This easy, hands-off recipe makes the most flavorful and delicious Crockpot Black-Eyed Peas. The dried beans simmer slowly with onions, carrots, celery and potatoes in a perfectly spiced broth.
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Delicious and easy slow cooker black-eyed peas
You may or may not believe that eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day brings you luck, but then again, where's the harm? We can all use some good luck. And you will definitely feel very, very lucky when you slurp up these yummy crockpot black-eyed peas.
Black-eyed peas, with their rich, nutty flavor, are wonderful in dishes like vegan Hoppin' John and this Caribbean black-eyed peas stew. They are just as amazing in this slow cooker recipe: smoky, spicy, warm, comforting, and super, super healthy. The recipe takes just 10-15 minutes to put together and you don't even need to soak the beans (although you can, if you want to).
The beans, simmered slowly with the perfectly spiced broth and the vegetables, absorb all of that flavor. This is mostly a hands-off recipe and all the heavy lifting is done by the slow cooker. Once you've chopped the veggies and rinsed the beans you are almost done!
This slow cooker black-eyed peas recipe is perfect for making in the morning before work or at night, before you go to bed. The beans need seven hours in the crockpot to cook to tender perfection. They can be your main course or a filling side dish. I serve them with a hunk of crusty French bread for a delicious, nutritious, no-fuss meal. The recipe is soy-free, nut-free and gluten-free, and it's loaded with heart-healthy protein and fiber.
Recipe card
Crockpot Black-Eyed Peas
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (use ¼ cup vegetable stock instead if oil-free)
- 6 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 2 medium carrots (cut in a ¼-inch dice)
- 3 celery stalks (cut in a ¼-inch dice)
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, (1 chili with 1 teaspoon sauce. Mince the chili. This ingredient is optional)
- 1 cups dried black-eyed peas (rinsed)
- 2 medium potatoes (red potatoes or yellow potatoes, cut in ½-inch dice)
- 5 cups vegetable stock
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons parsley (chopped, for garnish)
Instructions
- Turn the slow cooker to high. Place the vegetables--carrots, onions and celery--along with the garlic, in the slow cooker liner along with the olive oil. Saute the veggies for a couple of minutes to release the flavors.
- Stir in the spices and herbs: ground cumin, ground allspice, paprika, red pepper flakes, rosemary and oregano. Add the chipotle chili and adobo sauce if using.
- Add the black-eyed peas and potatoes to the slow cooker. Mix. Add the vegetable stock or water and mix well. Do not add any salt at this point.
- Cover the slow cooker and let it cook on high for seven hours until the black-eyed peas are very tender and the stew is thick. Add salt. Garnish the black-eyed peas with parsley before serving.
Notes
- It is important to chop the carrots, celery and onions very fine to extract the most flavor from them. If you are not confident about your knife skills, you can place them in a food processor and pulse a few times.
- Do not add salt to the black-eyed peas before they are tender. Salt can slow down the cooking process. The same goes for acidic ingredients, so don't be tempted to add tomatoes or lemon juice to the recipe.
- To add a little more texture, you can blend a couple of ladlefuls of the stew. Add the blended mixture back to the pot and mix in.
- This recipe is quite spicy, but you can easily tweak the spice level to your liking. Leave out the chipotle chili if you want a milder-flavored stew or reduce how much red pepper flakes you use.
- Refrigerate: Store the slow cooker black-eyed peas in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
- Freeze: Freeze the beans in a freezer-safe container for up to three months.
- Reheat: Thaw and reheat in a microwave or on the stovetop.
Nutrition Information
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How to make crockpot black-eyed peas
Turn the slow cooker to high. Place the vegetables--carrots, onions and celery -- with the garlic in the slow cooker liner along with the olive oil. Saute the veggies for a couple of minutes to release the flavors.
Stir in the spices and herbs: ground cumin, ground allspice, paprika, red pepper flakes, rosemary and oregano.
Stir in the chipotle chili with adobo sauce if using.
Add the black-eyed peas and potatoes to the slow cooker. Mix.
Add the vegetable broth or water. Mix well. Do not add any salt at this point.
Cover the slow cooker and let it cook on high for seven hours until the black-eyed peas are very tender and the stew is thick. Add salt and mix well. Garnish the black-eyed peas with parsley before serving.
Crockpot black-eyed peas FAQs
You can use canned or frozen beans in this recipe, which will cut down the cooking time considerably. If using canned or frozen beans, reduce the amount of liquid to three cups and cook four hours on high.
You can add sweet potatoes, cauliflower and/or butternut squash to the crockpot along with the beans and the tomatoes. Be sure to adjust the seasoning.
