Black eyed pea soup in the Instant Pot, with ham, andouille sausage and collard greens. No need to presoak the peas, they cook in under 30 minutes in the pressure cooker. The perfect soup to ring in the New Year and a favorite soup to make all winter long.
Happy New Year, three weeks late, but the sentiment is there. This black eyed pea soup in the Instant Pot is what I made for New Year's Day and I meant to share it with you all a little sooner. But, hey, life gets in the way sometimes... right? Anyway, this is so good and New Year's shouldn't have a monopoly on it, enjoy it during all these cold winter months.
Tradition has it that the first food to be eaten on New Year's Day should be black eyed peas for luck and prosperity. Adding greens makes them even luckier, the color of money. Collard greens are a traditional choice here, and I love collards. This soup has ham which flavors the broth and also some andouille sausage, both of which are frequent additions to black eyed peas. And it's all flavored with some Cajun seasoning for good measure.
Do I need to presoak black eyed peas for soup in the Instant Pot?
Nope. There is no need to presoak the black eyed peas before pressure cooking. In fact, they cook fast in the Instant Pot, in about 15 to 20 minutes under high pressure. All you need to do is rinse them and put them in the insert, fast and easy.
Instant Pot Black Eyed Pea Soup is a favorite winter soup in my house, extra special for New Year's Day but shouldn't be forgotten the rest of soup season. I made it mid-December for New Year's and this blog post. I just pulled out the last of it in the freezer for Sunday supper, it was cold and snowy and I felt the lucky vibes of this soup once again. Enjoy ~ Kelly
Soup is probably my favorite thing to make in the Instant Pot. You might also want to try White Bean and Ham Soup or Chicken Pho, both made easy in the pressure cooker.
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Instant Pot Black Eyed Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 links andouille sausage (about ½ pound), sliced into rounds
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
- ¼ green pepper, seeded and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1-2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning (to taste, and I use a no salt blend)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 pound black eyed peas, picked over and rinsed
- 3 ham shanks (about 1 pound)
- 1 small ham hock, optional
- 1 large bunch collard greens, about 1 pound, washed, stems removed and chopped
- 8 cups water
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil on saute setting until hot. Add sausage and brown for a few minutes, remove to plate. Add celery, carrots, onion and green pepper, cook and stir a few minutes until starting to soften. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds until fragrant. Turn off saute feature. Add bay leaf and Cajun seasoning and stir to combine.
- Add black eyed peas to the pot along with the reserved sausage and ham shanks (and small ham hock, if using). Add water, careful not to go over the maximum fill line. Gently stir to combine. Place chopped collard greens on top, pushing down to submerge.
- Seal and cook under high pressure for 20 minutes. When finished, let pressure release naturally for 15 minutes or so. Open and remove ham shanks. Shred meat and return to pot. (If you used a ham hock, remove and discard.) Taste for salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and serve with hot sauce and cornbread, just my suggestion. Enjoy and may this soup bring you much good luck!
SB
Wednesday 2nd of March 2022
I will be making this recipe. Shame on you for discarding that ham hock! That won't happen in my house.
Victoria
Tuesday 7th of December 2021
Does this recipe call for dried beans or canned?
Kelly
Tuesday 14th of December 2021
Dried.
Greg in Nashville
Tuesday 28th of January 2020
I made this on New Year's Day (it was a big hit then), and just made it again. One of my favorite Instant Pot recipes. Pretty easy, not too expensive, it makes a TON of soup, and it tastes good!
I also used broth rather than water, and I substituted diced ham and a couple of smoked turkey drumsticks for the ham hock or ham shanks. After releasing the pressure, I removed and shredded the meat from the turkey drumsticks and put it back in the soup. I found that the soup didn't need any added salt - between the salt in the meats and my Cajun season that WASN'T salt-free, the soup was plenty salty.
I may have overdone the Cajun seasoning - this time, it was pretty spicy - but I really like it!
rosy
Wednesday 2nd of October 2019
I would definitely recommend adding salt and instead of water, use stock. This recipe has a lot of potential, but it really needed salt.
Kelly
Monday 7th of October 2019
Thanks for your suggestions. So I season with salt to taste after the beans have cooked, if you want to salt the cooking liquid you can, but I've heard from so many that the salt can toughen the beans, so I salt later, after cooking. You could use chicken stock but I think water works just fine and produces a flavorful broth from the ham and vegetables. I use water all the time when making soups similar to this and get a very flavorful broth. Thanks again for your tips.
Meathead
Tuesday 29th of January 2019
"I Gotta Feeling" that you're going to love this soup.