Instant Pot Smoked Sausage and Black-Eyed Peas
By Kath Dedon
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Yes! You can make Smoked Sausage and Black-Eyed Peas in the Instant Pot! I used a couple of things that I learned from J. Kenji López Alt’s Instant Pot split pea soup recipe and successfully made the black-eyed peas.
I cut the broth by 25% because, as Kenji says, there is no evaporation when you pressure cook.
I sautéed the first eight ingredients in 3 tablespoons of butter. The butter adds great flavor, and the fat helps to inhibit foaming when you’re pressure cooking legumes or grains.
From start to finish, it took about 1½ hours to make the Instant Pot Smoked Sausage and Black-Eyed Peas. The original recipe takes about 2 hours, start to finish, so the Instant Pot saves a little time. Without having a side-by-side taste test, I do think the Instant Pot version is better. The black-eyed peas were perfectly cooked with a velvety texture.
If you have a 6- or 8-quart Instant Pot I highly recommend that you try this Instant Pot Smoked Sausage and Black-Eyed Peas recipe. And may you have only good luck in 2018!
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Instant Pot Smoked Sausage and Black-Eyed Peas
(Adapted from Emeril Lagasse’s recipe)
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Serves 4 – 5
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Important notes:
- Do not double the recipe. Split peas (and other legumes and grains) can foam and clog the valves if the pot is too full.
- Do not reduce the butter. Adding fat to the pot can help to keep the foaming down. If you want to use oil instead of butter, use 3 tablespoons.
- If you’re using a stovetop pressure cooker, monitor it closely, never setting the heat higher than medium-high.
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3 tablespoons butter
12 – 16 ounces smoked sausage, sliced
1 cup chopped yellow onion
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 whole cloves garlic, peeled
5 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 bay leaves
3 teaspoons finely chopped Italian parsley
6 cups chicken stock
1 pound dried black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Minced green onions, to garnish (optional)
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Ingredients: Everything to saute is in the bowl, 4 cups of stock in the carton plus 2 more cups in the measuring cup. Minced garlic to add with the stock and black-eyed peas.
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- Press the Sauté button and then use the Adjust button to set the heat to “Normal” (medium). Wait for the display to say “Hot”. This takes about 3 minutes.
2. When the pot is hot, put the butter in. When it has melted, add the sausage, onion, salt, cayenne pepper, whole cloves of garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and Italian parsley. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
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3. Press the Keep Warm/Cancel button to stop the sauté function. Add the chicken stock, black-eyed peas and minced garlic.
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4. Put the lid on, setting the Pressure Releaseto Sealing. Press the Manual button and set the time to 23 minutes. (If using a stovetop pressure cooker, cook it under pressure for 20 minutes.) With the Instant Pot, it takes about 15 minutes to get to pressure and start the 23-minute countdown.
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5. When the 23 minutes are done, press the Keep Warm/Cancel button to turn the pot off and let the pressure release naturally. It will take up to 30 minutes for the pressure to release.
6. When the float valve has dropped back down, the pressure has been released. Open the pot, give it a stir, and serve. Garnish with green onions, if desired.
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In the kitchen with Kath 
Nice recipe
Thank you!
Kath, I had just finish cooking my Black Peas for our News Day Dinner when your post came in. Wish I’d seen it prior to making mine. The recipe I used was OK, but yours sounds great! I still have a pound of dried peas left so I’ll soon give your version a spin soon.
I think you’ll like it, Ron. I’d love to hear your opinion after you try it. 🙂 Happy New Year!
I have frozen black eyed peas. What do you suggest as a cooking time since I am not using dried beans? How much broth for this case?
I just made the Instant Pot version of your recipe. It is superb! I’m enjoying a bowl of it as I type. Thanks. Best black-eyed peas yet!
Thanks so much, Russ! I was quite pleased with the way it turned out. Glad you like it!
Just made these in my Instant Pot. Used Shiner sausage. Delicious, the best BEPs I’ve ever had!! Hopefully this is a good omen for 2018!
Love it, Nicole! Happy 2018. It’s sure to be a good one now that we’ve had our BEPs. 🙂
What about frozen raw sasuag?
I’ve made this a few times now, I love it! Becoming a family favorite.
I’m so glad you and your family like it, Bryan!
Thank You for the instant pot version since this is how I do most of my cooking now and it was nice to find this version so easy without spending so long looking. It was also nice to see you using the Kroger brand.
Thanks, Robbie! I hope you enjoy this Instant Pot version.
Amazing! I didn’t change a thing. We used Conecuh sausage. My husband and I really enjoyed eating this for New Year!
I’m so glad you and your husband liked it, Katie. Happy New Year!
Best recipe I have ever used for Black eyed peas. Used this today at the Firehouse. A double batch was made and disappeared quickly, everyone loved them and most said prior to eating they were not big fans of black eyed peas. Now it will be a regular item in our menu rotation and not just a New Years dish.
So glad to hear everyone liked it, Stacy! Happy New Year!
I try recipes as they are written without any changes. I haven’t tried your recipe yet, however that seems like a lot of garlic. Any reason for whole garlic and minced? Based on the favorable comments and before anyone says to either try it or don’t, I’m just asking questions before I do.
I can’t really answer your question. Like you, I follow recipes as written, at least the first time I make it. The original recipe for this is Emeril Lagasse’s and I used the garlic as he did. It cooks long enough that the garlic mellows out. It is not overly garlicky. Try it; I think you’ll like it.
Use the medium setting to cook the beans? Not high?
Hi Rose, I adjust the temperature to medium for the saute step when I cook the sausage, onion, salt, cayenne pepper, whole cloves of garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and Italian parsley for about 5 minutes in the butter. Then I add the stock, black-eyed peas, and minced garlic, seal the pot and pressure cook using the Manual setting.
With my Instant Pot (and maybe Rose’s), Manual lets me specify the number of minutes and also the heat level. I’m about to try the recipe and am not sure if I should set it to High.
I just tried the recipe out using my instant pot for the first time.I used pork stock instead of chicken stock and added a can of petite diced tomatoes.It tasted amazing!My husband had two helpings!
Pork stock? Yum! So glad you and your husband liked it!
This is a really delicious recipe. I used Zummo smoked sausage which has a Cajun flavor and added some green chilis. I also added extra cayenne pepper because we like it spicy. It was amazing for such a simple recipe.