Pelēkie zirņi ar speķi

Name: Pelēkie zirņi ar speķi
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Ingredients: 300 g grey peas (dried), soaked overnight; 1500 ml water; 1 tsp salt; 200 g bacon, diced; 2 onions, chopped; ¼ tsp black pepper; 500 ml kefir (optional)

Non-vegetarian

Earthy Latvian grey peas cooked until tender and tossed with crisp fried bacon and onions. A national dish, traditionally eaten at Christmas and midsummer, with kefir to drink.

Pelēkie zirņi ar speķi is a Latvian main course, ready in about 1 hour 25 minutes and made with grey peas (dried) and bacon. It serves 4 and is rated easy to cook.

Start cooking

Latvian grey peas with fried bacon and onion on a long plate — Photo: JIP / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-SA-4.0

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 1 h 15 min
Total: 1 h 25 min
Serves: 4
Level: Easy
Calories: 492

Plus overnight soaking of the peas.

Ingredients

4 servings

300 g Grey peas (dried) (opens in a new tab), soaked overnightSwap: Green or brown lentils (Whole brown lentils are not authentic but give a similar earthy result.)
1500 ml Water (opens in a new tab)
1 tsp (6 g) Salt (opens in a new tab)
200 g Bacon (opens in a new tab), dicedLatvian speķis is fatty smoked pork belly.
2 (220 g) Onions (opens in a new tab), chopped
¼ tsp (0.5 g) Black pepper (opens in a new tab)
500 ml Kefir (opens in a new tab) (optional)Served alongside to drink.Contains milk

Equipment

Method

1
Step 1
Drain the soaked peas, cover with fresh water and simmer until tender but still whole. Add the salt towards the end.
- 60 min
- medium-low heat
- Saucepan (opens in a new tab)
2
Step 2
Meanwhile fry the bacon (opens in a new tab) until crisp and the fat has rendered, then add the onions (opens in a new tab) and fry until golden.
- 15 min
- medium heat
- Frying pan / skillet (opens in a new tab)
How it looks · Photo: Magda Ehlers on Pexels
3
Step 3
Drain the peas well and toss them with the bacon (opens in a new tab), onions (opens in a new tab) and all the fat. Season with pepper (opens in a new tab) and serve warm with kefir (opens in a new tab).
- 3 min
How it looks · Photo: Willians Huerta on Pexels

About this dish

Origin: Latvia · Well documentedMore food from Latvia
Dish: Dinner · Lunch · Main courses · Side dishes
Cooking method: Boiled, Pan-fried
Taste: earthy, smoky, savoury
Diet: No gluten ingredients · No nut ingredients · High-protein · High-fibre
All labels
Non-vegetarian · Flexitarian-friendly · No gluten ingredients · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · No added sugar · Alcohol-free · Beef-free · High-protein · High-fibre · Calorie-conscious
Without the optional extras: Dairy-freeWorked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for: Budget-friendly · Festive & celebration
Cook more with: Bacon · Onion
Techniques: Pan-frying · Deep-frying · Boiling · Simmering

Allergens

Contains, can be adapted: Milkfrom kefir

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

492 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 557 g · recipe makes 4

Where the energy comes from

Protein 20%
Carbohydrate 41%
Fat 39%

Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100 g*
Energy	492 kcal	88 kcal
Protein	24.8 g	4.5 g
Carbohydrate	51.5 g	9.2 g
Net carbohydrate	33.8 g	6.1 g
Sugars	4.9 g	0.9 g
Added sugars	0 g	0 g
Fibre	17.6 g	3.2 g
Fat	21.5 g	3.9 g
Saturated fat	6.6 g	1.2 g
Trans fat	0.1 g	0 g
Cholesterol	33 mg	6 mg
Sodium	972 mg	175 mg
Salt equivalent	2.4 g	0.4 g

Vitamins & minerals per serving

Potassium: 822 mg
Calcium: 89 mg
Iron: 3.9 mg
Magnesium: 67 mg
Vitamin A (RAE): 11 µg
Vitamin C: 5 mg
Vitamin D: 0.2 µg
Vitamin B12: 0.3 µg
Folate (DFE): 22 µg

How these numbers were made

Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
*Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
Optional ingredients are not included: kefir.
Grey peas (dried): Dried green split peas (FDC 172428) used as a stand-in; grey/carlin peas are whole field peas with very similar composition.
“—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

Grey peas cook unevenly — check several and stop as soon as most are tender.

Common mistakes

Salting the peas at the start, which can keep the skins tough.

Food safety

Fry the bacon until crisp and cooked through.

Storage

Refrigerate up to 3 days.

Reheating

Warm in a frying pan until piping hot.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added 27 Oct 2026 · Updated 8 Nov 2026

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Compare with

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Grey peas (dried), soaked overnight300 g
Bacon, diced200 g
Kefir (optional)500 ml · 515 g

Used in steps 1, 2, 3

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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