Southern Style Black-Eyed Peas

I just made a delicious Chicken Fried Chicken, and I needed an equally Southern side dish to go with it. There’s plenty to choose from: macaroni and cheese, collard greens, mashed potatoes—the list goes on and on. I was considering a few recipes when I found out my husband has never had black-eyed peas. What?! I had to fix that, so this recipe for Southern Style Black-Eyed Peas went right to the top of my shortlist of possible sides. Let’s get some South in his mouth ASAP!

A slow-cooked recipe for traditional Southern black-eyed peas with ham hocks (or ham bone).

Recipe Author: Mandy Rivers at South in Your Mouth
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The Ingredients

Y’all know I love a simple recipe with only a few ingredients, and these black-eyed peas fit the bill. they have just 6 ingredients, and two of those are salt and pepper. I had that and the butter, which left me a 3-item shopping list. What I needed was pretty inexpensive, too, with the $8 3-pack of hocks being the most expensive item (I froze the extra one).

Dried black-eyed peas, yellow onion, and ham hocks were all I needed. I made sure to find smoked ham hocks for that extra flavor. It makes a big difference, and I highly recommend them. They go by several other names too, so if you can’t find smoked ham hocks, look for pork hocks, pork knuckles, ham shanks, or smoked hocks.

Southern Style Black-Eyed Peas Ingredients
Dried black-eyed peas, smoked ham hocks, onion, butter, salt, and pepper

The Process

These Southern Style Black-Eyed Peas are slow-cooked on the stove, so no need for a crockpot. I imagine you could modify the recipe for a crockpot, but I followed the recipe and used the stove. Here’s how my time was spent:

  • 10 minutes to prep
  • 4 hours to cook
  • 4 minutes to adjust seasonings
  • 1 additional hour to finish cooking
  • 5 hours 14 minutes total (not including time to soak beans)

Soak the Peas

I started this recipe by soaking the beans overnight. I used a large mixing bowl and added enough water to submerge the beans by a few inches. They will double in size as they soak, and you don’t want them to expand and go above the water. The peas on top will dry out if they do.

Prep and Start Cooking

Due to the long cooking time, I started cooking the next day right after breakfast. The prep work was quite simple, and I had it done in 10 minutes, as listed on the recipe. Really, the prep work is dicing an onion and sauteeing it in a large pan with the butter. Then add everything else, stir, and wait.

Finely dicing the onion
Finely dicing the onion

Speaking of pans, I used a 5-quart pan, and it was just the right size. I was able to fit all the ingredients and stir with no problems. But although there was plenty of room, the ham hocks weren’t completely covered. I made sure to turn them each time I stirred the peas, and they cooked up just fine.

Adjust the Seasonings & Finish Cooking

After 4 hours, I removed the ham hocks from the pot and placed them on a large cutting board to cool for a few minutes. Then I used a kitchen knife and fork to remove the meat and chop it into small pieces. The meat was so tender that it pretty much fell off the bone.

Removing the meat from the cooked ham hocks
Removing the meat from the cooked ham hocks

Once the ham was added back to the pan, I gave everything a good stir and tasted as I adjusted the seasonings. I didn’t measure, but all I did was a bit more salt and pepper. The beans were nice and creamy, so I put the lid back on and finished cooking them for another hour.

As I mentioned, I served them with Chicken Fried Chicken, but without rice or any other toppings. They didn’t need it! These black-eyed peas would also be great with these Southern recipes:

So how was it?

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Hands down, this is the best black-eyed pea recipe I have ever tried! They're creamy right out of the pot without being mushy, and the ham hocks give them a nice smoky flavor. Plus the diced onion practically melted away, so they get its flavor without any chunkiness. Now, these Southern Style Black-Eyed Peas do take a little over 5 hours to make plus the beans need to be soaked overnight. Still, the recipe is simple to make, only has a few ingredients, and it makes 16 servings. It may sound like a lot, but they didn't last very long. My husband went back for thirds the night I served them, and I was very happy to have the leftovers for lunch and dinner over the next few days. Most definitely a Pinterest success!
The Hungry Pinner
The Hungry Pinnerhttps://www.hungrypinner.com
I'm Candice, and I'm The Hungry Pinner. I created this blog to share my love for cooking and my experiences with the MANY recipes I've found on Pinterest over the years. Join me as I blog my way through those recipes to find out if they are worth trying yourself.

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Hands down, this is the best black-eyed pea recipe I have ever tried! They're creamy right out of the pot without being mushy, and the ham hocks give them a nice smoky flavor. Plus the diced onion practically melted away, so they get its flavor without any chunkiness. Now, these Southern Style Black-Eyed Peas do take a little over 5 hours to make plus the beans need to be soaked overnight. Still, the recipe is simple to make, only has a few ingredients, and it makes 16 servings. It may sound like a lot, but they didn't last very long. My husband went back for thirds the night I served them, and I was very happy to have the leftovers for lunch and dinner over the next few days. Most definitely a Pinterest success!Southern Style Black-Eyed Peas