Carla Hall’s Simple Black-Eyed Pea Salad Is Sure to Bring You Luck
Carla Hall and her Black-Eyed Pea Salad
It is a time-honored tradition in the South to serve black-eyed peas on New Year's, and with good reason. The tiny, creamy beans are thought to bring prosperity and good luck. And there's no better way to showcase black-eyed peas than with a recipe by famed chef Carla Hall of Top Chef and The Chew fame. (You can also catch Hall on the small screen in February when her new show, Chasing Flavor, debuts on Max.)
In addition to being delicious and potentially lucky, black-eyed peas are full of fiber, vitamins and minerals, making a bowl of them a great way to kick 2024 off on a healthy note. When I was looking around for a simple black-eyed pea recipe I ran across Hall making a simple fresh black-eyed pea salad on the Rachael Ray Show. It looked so fresh and delicious that I knew I had to give it a shot in my home kitchen. Here's how it went.
Get the recipe: Carla Hall's Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Hot Sauce Vinaigrette
Ingredients for Carla Hall’s Black-Eyed Pea Salad
For this salad, you're going to need canned black-eyed peas (also called cowpeas or field peas), garlic, apple cider vinegar, yellow mustard, hot sauce, honey, salt and pepper, vegetable oil, mini cucumbers, onion, dill and cherry or grape tomatoes.
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Related: Here's What Happens to Your Body if You Eat a Salad Every Day
How to make Carla Hall’s Black-Eyed Pea Salad
This recipe is amazing not only because it's delicious and keeps well, but because you can make everything in one bowl. First, whisk the garlic, vinegar, mustard, hot sauce, honey, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add the oil in a steady stream, whisking until the dressing is smooth. Add the drained black-eyed peas, chopped cucumber, onion, tomatoes and dill. Season to taste and serve. Carla says you can let this sit out for an hour so the flavors develop or you can make it ahead and serve it the next day.
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Related: 30 Festive Christmas Salads That Are Perfect for the Holiday Season
What I thought of Carla Hall’s Black-Eyed Pea Salad
After so many heavy holiday meals, this fresh dish brought me back to life. The beans are creamy and light, with a pleasant punch from the vinegar and a sweetness from the honey. Don't skip the fresh herbs—the added touch of dill balanced out the tangy sweetness and brought in a depth of fresh flavor that's so needed during these cold winter months. This was a filling salad too—the beans pack a protein punch of about 7 grams for every half cup.
I loved that this salad can also complement nearly any protein. It would be great with grilled salmon, a thick pork chop or even a simple hot dog. Carla's Hot Fried Chicken would also be a fantastic pairing. It's also a cheap salad to make (less than $10 for all the ingredients) and it's easy to find the ingredients year-round so it's versatile enough for a winter holiday gathering or a sunny summer cookout.
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Tips for making Carla Hall’s Black-Eyed Pea Salad
Get creative with substitutions. This salad is delicious as-is, but it's also an easy recipe to adjust to your tastes (or adjust based on what you have in your kitchen). Chipotle hot sauce, parsley in place of dill or adding some hot honey would all change the flavor profile slightly while sticking to Carla's main recipe flavors. I could even see scooping this up with some crunchy tortilla chips as an appetizer.
Make the hard part easy. Cutting up the pint of cherry or grape tomatoes is really the toughest part of this salad. Make it easy on yourself by grabbing two plastic pint container lids and a serrated knife and trying out an easy hack (see video below) to make your kitchen life a little easier.
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