Hello all you Kenarry readers, Emily from Table & Hearth here to share an easy and delicious side dish recipe with you today! It’s a quick and simple way to make Hoppin’ John, a southern favorite and one of my go-to dishes.
Hoppin’ John is traditionally eaten as a New Year’s dish for good luck, but we love to eat it year-round also and it goes with all kinds of entrees, especially a yummy steak or chicken. Of course, you can also be like me and eat it as a main entree!
There’s only six ingredients needed for my version, but adding rice is also common for Hoppin’ John if you want to put that in as well. For mine, a couple of cans of black-eyed peas, okra, tomatoes, crumbled bacon, and a few spices is all you’ll need. I like to use fire-roasted diced tomatoes and creole-style okra just to bring more flavor and zing into the dish.
To get an amazing smoky flavor, cook your bacon in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven so that it’ll make a nice crust on the bottom full of yummy bacony bits. Once the bacon is cooked, remove it, let it cool, then crumble it to add later.
After the bacon is done, add all of your canned ingredients to the pot and stir gently to combine. The bacon residue will deglaze off the bottom and get incorporated into the Hoppin’ John.
Let it all sauté for about 10 minutes to meld all the flavors, then season with salt and pepper as you’d like. Toss in your bacon right before serving so it’ll stay crisp.
That’s it! A few cans, a few minutes to cook, and it’s ready to go!!
- 2 Black-eyed Peas Cans - Drained (or fresh)
- 2 Sliced Okra Cans - Drained - I used creole gumbo okra
- 1 Diced Tomatoes Cand - Drained - Preferably fire-roasted
- 5 Slices Bacon Crumbled
- 1 Bay Leaf
- Salt To Taste
- Pepper To Taste
- Cook bacon in a dutch oven or cast iron skillet. You want the bacon to make a nice residue on the bottom which you can deglaze.
- Remove bacon and let cool, then crumble.
- Add peas, okra, tomatoes, and bay leaf to pot and gently mix, making sure to scrape the bacon bits off the bottom of the pan.
- Sautee for about 10 minutes to let flavors combine.
- Add bacon and gently mix.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and gently mix.
- Serve warm
If you want this to have more liquid, don't drain the okra and/or tomatoes.
Take care while mixing, otherwise beans will get damaged and smushy.
I hope you guys love this recipe as much as we do, and thanks so much to Carrie for having me today!
Make sure and check out some of my other favorite recipes below too…
Cardamom Orange Cookies with Browned Butter Toffee Frosting
Cilantro Soup with Blue Posole
While you’re here be sure to check out other side dish ideas on Kenarry: Ideas for the Home. You may enjoy:
- Zucchini Recipes: 12 Great Ideas for This Prolific Vegetable
- Roasted Baby Carrots With Dill: A Simple Side Dish
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts Recipe: An Easy Side Dish Idea
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Emily is a full-time biologist who shares her home on the coast in Texas with her husband and sassy blue-eyed cat. Her blog, Table & Hearth, is her outlet for her passion of all things home where you will find inspiring DIY projects, craft ideas, and recipes. Follow along with Emily on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter!
This looks awesome and super easy, which I love. I also love bean dishes because they are so cheap. I prefer canned beans over dry, mainly because I can never seem to get dry beans to work well. Do you know if this dish would work with turkey bacon? Right now I don’t have either on hand, but I always seem to find turkey bacon cheaper and it’s better for you (though I love regular bacon a lot more).
Oh man, I never use dry beans either 😉 #aintnobodygottimeforthat! As far as substituting turkey bacon, I haven’t tried it (the husband vetoed turkey bacon in our house) but I think that would be totally fine, you may just want to add a little more salt to make up for it. If you try it, let us know how it does!