Hoppin' John Recipe: A New Year's Tradition

Savory Homemade Southern Hoppin John with White Rice | Brent Hofacker

Few dishes are as closely tied to New Year’s Day in the American South as Hoppin’ John. With tender black-eyed peas, smoky bacon, aromatic vegetables, and fluffy white rice, it is a simple meal with a remarkably rich history.

For generations, eating Hoppin’ John at the beginning of the year has been associated with good luck and prosperity. The dish is especially connected with South Carolina and the Lowcountry, where rice and field peas became important ingredients in a cuisine profoundly shaped by West African knowledge and African American foodways.

This version keeps things straightforward, with savory black-eyed peas spooned generously over white rice and finished with crisp bacon and green onions. Add collard greens and a wedge of skillet cornbread, and you have a wonderfully comforting New Year’s meal.

🍀 What Is Hoppin’ John?

At its simplest, Hoppin’ John is a Southern combination of field peas, rice, and pork. Today, black-eyed peas are the variety most commonly associated with the dish, although historically it was also prepared with other types of cowpeas, including small red field peas.

Older Lowcountry versions were generally cooked as a pilau, with the peas and rice cooking together so that the rice absorbed the seasoned cooking liquid. Modern recipes vary considerably. Some still use the traditional one-pot method, while others serve seasoned black-eyed peas over separately cooked rice.

The version here follows that second approach, which also matches the familiar presentation of a bowl or plate of black-eyed peas with a mound of white rice. It is easy to prepare, makes it easier to control the texture of both the peas and the rice, and still brings all those familiar Hoppin’ John flavors to the table.

🌾 The African Roots of Hoppin’ John

Hoppin’ John is much more than a convenient beans-and-rice dinner. Its history is connected to the African diaspora and the development of Lowcountry cooking in South Carolina.

Cowpeas have deep roots in Africa, and both rice cultivation and rice cookery were well established in parts of West Africa long before Europeans established rice plantations in South Carolina. Enslaved Africans brought agricultural knowledge and cooking traditions that profoundly shaped the food culture of the Lowcountry.

Rice-and-pea dishes are found throughout West African and Caribbean cuisines, and Hoppin’ John developed within this larger culinary tradition.

One of the earliest published recipes appeared in Sarah Rutledge’s The Carolina Housewife in 1847. That version called for bacon, red peas, and rice rather than the black-eyed peas most Americans now associate with the dish.

By the time recipes for Hoppin’ John began appearing in nineteenth-century cookbooks, the dish was already well established in Carolina cooking.

🎆 Why Do We Eat Hoppin’ John on New Year’s Day?

Exactly how Hoppin’ John became associated with New Year’s Day is difficult to pin down, but the tradition has been part of Southern food culture for generations.

Black-eyed peas and other cowpeas came to symbolize good fortune and prosperity. The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture notes that the association between black-eyed peas and luck has connections to West African traditions that endured among enslaved African Americans in the South.

Over time, Hoppin’ John became one of several symbolic foods served for the New Year. Greens such as collards came to represent money, while golden cornbread became associated with gold and prosperity.

Together, the foods make a colorful New Year’s plate — and whether or not they actually determine your fortunes for the coming year, they certainly make a delicious dinner.

🛒 Ingredients

Serves 6

1 pound dried black-eyed peas
6 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
5 to 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 to 4 cups cooked long-grain white rice
3 green onions, thinly sliced

The cayenne is easy to adjust. Use just a pinch if you prefer a mild dish or the full 1/2 teaspoon if you would like a noticeable little kick.

🫘 Do You Have to Soak Black-Eyed Peas?

Black-eyed peas cook more quickly than many larger dried beans, so soaking them overnight is helpful but not essential.

For an overnight soak, place the peas in a large bowl, cover them generously with cool water, and leave them for about 8 hours. Drain and rinse before cooking.

If you forget to soak them, don’t abandon your Hoppin’ John plans. Rinse the dried peas well and simply allow additional simmering time. The exact cooking time of dried peas varies depending partly on their age, so texture is a better guide than the clock.

Whether soaked or not, sort through the dried peas before cooking to remove any bits of debris or damaged peas.

🥓 Start with the Bacon

Place the diced bacon in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Cook for about 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is browned and crisp and has rendered plenty of flavorful fat.

Use a slotted spoon to transfer about half of the cooked bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel. Save this portion for sprinkling over the finished Hoppin’ John.

Leave the remaining bacon and about 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in the pot. If your bacon produces considerably more fat, carefully spoon out the excess.

🫑 Build the Flavor Base

Add the onion, celery, and green bell pepper to the bacon drippings.

This combination is similar to the aromatic vegetable bases used throughout Southern and Creole cooking. As the vegetables soften in the bacon fat, they begin building the savory foundation for the entire pot.

Cook the vegetables over medium heat for about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion becomes translucent and the celery and bell pepper begin to soften.

Add the minced garlic and cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant.

🥘 Cook the Black-Eyed Peas

Add the drained black-eyed peas to the pot along with 5 cups of chicken broth, the bay leaves, thyme, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and the bacon that remained in the pot.

Bring everything just to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer.

