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
Kisa says
Entire family loved it! Easy too! I only put 3 slices of bacon and it was perfect
LyubaB says
Glad you liked it, Kisa! Thanks for stopping by!
Natalie says
Recipe was easy, and super delicious!
LyubaB says
Thank you, Natalie! Glad you liked it!
D Miller says
Good, Quick and EASY
LyubaB says
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Sara Hart says
Has anyone tried this with frozen black eyed peas? I have some in the freezer to make and can’t seem to find any recipes using frozen. TIA
LyubaB says
Hi Sara,
It’s to my understanding frozen blacked eyed peas are already cooked, so you wouldn’t need to use the instant pot. I would recommend cooking them on the stove for less time.
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?
LyubaB says
Hi Ashley,
It is your personal preference to use water over chicken stock but it will have less flavor, I would use the vinger before or your beans are going to taste very vinegary. I hope you enjoy them!
Cassandra R Deans says
Made this for our New Year’s Day 2020 meal! Served over brown rice really good. My husband and I enjoyed! I did kick my bowl up a notch by added stewed tomatoes and okra along with Ro Tel diced tomatoes with green chilies. It will definitely be the way to cook black eyed peas in the future and keep the New Year’s tradition going.
LyubaB says
Hi Cassandra,
I am sorry for the late response, I am just now seeing your comment. I am so glad you liked them! Thanks for stopping by to let me know! 🙂
Zingarelli, KATE says
My peas turned out perfect! I only have one negative – the bacon frying in the IP is a waste of time. It took so long that I finally just put the bacon into a skillet. I think just frying the bacon that way to begin with is much quicker and you get to your delicious peas much quicker!
Marynette Herndon says
2 lbs of peas (little over 5 cups) 13 cups liquid. Salt pork,an onion 40 minutia cook time and 15 minutes natural release, (couldn’t wait any longer to see what I had) Peas were perfect. Just enough liquid that was slightly thick after cooling and pretty tasty. This is the first thing I’ve cooked (I bought extra peas just in case the instapot didn’t work). I am sold and our new year’s dinner for 12 will be a blast. Thanks for a great recipe and everyones comments for inspiration.
Kay Holloway says
I’m cooking for group of 12 for Thanksgiving. Can I add another cup of peas and maybe they won’t be too soupy and have enough peas to serve?
LyubaB says
Hi, Kay! Yes, you can add another cup if you like it thicker, you may need to add more liquid though.
Becky says
Tried this recipe tonight. Turned out fabulous. I subbed 1 teaspoon of bacon grease, 1 tablespoon of canola oil and two onions diced instead of bacon. Delish!
LyubaB says
Hi, Becky! So glad you liked it!
Rachel says
I made this tonight and it was superb! Instead of chicken broth, I used a homemade vegetable broth also made in my instant pot using the pulp left over from my juicer! I was a little nervous that it wouldn’t turn out, but tonight we had a little taste of heaven. 🙂 Thank you for this recipe. It is a little soupy, but I loved it this way. one solution to it being too soupy is to blend half of it to make a creamy texture and mix it all together. The creamy beans will hopefully soak up some of the liquid.
LyubaB says
Hi Rachel, Thanks for the kind comment. I am so glad you liked it! 🙂
Sheri says
I like black eyed peas and I followed your recipe exactly but when I opened the lid on my instant pot all I had a mushy, soupy mess. I think from now on I’ll just buy canned. My family thought they were horrible and I had to throw them out. It was a total waste of time and money.