Vegan Hoppin’ John Feast

This vegan Hoppin’ John feast is my plant-based take on a Southern classic. Traditionally, Hoppin’ John is made with black-eyed peas served over rice, but to make it a more complete meal, I serve it with collard greens, roasted sweet potato wedges, and—for soaking up the delicious broth—my homemade millet bread. No pork, dairy, or corn is needed to make this satisfying meal!

Ingredients

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Step by Step Instructions

Instant Pot Black-eyed Peas

Set the Instant Pot to Sauté (High). Once hot, add olive oil, onion, bell pepper, and celery. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant and onions are lightly golden (about 4 minutes). Add garlic and scallions and cook for 30 seconds.

Add black‑eyed peas, bay leaf, thyme, smoked paprika, cayenne, smoked sea salt, black pepper, and vegetable broth. Secure the lid and cook on High Pressure for 25 minutes. When the timer goes off, allow a 15‑minute natural release, then vent to open. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the juice from half of a lemon.

Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. The black-eyed peas will be tender and delicious!

Collard Greens

Heat olive oil in a wide pot over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook until lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add collard greens (with stems) and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute, stirring.

Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes, until tender. Season with salt and black pepper to taste and they’re ready to serve!

Sweet Potato Wedges

The sweet potatoes are simply cut into wedges, seasoned with spices and olive oil, and baked until lightly crispy.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scrub sweet potatoes well and cut into wedges, leaving the skins on. Toss with olive oil and spices of choice (I used thyme, rosemary, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, cumin). Bake for 35–40 minutes, until tender and edges are browned.

Assemble and Serve

To assemble, serve the black-eyed peas over rice, with the remaining dishes on the side.

Cooking Tips

The Instant Pot makes cooking the black-eyed peas really easy, but if you don’t have an Instant Pot, follow the package directions on the black-eyed peas when it is time to add the dried peas to the pot.

Smoked sea salt adds the savory, smoky flavor traditionally provided by pork. I used San Francisco Salt Company smoked sea salt.

Many collard greens recipes have you remove the stems, but I like to chop them up and add them to the pot. After 40 minutes of cooking, they’re very tender, and it’s both healthier and easier to leave them in. Be sure to wash your greens very well to remove any dirt or grit.

Final Thoughts

Feel free to choose just one of the starchy sides: sweet potatoes, rice, or millet bread. You’ll want at least one of them to soak up the flavorful broth from the black-eyed peas and collard greens.

If you decide to make all of the sides, this is the order I recommend cooking everything:

1. Millet bread – If you’re serving millet bread, make this first since it needs to rest in the pan for 30 minutes before slicing.
2. Black-eyed peas – Next, cook the black-eyed peas in the Instant Pot. If they finish before the rest of the meal, they’ll stay warm in the Instant Pot.
3. Collard greens – Then start the collard greens. They cook for about 40 minutes on the stovetop and stay hot once finished.
4. Sweet potatoes – Bake the sweet potato wedges after the collards so they don’t sit around and lose their crispiness.
5. Rice – Depending on the rice you choose, you may want to cook this earlier. White rice can be made last since it cooks fast, but brown rice takes about 45 minutes and should be started before the sweet potatoes.

Overall, this meal takes about 2 hours to make, or 3 hours if you make the millet bread. Most of that time is hands-off cooking, with the rest spent prepping ingredients. This meal is easy to make despite the long cook time!

Vegan Hoppin’ John Feast

This vegan Hoppin’ John takes the classic dish to the next level, served with southern collard greens, sweet potato wedges, and millet bread for soaking up every bit of broth. Savory, smoky, sweet, and salty, this meal is bursting with flavor!

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Course Main Course

Cuisine southern

Equipment

• Instant Pot
• Baking Sheet for sweet potato wedges
• Wide Pot for collard greens
• Medium Sized Pot for rice

Ingredients

  

Instant Pot Black-eyed Peas

• 1 onion large, chopped
• 2 ribs celery chopped
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
• 2 scallions (green parts) chopped
• 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups dried black-eyed peas
• 4 cups vegetable broth (or water)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
• 1/2 lemon (juiced)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Collard Greens

• 1 bunch collard greens chopped (with stems)
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper (to taste)

Sweet Potato Wedges

• 2 sweet potatoes large, cut into wedges with skin on
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Spices of choice (thyme, rosemary, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, cumin)

Rice

• Cooked rice for serving (any variety)

Instructions

 

Instant Pot Black-eyed Peas

• Mise en place: Chop all vegetables, finely chop the garlic, measure spices, rinse the dried black-eyed peas, juice half a lemon, and measure out the vegetable broth before turning on the Instant Pot.
  1 onion, 2 ribs celery, 1 red bell pepper, 2 scallions (green parts), 4 cloves garlic, 1 1/2 cups dried black-eyed peas, 4 cups vegetable broth (or water), 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon cayenne powder, 1 teaspoon smoked sea salt, Freshly ground black pepper (to taste), 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 lemon (juiced)
• Set the Instant Pot to Sauté (High). Once hot, add olive oil, onion, bell pepper, and celery. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant and onions are lightly golden.
• Add garlic and scallions and cook for 30 seconds.
• Add black‑eyed peas, bay leaf, thyme, smoked paprika, cayenne, smoked sea salt, black pepper, and vegetable broth.
• Secure the lid and cook on High Pressure for 25 minutes.
• When the timer goes off, allow a 15‑minute natural release, then vent to open.
• Remove the bay leaf and stir in the juice from ½ lemon. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Southern Collard Greens

• Mise en place: Wash and chop the collard greens (including stems), chop the onion, finely chop the garlic, and measure out the red pepper flakes, vegetable broth, and olive oil.
  1 bunch collard greens, 1 onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 2 cups vegetable broth, 2 tablespoon olive oil
• Heat olive oil in a wide pot over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook until lightly golden, about 2 minutes.
• Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
• Add collard greens and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute, stirring.
• Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes, until tender.
• Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Sweet Potato Wedges

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Scrub sweet potatoes very well and cut into wedges, leaving the skins on.
  2 sweet potatoes
• Toss with olive oil and spices.
  Spices of choice (thyme, rosemary, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, cumin), 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Bake for 35–40 minutes, until tender and lightly crispy.

Rice

• Cook rice according to package directions. I recommend starting with 1 cup of dry rice, but you can adjust the amount based on how much you’d like to serve.

Serve

• Serve black‑eyed peas over rice with collard greens, sweet potatoes, and millet bread if desired.

Notes

My millet bread recipe is coming soon! This recipe is still delicious without it, especially when you have the roasted sweet potatoes to dip in the broth.