Black Eyed Peas With Ham Hock Recipe

A foolproof method for cooking perfectly tender and creamy beans infused with the essence of smoked meat.

Overhead view of black-eyed peas with ham hock, served with a side of braised greens.

Serious Eats / Chichi Wang

Why It Works

  • Simmering the ham hock for an hour before adding the black-eyed peas ensures that the beans and hock are tender at the same time.
  • Cooking the beans and hock in the gentle heat of the oven eliminates the need to stir or adjust heat during the long cooking time.

Last week I learned that if you put into your search field the term "black-eyed peas," the only results you'll find pertain to a very popular hip-hop band that goes by that name. Best to add "recipe" to your search, or better yet, "black-eyed peas + ham hock," if what you want is that classic Southern dish of slowly simmered beans and smoked meat instead of the song, "My Humps."

You'll recall that I wrote a post extolling the merits of smoked meats in soups and stews. All winter long I worked my way through the smoked pig's tails, smoked turkey wings, smoked pork neck, and smoked hocks I bought in one fell swoop from a guy peddling Southern foodstuffs out of a truck in Manhattan's Harlem.

Closeup of a smoked ham hock.

Serious Eats / Chichi Wang

Down to my last ham hock, I decided to revisit one of my favorite dishes from the South where a side of black-eyed peas might be served alongside meatier entrees like fried chicken. But it seems to me that if you make a pot of black-eyed peas with a sizeable piece of meat in the mix, then adding more meat on top of that would be overkill. I want nothing more than a side of stewed greens with my black-eyed peas, please. A ham hock, that region of the pig's leg that corresponds to our ankles and lower calves, has an ideal ratio of bone to skin to tendon to meat with which to stew the beans; and although you could use just about any kind of bean you want, I'm extremely partial to the taste and texture of black eyed peas.

Black-eyed peas taste like a creamy adzuki (red bean) to me. Though you'll add aromatics and herbs to your pot, the relationship that counts is between legume and smoked meat. Simmered with a ham hock, the beans take on the flavor of the meat so that every bite of the dish tastes like beans gently infused with the sweet perfume of smoked pork. It tastes like the pig ate a magical black-eyed pea plant, and a crop of the legumes grew inside the pig, and then you butchered the pig and harvested the beans and used its hock for the dish, or something to that effect. The hock, in sum, makes the black-eyed peas transformatively good.

April 2011

Recipe Details

Black Eyed Peas With Ham Hock Recipe

Prep 0 mins
Cook 3 hrs
Active 30 mins
Cooling Time 20 mins
Total 3 hrs 20 mins
Serves 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

  • 1 onion, sliced

  • 2 celery stalks, diced

  • 2 garlic cloves

  • 1 smoked ham hock, about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds

  • A pinch of red chile flakes, or to taste

  • 1 bay leaf

  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 pound black eyed peas, rinsed and soaked overnight in cold water, then drained

  • 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Heat oil in a Dutch oven and sweat the onion over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the celery and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.

  2. Add the hock and enough water to cover the hock completely. Add the chile flakes, bay leaf, thyme, and pepper. Bring the water to a boil, then cover the pot and transfer it to the oven. Cook for 1 hour.

  3. After 1 hour, add the black eyed peas to the pot and return to the oven, this time uncovered. Cook for another 1 1/2 hours, or until the beans and pork are tender. Using tongs, transfer ham hock to a cutting board and set aside until cool enough to handle, about 20 minutes.

  4. Once ham hock is cool, roughly chop meat using a sharp knife; discard skin, bones, and fat. Return meat to pot and bring back to a low simmer. Serve with your choice of sides, such as collard greens or kale.

Special Equipment

Dutch oven

Read More

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
412 Calories
12g Fat
49g Carbs
30g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 412
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 12g 15%
Saturated Fat 3g 13%
Cholesterol 37mg 12%
Sodium 395mg 17%
Total Carbohydrate 49g 18%
Dietary Fiber 9g 31%
Total Sugars 7g
Protein 30g
Vitamin C 3mg 17%
Calcium 106mg 8%
Iron 7mg 39%
Potassium 1062mg 23%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)