Lucky Black-eyed Pea Salad for the New Year!

This healthy high fiber black-eyed pea salad is vegan, gluten free, and black-eyed peas are among the very lowest in carbs of all the legumes. So even if you’re not superstitious, I’d say this is your lucky day!

black-eyed pea salad for the New Year

When you think of eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day you probably conjure them up Southern style, slow cooked with a big old smoked ham hock nestled in. But we do things differently here in the Great Island kitchen 🙂 This black-eyed pea salad is a fresh crunchy take on the superstition that eating black eyed peas on New Year’s Day will bring you good luck. And if you’ve just made a resolution to eat better, this is a salad you’ll want to have around. It’ll fill you up without filling you out, as they say, plus it keeps well in the refrigerator so it makes a great workday lunch.

black-eyed pea salad ingredients

• cooked black-eyed peas
  • canned is fine, or you can cook dried beans.
• red onion
• bell pepper
• black olives
• green olives
• cucumber
• Gem lettuce
• raddichio

Meyer lemon rosemary vinaigrette

It’s good enough to eat all by itself.

• olive oil
• Meyer lemon juice
• fresh rosemary
• Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper

where can I find black-eyed peas?

Black-eyed peas come to us from the soul food traditions of the American south, via West Africa. Look for them in the canned bean section of your supermarket, or, if you’d like to skip the can, grab a bag of dried black-eyed peas. You can cook dried beans on the stove top or in an Instant Pot pressure cooker for a really fast turnaround.

the best way to cook dried black-eyed peas for salad

• You’ll need a 6-8 quart pot to cook a one pound batch of beans. The reason is that beans need a lot of water to cook in, and they tend to foam up quite a bit during the cooking process. If you try to fill your pot more than half full it can overflow and damage your machine. I recommend the Instant Pot Duo Plus 6 Quart.

How to cook black-eyed peas in an Instant Pot

• I don’t feel the need to soak my beans overnight first, but you certainly can if you feel it makes a difference. Some people believe that this will help ease any potential digestion problems later on. Others say you’ll get better looking beans when you soak them first, they won’t split and ‘explode’ quite as much. I haven’t noticed much of a difference, so I skip it.
• Rinse your dried beans and add to the IP. For 2 cups of beans add 6 cups water.
• I like to add some seasoning to the water, but again, this is optional. I add salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, and a good sized sprig of rosemary.
• Close and lock the lid, make sure the vent is set to ‘seal’, and cook on high for 15 minutes.
• Let the pressure release naturally before unlocking the lid, this will take another 20 minutes or so.
• Drain any excess liquid if you want to use your beans right away, but if you want to store your beans for later, let them cool and then store them in a jar with the cooking liquid.

I like to serve this black-eyed pea salad on a bed of crunchy lettuce ~ I chose Gem lettuce and raddichio this time. Lettuce lightens the salad and also extends it to feed 6. I use sturdy varieties that won’t wilt quickly so it’s a good choice for buffets.

Have I told you lately that I love bean salads?

• Mediterranean Bean Salad
• Mason jar 7-Bean Salad
• Charred Corn and Bean Salad
• Middle Eastern Chickpea Salad (Balela)
• Cowboy Caviar
• Edamame Salad
• Curried Chickpea Salad (vegan or not!)

Lucky Black-eyed Pea Salad for the New Year!

4.41 from 15 votes

A colorful, high fiber bean salad.

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Prep Time:15 minutes minutes

Total Time:15 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

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Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

• 1 small head raddichio lettuce, shredded
• 2 small heads of Gem lettuce, trimmed and leaves separated
• 15 ounce can black-eyed peas, or 1 3/4 cups home cooked
• 1/4 cup finely minced red onion
• 1/2 cup diced sweet bell pepper, assorted colors
• 1/4 cup black olives, diced
• 1/4 pimento stuffed green olives, sliced
• 1/4 cup diced Persian cucumber, don’t peel

vinaigrette

• 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 Tbsp Meyer Lemon juice, about 2 lemons
• 1 tsp freshly minced rosemary, don’t use dried
• 1 tsp creamy dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Choose a wide shallow salad bowl and lay down a base of lettuce leaves and shredded raddichio.
• Put the salad dressing ingredients in a mason jar, put on the lid, and shake until it emulsifies. (That means it becomes cloudy and doesn’t separate) Taste it and add adjust to your liking.
• In a mixing bowl add the rest of the salad ingredients, and toss with enough dressing to moisten. Season with salt and pepper if you like.
• Spoon the bean salad on top of the lettuces, and serve.

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Course: Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Author: Sue Moran

Keyword: bean salad, black-eyed peas, healthy, New Year

Nutrition

Calories: 160.64 kcal · Carbohydrates: 14.38 g · Protein: 4.6 g · Fat: 10.21 g · Saturated Fat: 1.46 g · Sodium: 433.59 mg · Fiber: 3.81 g · Sugar: 1.86 g

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators.  Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.

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