Instant Pot Field Peas and Snaps. Southern style dried field peas with smoked sausage and snapped green beans, ready in under an hour thanks to pressure cooking.
I've gone bean box crazy. I subscribed to the Camellia Bean Krewe box, and now I'm getting even more beans to pressure cook. The latest box had field peas in it. Here's how I cook them up, with a New Orleans accent.
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(No, I'm not from New Orleans. I'm about as far away as you can get without winding up in Canada. These are still great Field Peas, though.)
This recipe is similar to my Instant Pot Cajun Pinto Beans recipe, but field peas cook like my Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas recipe, and don't need any soaking.
🥫Ingredients
- Dried Field Peas
- Smoked sausage (smoked andouille sausage if you can find it)
- Onion
- Garlic
- Fine sea salt
- Red pepper flakes
- Water or chicken broth or ham broth
- Fresh green beans
- Fresh ground black pepper
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to make Instant Pot Field Peas and Snaps
- Sort and rinse 1 pound of dried field peas
- Put the sorted and rinsed field peas in an Instant Pot (or another pressure cooker), and add about a pound of sliced smoked sausage, one chopped onion, three smashed cloves of garlic, 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt, and ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper. Stir in 5 cups of water or broth.
- Lock the lid and pressure cook for 10 minutes. Quick release the pressure.
- Remove the lid, and set the pot to sauté mode adjusted to high. Stir in a half pound of snapped fresh green beans, and simmer until the green beans are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in ½ teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper and serve.
What are field peas?
Field peas are technically beans, a variety of cowpea, and a cousin of black-eyed peas. According to Southern Living magazine, They got the name "field peas" because they are grown as a rotational crop in fields. Planting field peas helps improve the nutrients and the soil in the field, so when they are rotated out, the field is ready for the next crop.
Why "Snaps"?
The snaps were originally the green pods from the field peas, snapped and added in with the peas as they cooked. Since this recipe uses dried field peas, I don't have the snapped pods, so I'm using the common substitute of snapped green beans.
📏Scaling
This recipe scales down easily - cut everything in half if you have a 3-quart pressure cooker, or just want less of the recipe. Scaling up runs into space issues; if you have an 8-quart pressure cooker, or larger, you can double this recipe, but it's too much to fit in a 6-quart pressure cooker.
Soaking Field Peas
I don't bother soaking dried field peas. They cook for about 15 minutes under pressure (I pressure cook for 12 minutes in this recipe because of the stop-start quick pressure release to add the green beans.) If you soak them, cut the time under pressure back to about 6 minutes.
Sorting Beans
Beans are an agricultural product, and stuff tends to creep in when they are processed. Beans should always be sorted and rinsed before cooking to eliminate twigs, stones, clumps of dirt, or broken beans.
To sort the beans, I pour them out on one side of a rimmed baking sheet (a half-sheet pan), to keep the beans from escaping. Then I slowly run my fingers through the pile of beans, pulling them towards me on the sheet. I watch the beans as they move, looking for anything that doesn't seem right. If I see something, I poke around in the beans until I find what caught my eye and discard it. I repeat this a couple of times, until I'm satisfied everything is out of the beans.
Then I dump the beans into a fine mesh strainer and rinse them under cold running water to wash off any dirt or dust still on the beans.
Now the beans are sorted, rinsed, and ready for soaking or cooking.
Substitutions
Field Pea substitutes
If you can't find dried field peas, dried black-eyed peas are a great substitute in this recipe. To cook the bigger black-eyed peas through, increase the cooking time to 15 minutes at high pressure.
Can I use fresh or frozen field peas in this recipe?
Not really. This recipe is for dried field peas; fresh or frozen field peas cook much quicker and won't stand up to pressure cooking.
Smoked Sausage Substitutions
I recommend a Cajun smoked sausage (preferably Andouille) in this recipe, but any smoked pork or ham product will work. A smoked ham hock, bacon, salt pork, diced ham, or a leftover ham bone. (Or whatever leftover pork you have).
Use broth instead of water
If you want a richer bowl of Field Peas, use broth as your liquid instead of water. Instant Pot Ham Broth matches the flavor of the recipe perfectly, and Instant Pot Chicken Broth tastes good in it too. If you have store-bought broth, you can use it, but cut back on the salt in the recipe. I reduce the salt added with the beans and water to ½ teaspoon if I'm using store-bought broth.
Cut the heat
The half teaspoon of red pepper flakes adds some kick to this recipe. You can skip them if you want.
Vegetarian version
Skip the smoked sausage, substitute a tablespoon of oil for the butter, and use water or vegetable broth, and you have a vegetarian or vegan recipe.
☃️ Storage
I portion leftover Field Peas and Snaps into 2-cup containers, which will last in the refrigerator for a few days or up to 6 months in the freezer.
What to serve with Field Peas and Snaps
This recipe is on the border between a hearty side dish and a meal. I would eat it with cornbread and [collard greens] (https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/pressure-cooker-collard-greens-with-bacon/), especially on New Year's Day for good luck. They also make a complete meal if served with rice.
Inspired by: Field Peas & Snap Beans : Recipes : Camellia Brand
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Instant Pot Field Peas and Snaps
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10 cups of field peas and snaps 1x
Description
Instant Pot Field Peas and Snaps. Southern style dried field peas with smoked sausage and snapped green beans, ready in under an hour thanks to pressure cooking.
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried Field Peas, sorted and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 12- to 16-ounces of smoked sausage, sliced about ½-inch thick
- One medium-large onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 5 cups water (or chicken broth or ham broth)
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
- 4- to 8-ounces of fresh green beans, cut into 1½-inch lengths
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Sort and rinse the field peas: Sort the dried field peas, removing any broken beans, stones, and dirt clods. Rinse the peas in a fine mesh strainer.
- Saute the sausage, aromatics, and spices: Melt the butter in an Instant Pot set to Sauté mode adjusted to high (or a stovetop pressure cooker pot over medium-high heat). Add the smoked sausage, onion, and garlic, and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes. Sauté, stirring often, until the onions soften and start to brown around the edges, about 8 minutes.
- Pressure cook the field peas for 12 minutes with a Quick Release: Pour the sorted and rinsed field peas into the pressure cooker, pour in the 5 cups of water, and stir in 1½ teaspoons of salt. Lock the lid on the pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 12 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric PC (Use Manual or Pressure Cook mode in an Instant Pot, set for 12 minutes) or for 10 minutes in a stovetop PC. Quick release the pressure. Remove the lid carefully, opening it away from you – even when it's not under pressure, the steam in the cooker is hot.
- Pressure cook the green beans for 1 minute with a Quick Release: Add the green beans to the pressure cooker pot. Lock the lid on the pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 1 minute (Use Manual or Pressure Cook mode in an Instant Pot, set for 1 minute). Quick release the pressure. Remove the lid carefully (again).
- Serve: Stir ½ teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper into the pot of field peas and snaps, serve, and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Weeknight Dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
🤝 Related Posts
Instant Pot Black-Eyed Peas and Collard Greens
Instant Pot Beef and Black-Eyed Pea Stew
Instant Pot Pork and Black-Eyed Pea Chili
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes
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Stephanie
We've made this repeatedly and the whole family loves it. Thank you for another great recipe!
Monica L
Looks delicious!
Mike Vrobel
Thank you!