Beans, lentils & pulses · Beans
Black-eyed peas (dried)
Small cream beans with a black 'eye', sold dried; cook quickly without soaking into stews, fritters and Hoppin' John.
Also called: black-eyed beans, cowpeas, lobia, chawli
A kind of beans
Photo: Jud McCranie, via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
What it is
Black-eyed peas are a type of cowpea: kidney-shaped, cream-coloured beans with a black spot where they attached to the pod. Despite the name they are beans, not peas. They are thin-skinned and cook relatively fast, often without soaking. In West Africa they are skinned and ground for fritters.
Vigna unguiculata
How it’s used
- Soaked, skinned and ground for akara and koki fritters
- Cooked with rice for Hoppin' John
- Simmered in Indian lobia curry
- Stewed in Nigerian ewa agoyin and Greek salads
Characteristics
- Taste
- Earthy and savoury, slightly nutty.
- Texture
- Creamy and tender, holds its shape.
- Sold as
- dried, canned, frozen
- Cooking uses
- Commonly cooked, Suitable for boiling, Suitable for frying
- Common in
- Nigerian, West African, Ghanaian, Southern US, Indian, Greek, Brazilian, Caribbean
Storage
Cool, dry and dark. Store airtight in a cool, dry place; cooked peas keep a few days in the fridge or freeze well.
Diet, allergens and safety
No major allergens in typical versions.
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
- Egg-free
- Gluten-free
- Nut-free
- Soy-free
- Caffeine-free
- Cook dried beans thoroughly before eating.
- Cool cooked legumes quickly and refrigerate; reheat until piping hot and use within a few days.
Nutrition per 100 g
- Energy
- 336 kcal
- Protein
- 23.52 g
- Carbohydrate
- 60.03 g
- Fat
- 1.26 g
- Fibre
- 10.6 g
- Sugars
- 6.9 g
USDA FoodData Central: Cowpeas, common (blackeyes, crowder, southern), mature seeds, raw.
Substitutes
Optional — what works if you don’t have it, and how it changes the dish.
- Dried white beans — In stews; take longer to cook, milder.
- Pinto beans (canned) — In Hoppin'-John-style dishes; creamier.
Related ingredients
Recipes with black-eyed peas (dried)
See all 14
Acarajé
Brazilian · 1 h 20 min · 534 kcal
Akara
Nigerian · 55 min · 338 kcal · VeganAloo tama
Nepalese · 1 h 15 min · 223 kcal · VeganErissery
South Indian · 55 min · 289 kcal · VeganEwa agoyin
Nigerian · 1 h 50 min · 611 kcalGuyanese cook-up rice
Guyanese · 1 h 35 min · 675 kcalKoki
Cameroonian · 2 h 50 min · 393 kcal · Vegan
Kwati
Nepalese · 1 h 5 min · 200 kcal · VegetarianLouvi me lahana
Cypriot · 50 min · 423 kcal · VeganMoi moi
Nigerian · 1 h 40 min · 263 kcal · VegetarianMoksi alesi
Surinamese · 1 h 35 min · 572 kcal
Ndambé
Senegalese · 1 h 20 min · 391 kcal · Vegan
2 more
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