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Slow-Cooker Ham and Black-Eyed Pea Soup

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  • Prep 25 min
  • Total 7 hr 25 min
  • Servings 6
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This recipe is proof that soup is a perfect food to slow cook. The low and slow cooking softens up the ham hock and infuses the black-eyed peas with loads of flavor, without turning them to mush. And after it’s finished its flavoring duties, that ham hock still has more to give your soup. The meat that’s clinging to the hock gets chopped into bits and added back in for a toothsome texture and heartiness that’ll satisfy the whole family. So next time you need a set-it-and-forget-it family dinner, you know what to do.
By Betty Crocker Kitchens
Updated Dec 9, 2019
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Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 medium carrots, chopped
  • 2 medium stalks celery, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
  • 1 carton (32 oz) Progresso™ reduced sodium chicken broth
  • 3 cans (15.8 oz each) black-eyed peas, drained, rinsed
  • 1 smoked ham hock or shank
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
Make With
Progresso Broth

Steps

  • 1
    Spray 5-quart slow cooker with cooking spray.
  • 2
    In 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery; cook and stir 5 to 6 minutes or until vegetables soften. Add garlic and thyme; cook and stir 1 minute. Transfer to slow cooker.
  • 3
    Add broth, black-eyed peas and ham hock to slow cooker.
  • 4
    Cover; cook on Low heat setting 7 to 8 hours or until meat on ham hock is tender and easily separated from bone.
  • 5
    Remove ham hock. Remove ham from bone; discard bone. Shred ham; return to slow cooker, and stir.
  • 6
    Skim off any excess fat from top of soup. Add parsley, and serve.

Tips from the Betty Crocker Kitchens

  • tip 1
    Smoked ham hocks, also labeled as smoked ham shanks, typically range in weight from 1 1/2 to 3 lb. The amount of meat that comes off the bone will vary, but our test kitchens got about 1 cup of meat using hocks in this size range.
  • tip 2
    Black-eyed peas are a legume that can be bought dried or canned. We chose to use canned in this recipe in order to streamline the cooking.
  • tip 3
    In some parts of the South, black-eyed peas are eaten on New Year’s Day. It’s said they’ll bring wealth and prosperity for the next 12 months. With a payoff like that, you can guess what we’ll be cooking on January 1!

Nutrition

260 Calories, 4g Total Fat, 16g Protein, 39g Total Carbohydrate, 3g Sugars

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: About 1 1/2 Cups
Calories
260
Calories from Fat
35
Total Fat
4g
6%
Saturated Fat
1g
4%
Trans Fat
0g
Cholesterol
10mg
3%
Sodium
850mg
35%
Potassium
610mg
17%
Total Carbohydrate
39g
13%
Dietary Fiber
9g
35%
Sugars
3g
Protein
16g
% Daily Value*:
Vitamin A
70%
70%
Vitamin C
4%
4%
Calcium
6%
6%
Iron
25%
25%
Exchanges:
2 Starch; 0 Fruit; 0 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 1 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 1/2 Fat;
Carbohydrate Choice
2 1/2
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

More About This Recipe

  • Peasant food, cucina povera, whatever you want to call it, this soup descends from a cooking tradition that focuses on maximizing the flavor of humble ingredients. With little more than beans and a ham hock, which is more bone than meat, it’s almost confounding that this soup turns out so delicious. The slow cooking certainly contributes, simply by allowing time and heat to extract as much flavor as possible from the ham hock. Not that this couldn’t be done with stovetop cooking, but who wants to stand over the stove when you could leave this cooking all day and come home to dinner?
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