To make the recipe oil-free, use ¼ cup vegetable stock instead of oil.
Serve with a crusty French bread, Italian bread or sourdough bread, or with a fresh, leafy salad like vegan Caesar salad or shaved Brussels sprouts salad.
I also like serving the black-eyed peas with white rice or brown rice or quinoa, or with vegan collard greens and vegan cornbread or these savory vegan cornbread muffins.
More black-eyed pea recipes
Nancye Smith says
Can I use tinned black eyed peas please, and if so beautiful lady, 1 tin or two please. It's just I've read a few discrepancies with the beans cooking times, so I thought I'd used the tinned variety. Many thanks in advance.
Nancye Smith....
Vaishali says
Hi Nancye, three cups of tinned, just like the frozen beans. Hope you like it!
Adam says
recently started the vegan diet and this was my first attempt at a vegan dish. it tasted great and i received positive feedback from the family, mild and smoky spices and very comforting. highly recomended.
James says
I used this as is with fresh blackeye peas and sweet potatoe. I have made it several times since using different kinds of fresh field peas. The field peas are in the blackeye pea family but they are even better. Perfect recipie to use with assorted types of peas. Thank you. I love it.
Anonymous says
Looks beautifully! The cooking time is horrific though :0 bey bey vitamins and minerals style 🙁
Anonymous says
I cooked it a little less than 7.5 hours , on high, before the peas were tender enough. Once it was done, it was really delicious.
Fatimah says
Wish I had read the comments before fixing this. Took a long time for the beans to soften. At least the end result tasted good.
Etta says
I made this receipe but didn't have adobe sauce so I used a fresh adobe chili. It was fine but wasn't done enough n pot because I used fresh peas. But put n oven for additional hour. Came out great.
Shalonda Brown says
When using fresh peas and you don't want to soak them overnight put them in a pot bring to a high boil for a few minutes rinse drain and continue on. They won't take as long to get tender.
Lynn says
Those who had trouble getting their beans to cook may want to try adding the tomatoes at the end after beans are soft. I have read the acid inhibits the cooking process for beans.
Minakshi says
Thank you for this recipe. I tried it today and it was delicious, had it with a combo of quinoa / brown rice. I didn't have Chipotle Chili in Adobo sauce, I chopped up a Jalapeno and used that, gave it a good spice kick. My husband loved it too.
Next on my list, to try one of your pancake recipes, they all look healthy and delicious!
Jody says
This was delicious......however, I misread the directions and put a WHOLE CAN of chipotles in the stew instead of just one. WOW! I like spicy dishes, but my family was sweating. Great recipe!!
Darlene Rodgers says
I'm making this today for our new years dinner cuz it looks delish and easy.. well, somehow I managed to mess up and use ginger instead of cumin 🙁 🙁 Darn those people that cook in my kitchen at times, don't they know everything has it's own spot to be in)
So, since I already stirred it, I had no choice but to let it be, add some cumin and see how it comes out... lol.
I might need to go get a back up can of peas or something..
Vaishali Honawar says
Ginger should be just fine in this. Hope you enjoy and a happy new year!
Miranda says
This was delicious! Warm, a bit spicy and very comforting for winter weather. I spend almost 20 minutes searching for the Chipotle Chili in Adobo sauce (it's in a tiny can in a tiny section in my grocery store and it happened to be the last one) but it was very worth it. It adds a delicious flavor that is hard to find in vegan food. I'll be referring to your site often for more great recipes!
Vaishali Honawar says
Miranda, so glad you tried it. Thanks for letting me know!
Lauren says
I tried this yesterday using dried black-eyed peas that had been soaked for 24 hours. For some reason the peas and even the vegetables were not done, even after 6-1/2 hours in the slow cooker. I threw it all into a pot and simmered it for an hour and everything was done perfectly--it was delicious, and my husband couldn't stop raving about it!
Vaishali says
Hi Lauren, thanks for the feedback-- I will add your experience to the instructions. I used frozen black eyed peas which might have softened more easily in the crockpot. But the vegetables ought to have cooked. Did you have your slow cooker on a high setting?
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
A hearty and delicious stew! Lovely with rice or flatbread for the lunch.
Vaishali says
Thanks, Angie! 🙂
sarojinididi says
I was thinking of making a baked chilli this week- and your post has given me the recipe to try, thanks 🙂
Vaishali says
Hi Sarojinididi, hope you try it!
Gita Jaishankar says
That is one good looking and delicious stew, absolute comfort food with hot rice 🙂
Vaishali says
Hi Gita, yes that's how we had it! 🙂