Making black-eyed peas in an Instant Pot is extremely easy. In less than an hour, you can be enjoying soft, tender black-eyed peas with bacon without any soaking.
Black Eyed Peas
I learned a lot about eating black-eyes peas working at the Cracker Barrel on New Year’s Day. It’s a mad rush for people to come in just to get some peas on the first day of the year.
There were people waiting for over an hour just to get a table. We even ran out of black-eyes peas at one point and the entire dining room full of people stayed and waited until the peas were ready.
People in the south take their black-eyed peas tradition very seriously. Everyone wants to get their bowl of good luck and not have to worry about preparing it for hours.
Luckily, Instant Pot makes it so fast and easy to prepare beans and peas. There is no soaking required. Simply saute bacon directly in an Instant Pot, add black-eyed peas, broth, water, and seasoning, and cook for 30 minutes.
That’s all it takes to get this delicious side dish.
Soak or no soak
Before you jump on me for not soaking the beans first, I have to tell you that it truly doesn’t make much of a difference when it comes to cooking time and tenderness.
Over years, I’ve gotten lazy a few times or simply forgot to soak beans, or peas, or lentils before cooking them. It have not affected my cooking time.
BUT, when it comes to digestive distress, that’s a different story. Every person’s digestive system is so different that there is no way to tell how you will react to legumes without trying yourself.
If you noticed that soaking beans and peas is better for your digestion, then that is what you should do.
Soaking can either be done overnight or quickly about an hour before cooking.
To soak beans and peas overnight, rinse them, cover them in water and soak for 6-8 hours. (Small beans and peas would take less time.)
To do a quick soak, rinse beans and peas and place them in the pot. Cover with water and bring to boil. Turn off heat, cover with a lid and let the beans sit in water for about an hour.
Use 3 to 1 water to bean ratio. Three cups of water for 1 cup of beans.
Some more delicious Instant Pot sides:
Instant Pot Garlic Mashed Potatoes
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Instant Pot Black Eye Peas
Ingredients
- 16 oz bacon
- 1 lb dry black eyed peas (1 lb bag usually has 2-2 1/4 cups of peas)
- 3 cups water
- 3 cups chicken stock
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Rinse peas and set them aside.
- Dice raw bacon into small pieces. Make sure your knife is sharp and bacon is cold to make it easier to cut.
- Turn Instant Pot to Saute and let it heat up. Add a little bit of oil to the bottom of the pot and add bacon. Saute bacon until browned.
- Add peas to the pot and mix.
- Add water, chicken stock, some salt, and fresh cracked black pepper. (Don't add too much salt since bacon is salty.)
- Stir and close the lid and make sure it's latched. Turn the valve to "seal" and set the Instant Pot to cook on high pressure cook mode for 30 minutes.
- Let it do a natural release for 10-15 minutes.
- Fluff up peas and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Ashley Bowers says
I am about to make these without chicken broth and ham instead of bacon and I was hoping to find out when to add a splash of apple cider vinegar. Before I cook or after?