This collards and black-eyed peas soup is spicy, smoky, vegan, and low-fat. Make it quickly in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker!
I’ve had a package of pre-washed, pre-chopped collard greens in the fridge for a few days, and I was hoping to do something different with them. But as time went on and no new recipes came to mind, I started to get afraid that they’d go bad; at the very least, they were losing nutrients every day that they sat there (everything’s always more nutritious closer to harvest.)
So in the end, I took an old favorite soup, Lorna Sass’ Collards and Black-eyed Pea Soup, and gave it the Louisiana treatment: green bell peppers, diced tomatoes, creole-type seasonings, and loads of spiciness.
And since I love smokiness, I kind of went wild with three different smoky seasonings–chipotle powder, fire-roasted tomatoes, and smoked paprika–and my husband and I loved the results. I know that not everyone is the smoke addict that I am, so if you like spicy but not smoky, just substitute regular chili powder, regular diced tomatoes, and regular paprika.
If you’re making this for New Year’s Day, note that it covers both of the “lucky traditions”: black-eyed peas and greens. It’s a one-pot healthy start to the new year!
Spicy Collards and Black-eyed Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 2 onions , diced
- 2 ribs celery , diced
- 1 cup diced green bell pepper
- 3-4 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 cups dried black-eyed peas , picked over and rinsed
- 6 cups water
- 1 pound collard greens , tough stems removed and greens chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme (divided)
- 1 teaspoon oregano (divided)
- 1 16- ounce can tomatoes (fire-roasted preferred)
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon chipotle pepper (to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
- 1 -2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon double strength tomato paste (or 2 tbsp. regular)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- additional water (or vegetable broth), as needed
Instructions
- Heat a pressure cooker or large pot and add the onions. (Electric pressure cooker users, use Sauté or Brown setting.) Sauté for about 5 minutes, until they begin to brown. Add the celery, green pepper, and garlic, and cook, stirring, for 3 more minutes.
- Add the black-eyed peas, water, 1 teaspoon of the thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon of oregano.
- Cooking: If using a pressure cooker, seal the cooker and cook for 10 minutes after it reaches high pressure; use a quick-release method to bring down the pressure.
- If cooking in a regular pot, cook until peas are tender, about 45-55 minutes.
- Once the peas are tender, add the reserved herbs and all remaining ingredients and simmer on low for at least 25 minutes to allow flavors to develop. If the soup is too thick, add up to two cups water or vegetable broth until it's the consistency of soup. (Electric pressure cooker users, use the Sauté or Brown setting and adjust the heat to low if possible, or use Keep Warm.) Serve with brown rice with additional hot sauce. (Garnishing with fresh oregano is optional.)
Nutritional info is approximate.
Original photo from 2008
Please share:
Rebecca
Thank you for this recipe. I had an aversion to collards until recently (when I read about their nutritional benefit) so I have been looking for good recipes for them. This fits and I am pretty sure they will disappear rapidly out of the pot. Thanks again for all you do.
Suzanne
Question after initial cooking with peas then add collard greens and spices and put back in pressure cooker on low for additional time?
Susan Voisin
Yes. All the details are in the last step.
Atiyah
Thanks for this marvelous recipe -a new twist on the traditional peas and greens!
Valeigh Davis
OMG! I made this today and this is the absolute best tasting black eyed pea recipe! I don’t particularly like black eyed peas, but I eat them every January 1st. Not being vegan, I used chicken broth instead of water and added kielbasa sausage. I used smoked paprika instead of smoked Spanish paprika. You’ve created a perfect combination of flavors- thanks!!
Rachel
Made this in the Instapot for New Years Day good luck. It was SOOO good! Thank you!
Amy
Susan, just tried this and it is delicious! Thank you for your consistently high quality recipes.
Tena Valenti
This was unbelievable delicious! It is a favorite that I will make often.
I made the following changes:
1 onion, instead of 2
diced carrot in place of the bell pepper (because we don’t care for them)
5 cups of water instead of 6 (we like it thicker)
omitted the hot sauce and the spice level was perfect; not too hot.
I served it over some mashed potatoes with cornbread muffins and a small salad.
Wow! What a delicious meal! Thank you!!!!!
Miki
I made this a couple of months ago and froze the leftovers for lunches. I thawed a serving overnight in my fridge and brought it to work for lunch. While I was thoroughly loving it again as I ate it at my desk, a co-worker approached and asked me what smelled so good. This truly is a fabulous recipe!
Miki
What a fabulous recipe, Susan! I just returned to WW and this was my first really excellent, low/no point recipe – one I plan on using more than once throughout the year.
Love your recipes – thanks for all the hard work you do to encourage healthy eating.
Susan Voisin
Thank you! And welcome back to Weight Watchers! I’ve been trying to get Freestyle points on more of my recipes. I have a category for zero point recipes— https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/category/zero-points —and a tag for all recipes that have points calculated— https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/tag/weight-watchers-points. Happy new year!