minutes in seasoned broth until they’re tender. Season with salt and pepper last.
Dried beans will take longer to cook than frozen or canned. See Recipe Notes in the recipe card below if using canned or dried peas.
- In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon till crispy; remove bacon pieces and drain on paper towels; leave the bacon grease in the pot
- Add chopped onion, celery and green bell pepper to the stockpot; saute onion mixture on medium heat for about 5 minutes
- Add in the chicken stock or broth, black eyed peas, onion powder, garlic powder (you can use a few minced garlic cloves), cayenne pepper. If you don’t have onion garlic and cayenne powders, use a teaspoon of Cajun seasoning – I like Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning. Let this cook on a low simmer until the peas are tender
- Taste for seasonings before serving over prepared rice; garnish with chopped green onions, bacon crumbles and serve with a side of cornbread!
Yield
This recipe uses a 20-ounce package of frozen peas, which yields about 4 cups of Hoppin’ John (peas and rice) which makes a perfect meal.
(20 ounces of frozen peas is 2 cups, so, if you make this with a pound of dried peas, you’ll need to increase the amount of onion, celery, bell pepper, broth and seasonings a bit.) One cup of dried peas yields about 3 cups of cooked peas.
If you’re serving this as the main dish, you may want to double the recipe-after all, nobody wants to start their happy new year hungry, right?
Recipe tips
Frozen black-eyed peas are slightly blanched when processed, so it takes about 30-45 minutes until they’re tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
If you’re not using bacon, but using cooked ham steak, leftover ham bone or salt pork as your seasoning protein, I recommend boiling it in a large pot of hot water for about 1 hour before adding the peas and remaining ingredients. (This is called “pot likker” and gives the cooking water extra seasonings.) This extra cooking time seasons the delicious soup that flavors the peas.
If you’re looking for a little heat, try adding in a few red pepper flakes or a dash of cayenne pepper to this great side dish
If you use dried peas, note that they’ll need a little more cooking liquid and may require a bit longer cook time than frozen or canned. Dried peas do not need an overnight soak.
You can make this recipe in a slow cooker or crockpot on low heat, just make sure you’ve got enough liquid to cover the peas and don’t overcook them- they will get mushy if overcooked
Make ahead, storage and freezing
Make Hoppin’ John ahead of time and store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days. (Store prepared rice separately in an airtight container.)
Freeze up to 3 months. When ready to serve, reheat on the stovetop (you may need to add a little water) and serve over prepared rice.
Variations
- You can change up this recipe however you like! Southern Hoppin’ John is often made with sliced beef sausage or Kielbasa. Simply add the sliced sausage link to the stockpot midway through the cooking process.
- If you don’t have bacon to season the black-eyed peas, use a smoked ham hock or ham.
- Want a Louisiana version of Hoppin’ John? Add a little cayenne pepper, Cajun seasoning, andouille sausage links and a dash of Louisiana Hot Sauce.
- Another version is to give Hoppin’ John a little Mexican flair with the addition of a can of Rotel™ tomatoes (diced tomatoes and green chiles)!
This year, add a little Hoppin’ John to your New Year’s menu to bring health and prosperity.
Related recipes
- How to Season and Cook Purple Hull Peas
- Southern Skillet Cornbread
- Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage
- How to Cook Collard Greens
- Restaurant Quality Fried Catfish
- Speckled Butter Beans
- Southern Fried Okra
If you make this recipe, please scroll down and leave a rating and comment! I love to hear from you!
Southern Hoppin’ John
Ingredients
- 12 ounces frozen or canned black-eyed or purple hull peas
- 6 thick slices of bacon, chopped (reserve bacon grease); see recipe notes
- reserved bacon grease
- 1 pound kielbasa or polish sausage (optional), sliced
- 2 cups chicken broth
- ½ cup chopped sweet yellow onion
- ½ cup chopped green bell pepper
- ¼ cup chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- salt to taste
- 2 cups prepared rice white or brown
Instructions
Prep
- Rinse frozen black-eyed peas in a colander; allow to drain; set aside (See Recipe Notes if using canned or fresh peas)12 ounces frozen or canned black-eyed or purple hull peas
- Chop onion, celery and bell pepper; set aside½ cup chopped sweet yellow onion, ½ cup chopped green bell pepper, ¼ cup chopped celery
Cook the Hoppin' John
- In a large stockpot, add chopped bacon; cook till crispy; remove with slotted spoon and place on paper towel; reserve the bacon grease in the stockpotreserved bacon grease, 6 thick slices of bacon, chopped
- Add chopped onion, celery and green bell peppers to the stockpot with the reserved bacon grease; saute 5 minutes½ cup chopped sweet yellow onion, ¼ cup chopped celery, ½ cup chopped green bell pepper
- Add black-eyed peas, chicken broth and seasonings to stockpot; if you're adding link sausage, add it now (optional)12 ounces frozen or canned black-eyed or purple hull peas, 2 cups chicken broth, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 pound kielbasa or polish sausage (optional), sliced
- Cook on low to medium heat until peas are tender (about 45 minutes); place a lid slightly off center on the stockpot to prevent the broth from dissipating
- Prepare rice while peas are cooking; set aside2 cups prepared rice
- Once peas are tender, season to taste with salt and peppersalt to taste
- Plate rice in a small bowl and pour peas over rice; garnish with remaining bacon and green onion
Where I’m from, very southern, rural SC, Hoppin’ John’s is a southern or field pea and rice dish prepared together with ham hocks. We never, ever use blackeye peas. Iron and Clay peas are most common, or Crowder pead such as Mississippi Silver.
The Iron and Clay peas brought from Africa by my ancestors, still grow wild on the hundred acre farm where I was born, volunteering year after year.
That’s interesting! Thank you for sharing!
One thing I love about this recipe is that it isn’t too difficult. But, the main thing I love is how flavorful each bite was. Even my mother-in-law raved about it!
Thank you, Julie! I’m glad y’all enjoyed it…sometimes simple is best! Happy New Year!!