Black-Eyed Peas and Cornmeal Dumplings

15 Reviews
ADD YOUR REVIEW
Photo: Johnny Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr
Hands-on Time
25 Mins
Total Time
55 Mins
Yield
Serves 4 (serving size: about 1 cup pea mixture and 3 dumplings)
By Julianna Grimes
January 2013
RECIPE BY Cooking Light

A pot of black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is a Southern tradition said to bring good luck for the year ahead. Make the tradition even better with bacon-y buttermilk dumplings and a dash of your favorite hot sauce. For a quick side of collards, bring 1/2 cup lower-sodium chicken broth, 1/2 cup water, and 2 minced garlic cloves to a simmer in a large skillet. Add 1 (16-ounce) bag chopped collard greens; cover and cook 10 minutes or until tender.

Ingredients

  • 2 slices hickory-smoked bacon
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 3 cups unsalted chicken stock (such as Swanson)
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 (16-ounce) bag frozen black-eyed peas (about 2 3/4 cups)
  • 3.4 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3/4 cup)
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped green onions
  • 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into pieces
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • Hot sauce (optional)

Nutritional Information

  • Calories 405
  • Fat 8.9g
  • Satfat 5.1g
  • Monofat 1.6g
  • Polyfat 0.7g
  • Protein 20g
  • Carbohydrate 62.3g
  • Fiber 7.5g
  • Cholesterol 23mg
  • Iron 4.5mg
  • Sodium 581mg
  • Calcium 68mg

How to Make It

Step 1

Cook bacon in a Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; finely chop. Remove 1 tablespoon drippings from pan; set aside. Increase heat to medium-high. Add 1 cup onion to remaining drippings in pan; sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add stock, 1 1/2 cups water, salt, pepper, and peas to pan; bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer 35 minutes or until peas are tender, stirring occasionally.

Step 2

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, green onions, cornmeal, and baking soda, stirring with a whisk. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add bacon, reserved 1 tablespoon drippings, and buttermilk; stir until a moist dough forms.

Step 3

With moist hands, gently divide mixture into 12 equal portions. Drop dumplings, 1 at a time, into pan; cover and cook 8 minutes or until dumplings are done, stirring occasionally. Serve with hot sauce, if desired.

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Ratings & Reviews

Dorseyl's Review

Frecklehand
January 02, 2015
I make these a few times every winter and have come to realize what takes it from meh to amazing is not taking short cuts. Use good bacon, cook your beans from scratch and season it well and this dish is really really great. As other reviewers have mentioned, yes the liquid does get soaked up pretty quickly, but if you just add a slash of broth when you reheat the leftovers it fixes everything right up.

brighteyes8's Review

KathleenLee
January 01, 2014
AMAZING. Made no changes, except I doubled the bacon because I had thin slices, and I used powdered buttermilk substitute for the buttermilk. I needed all four srips to get to 1 T. of drippings. Was concerned that not adding salt to the dumplings would make them bland, but they were plenty salty and flavorful with the bacon added. Hot sauce -- we used Cholulua -- was a nice addition. Run, do not walk, to try this.

BeckiSue's Review

Dorseyl
February 11, 2013
Very tasty, especially the dumplings! I served the suggested collard greens right in the bowl with the peas and dumplings. Perfect healthy meal. I did not stir the dumplings once I dropped them into the broth. Will be making again.

bjane1's Review

bjane1
January 22, 2013
This was yummy! My husband raved as he filled a second bowlful. I added the bacon to the bean, used whole wheat pastry flour for half of the flour, and did not stir the dumplings. Served with steamed spinach.

Judi's review

Kaiserin
January 07, 2017
This is our favorite New Year's Day recipe....however I do add a good sized ham hock and cook for about an hour or two before adding the peas so the meat falls off the bone, if not then remove the hock and remove the meat, put meat back into peas before adding dumplings....makes a good winter dish.

Barkly's Review

benamyphillips
January 01, 2015
Didn't stir the dumplings but did stir in a chiffonade of greens (ant 1 1/2 c.) just before adding dumplings. Absolutely delicious and definitely not bland. The simplicity allowed the full flavor of my Florida zipper peas to shine through.

mollydollyk's Review

ald0ra
March 21, 2014
N/A

KathleenLee's Review

laceyinkeller
December 17, 2013
N/A

benamyphillips's Review

Barkly
January 18, 2013
N/A

Frecklehand's Review

mollydollyk
January 12, 2013
My family loved this. I'm not sure if I let it simmer too long with the dumplings or if I had the heat too high, but a lot of the liquid evaporated and it was a little dry. I added more stock to the leftovers.