Hopping John Soup – Kalyn’s Kitchen

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

What is the symbolism of the Hopping John ingredients?

Recipe variations for Hopping John abound, but all contain ham, black eyed peas, and collard greens, the peas representing coins and the collard greens representing dollar bills for financial luck in the new year.

What are Black-Eyed Peas?

Black-Eyed peas are vegetables that are grown around the world. Here’s more about this tasty ingredient that are sometimes called Black-Eyed Beans. In the United States they are often made into a southern dish called Hopping John.

How can you make Hopping John Soup lower in carbs?

If you want good luck but don’t want so many carbs, you can definitely make this soup with more ham and collards and fewer black-eyed peas.

Want more ideas for Black-Eyed Peas?

Check out all the Lucky Black-Eyed Peas Recipes on the blog if you want to get even more good luck! Or check out Slow Cooker and Instant Pot Black-Eyed Peas Recipes on my Slow Cooker or Pressure Cooker site for more lucky food ideas to celebrate the new year!

How to Make Hopping John Soup:

(Scroll down for complete printable recipe with nutritional information.)

Chop the onions and celery and cook them just until they start to soften, adding garlic the last few minutes. While the onions cook, chop the ham. (If you ham has a rind, save it to add to the soup for more flavor.)
After onions/celery/garlic mixture is done, add the chopped ham and saute over very low heat for about 10 minutes.
In a large soup pot, add the ham/onion/celery/garlic mixture, chicken stock (or if you have Homemade Ham Stock I would definitely use that for this recipe), black-eyed peas, dried thyme, and ham rinds if you have them. Let this cook at a low simmer for about an hour. (These photos are a double batch of soup.)
While the soup simmers, cut away the thick inner rib of the collard greens, then coarsely chop the greens.
After soup has simmered for one hour, taste for flavor, adding some ham flavor base (affiliate link) if needed and adding a little water if the soup seems too thick.
Add chopped collard greens to the soup and let simmer for about one hour more. When the black-eyed peas are as soft as you’d like, remove the ham rind and then use an immersion blender to partially puree the soup, being careful not to overdo it if you want a soup with some chunkiness to it.
Add the red pepper flakes and vinegar and simmer 10 minutes more (or longer; I sometimes cook it an hour or so longer at this point.)
Serve hot and enjoy the good luck!

More Black-Eyed Peas for New Year’s:

Ingredients

1 small onion, chopped in fairly small pieces

1 cup celery, chopped in fairly small pieces

1 T olive oil

1 tsp. minced garlic

3 cups diced ham (cut off the ham rind and save; you can get by with a bit less ham if needed)

8 cups homemade chicken stock (see notes)

2 16oz. packages frozen black-eyed peas (see notes)

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1 bunch fresh collard greens, chopped (see notes)

pinch red pepper flakes (optional)

1 T apple cider vinegar, or more to taste

Optional: ham flavor base

Instructions

In large frying pan, sauté onion and celery in olive oil about 5 minutes, until starting to soften. Add garlic and cook about 2 minutes more.
Then add ham and sauté over very low heat 10 minutes. (Don’t skip this step, which concentrates the ham flavor into the vegetables.)
Transfer mixture to large soup pot, add chicken stock, black eyed peas, dried thyme, and ham rinds if available, and cook at very low simmer for one hour.
After soup has cooked one hour, taste for flavoring. Add more water and ham flavor base if needed. (It will depend on your ham, but I usually add a tiny bit. I added about 2 cups more water to the soup at this point.)
Add chopped collard greens, stir into soup and simmer one hour more, or until black-eyed peas are quite soft.
When black-eyed peas are as soft as you want them, remove pieces of ham rind, then use an immersion blender, food processor, or hand masher to partially process about half the soup. You want a mixture of broken and unbroken black-eyes peas, with some thickening of the soup from the pureeing process. Be careful not to over process.
Add red pepper flakes and vinegar and simmer 10 minutes more (or longer, I sometimes cook as much as an hour more at this point.)
Serve hot.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving:
calories: 342Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 50mgSodium: 1023mgCarbohydrates: 28.5gfiber: 9gSugar: 9gprotein: 31g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Black-eyed peas are not low in carbs, but if you want to reduce the carb count for the soup use more ham, celery, and collard greens in proportion to the other ingredients. However, even with that lower-carb version if you’re strictly limiting carbs you’ll have to miss out on the black-eyed pea luck! This Hopping John Soup would be approved for any phase of the South Beach Diet, but limit serving sizes for phase one.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Soup Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.