Partially cover the pot and cook until the peas are tender but still hold their shape. Soaked peas will generally cook more quickly, while unsoaked peas may require an hour or longer.

Check the pot occasionally and stir gently. If the liquid drops below the peas before they are tender, add additional chicken broth or water as needed.

You want plenty of flavorful cooking liquid surrounding the peas without turning the finished dish into soup.

🧂 Season at the End

Once the black-eyed peas are tender, remove the bay leaves and stir in the apple cider vinegar.

Taste before adding salt. Bacon and chicken broth both contain salt, and the amount they contribute can vary substantially from brand to brand.

The small amount of vinegar is an important finishing touch. It does not make the Hoppin’ John taste sour; instead, the acidity cuts through the richness of the bacon and brightens the flavor of the peas.

Add more black pepper or cayenne at this point if desired.

🍚 Prepare the Rice

While the peas simmer, cook your white rice according to the package directions.

Long-grain white rice works especially well because the grains remain relatively separate and provide a mild base for the intensely flavored black-eyed peas.

For the presentation shown here, spoon the rice onto each plate or into a shallow bowl and ladle the black-eyed peas and some of their flavorful cooking liquid around or over it.

Sprinkle the reserved crispy bacon and sliced green onions over the top just before serving.

🍲 Is Hoppin’ John Supposed to Be Cooked with the Rice?

If you have seen Hoppin’ John recipes prepared completely in one pot, those recipes are not wrong. In fact, cooking the peas and rice together is closer to older Lowcountry versions of the dish.

Traditional Hoppin’ John is a type of pilau, in which rice cooks with the other ingredients and absorbs their flavors.

Serving the peas over separately cooked rice has also become common, however, and it has some practical advantages for the home cook. The peas can simmer until perfectly tender without worrying about the rice becoming overcooked, and everyone can choose the proportion of rice and peas they prefer.

It also makes leftovers easier to store because the rice does not continue soaking up the pea broth in the refrigerator.

🌿 What to Serve with Hoppin’ John

A bowl of Hoppin’ John can certainly stand on its own, but New Year’s dinner is an excellent excuse to turn it into a full Southern-inspired feast.

Collard greens are perhaps the most traditional companion. Their green leaves are often said to symbolize money and prosperity in the coming year. Mustard greens and turnip greens are delicious alternatives.

Cornbread is another natural choice. The crisp, golden crust of skillet cornbread is particularly good dipped into the smoky broth from the peas, and its golden color has also become associated with New Year’s wishes for prosperity.

You could also serve Hoppin’ John alongside cabbage, roasted sweet potatoes, fried okra, or a simple green salad.

🌶️ Easy Hoppin’ John Variations

Hoppin’ John is one of those recipes that has accumulated countless family variations over generations, so there is plenty of room to make it your own.

For a smokier version, replace some or all of the bacon with a smoked ham hock. Let the ham hock simmer with the peas until the meat is tender, then remove it, pull the meat from the bone, and return the chopped meat to the pot.

Diced country ham or smoked sausage can also provide the pork flavor.

For extra heat, add more cayenne, crushed red pepper flakes, or a finely diced jalapeño along with the bell pepper.

If you would rather skip the pork entirely, sauté the vegetables in olive oil and use vegetable broth. A little smoked paprika can help provide some of the smoky depth that bacon normally brings to the dish.

🫘 Black-Eyed Peas vs. Field Peas

Although black-eyed peas are now strongly associated with Hoppin’ John, they are not the only pea that can be used.

Black-eyed peas belong to the larger cowpea family, which includes numerous varieties of Southern field peas. Historically, Lowcountry Hoppin’ John was often prepared with small red peas rather than the familiar cream-colored black-eyed pea.

Today, heirloom varieties such as Sea Island red peas are sometimes used by cooks interested in recreating older Lowcountry versions of the dish.

Black-eyed peas remain a wonderful everyday option because they are affordable, widely available, and have the creamy texture and earthy flavor that work so well with smoked pork and rice.

🥡 Storing and Reheating Hoppin’ John

Store leftover black-eyed peas and rice in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator. Keeping them separate prevents the rice from absorbing all of the flavorful broth while it sits.

The peas will usually thicken considerably overnight. Add a little chicken broth or water while reheating them gently on the stovetop.

The flavors may actually become even richer after a night in the refrigerator, making leftover Hoppin’ John an excellent lunch for the following day.

There is even a New Year’s tradition associated with those leftovers. Hoppin’ John eaten on January 2 is sometimes called Skippin’ Jenny, with the act of eating leftovers traditionally associated with thrift and continued prosperity.

🎉 A Simple Meal with a Long History

Hoppin’ John is proof that some of the most enduring recipes are built from relatively humble ingredients. Peas, rice, pork, and a few seasonings combine to make something deeply satisfying, while generations of history and tradition give the dish meaning far beyond what is in the pot.

Today, Hoppin’ John appears in countless variations across the South and beyond, but its connection to African foodways and the South Carolina Lowcountry remains an important part of its story.

Serve it on New Year’s Day with collard greens and warm skillet cornbread, or make it whenever you are craving a hearty bowl of smoky black-eyed peas and rice.

A little extra good luck certainly wouldn’t hurt.