New Year’s Day Black-Eyed Pea Casserole

This New Year’s Day black-eyed pea casserole is perfect for welcoming in the new year with some of the traditional good-luck foods! This easy casserole is packed with flavor and will surely be a new favorite you’ll want to enjoy all year long!

Happy holidays, my friends!

We've been enjoying the hustle and bustle of December these last couple weeks. Well, mostly the time with friends and family and all the festive food and drinks.

Today though I’m getting a little ahead of myself and bringing you another New Year’s Day favorite.

I grew up in North Carolina and we believe in getting in your traditional good luck New Year’s Day foods on January 1. That makes it a foodie holiday of sorts to me!

There are certain foods you are supposed to eat to ensure a happy and prosperous year.

Pork (such as ham or bacon) symbolizes wealth and prosperity, black-eyed peas resemble small coins, and greens, especially collard greens where I'm from, are meant to represent green paper money.

(Cornbread is a bonus in my family and the golden color and golden nuggets of corn are supposed to ensure a year of financial success.)

And I love those flavors so much that I just keep coming up with new ways to enjoy them!

This New Year’s Day black-eyed pea casserole is loaded with chicken, black-eyed peas and collards, as well as brown rice and bacon, for a hearty delicious casserole with tons of flavor!

(And tons of Southern favorites!)

It's topped with cheddar cheese and served with cooked, crumbled bacon to really bring it home.

(We also love some sliced green onions and hot sauce to go with ours when serving!)

You can make this to serve with ham and cornbread for a meal that ticks all the boxes for good luck New Year’s foods.

Or, I often add cooked chicken right into this casserole and just call it an all-in-one meal. (Perfect for the day after New Year's Eve, if you know what I mean...)

And on a day like New Year’s, I feel like you can serve this type of dish for brunch or dinner. Time is just off so eat whatever whenever!

Just add mimosas, a poinsettia cocktail, bloody Mary’s, champagne brunch punch or your favorite cocktail!

OK, let's get cooking.

Now, I’ve got some notes, tips and substitutions coming up below on how to make this black eyed pea casserole. Just tryin’ to be helpful.

If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.

Ingredient Notes:

• Bacon: I use and recommend regular bacon - and I prefer a thick-cut bacon - but you could substitute a vegetarian bacon if you want to make this vegetarian-friendly. Alternatively, you could skip the bacon and use olive oil or butter to sauté the onions.
• Rice: I use and prefer brown rice, but white rice would be fine here, too. Either way, cook according to the package directions but reduce by 1-2 minutes since it will continue cooking in the oven.
• Collards: I julienne cut my collard greens, after they’ve been washed and trimmed, which is why they cook so quickly. (See picture above to see what I mean or check out my quick Southern collard greens post for more details and a how-to video.)
• Chicken: You can use leftover roast chicken or a rotisserie chicken for this recipe. Or you can substitute ham if you have some. You could also skip the chicken entirely, but I like that it adds some heft and protein.
• Black-eyed peas: You need 2 cans for this recipe and they should be drained and rinsed. You could also make your own black-eyed peas if you prefer.
• Cheese: We always go with sharp white cheddar cheese but a regular cheddar would work fine, too.

Lots of ways to make this work for you.

OK, let's tackle a few other tips and tricks I've learned along the way. (I've made this A LOT over the years.)

Recipe Notes:

• Make ahead: You can prep this casserole entirely ahead of time if you want. Cover and refrigerate then just bake it when you’re ready to eat, adding 5-10 minutes as needed to get the casserole completely cooked and hot.
• Time saver: You can also make this go faster by working as you are cooking. While the bacon sautés, chop the onion and garlic and gather the ingredients. Then, as the rice is cooking, prepare the collards, drain the black-eyed peas and shred the cheese.
• Casserole: This fits well into a 9x13 casserole dish but you can also use an 8x12 (like I did for these photos).
• Leftovers: Once cooled, leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator in a covered container for up to 4-5 days. Reheat in individual servings in the microwave until hot.

Oh and here are some of my other go-to New Year’s Day recipes:

• Southern New Year's Day dinner skillet
• Black-eyed peas burgers
• Quick Southern collard greens with bacon

Whatever the time of year, I hope you love this New Year’s Day black-eyed pea casserole for a delicious taste of some of our Southern favorites!

Enjoy!

XO,

Kathryn

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4.70 from 10 votes

New Year’s Day Black-Eyed Pea Casserole

This black-eyed pea casserole is perfect for welcoming in the new year with some of the traditional good-luck foods!

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Yield: 6 -8 servings

1x2x3x

Cook Mode

Ingredients

• 4-5 slices bacon, I use thick-cut
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 ½ cups brown rice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne, optional
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus extra for casserole, if needed
• 2 cups cooked, chopped chicken (optional; see notes)
• 4 cups collard greens, stems removed and thinly sliced
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

For serving:

• ¼ cup sliced green onions

Instructions

• Heat a large skillet over medium heat and sauté the bacon. (I suggest adding as many pieces as you can fit in your pan. You can cut them in half if you need to.)
• Once the bacon is cooked through and crispy, remove to a paper towel, leaving the bacon grease in the pan. When cool enough, crumble the bacon and save for topping the casserole.
• Add the chopped onion to the pan with the bacon grease and sauté until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 30 seconds.
• Add rice, salt, pepper and cayenne (if using) and stir to make sure the rice gets coated in the oils. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.
• Cover, reduce heat and cook until the rice is mostly tender and the liquid is almost absorbed. (I usually take off about 2 minutes from my regular rice cook time.)
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 and spray a 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray.
• Uncover the pot, stir in the sliced collard greens with the rice and then cover the pot, turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes. (This helps soften the collards.)
• Transfer rice and collard mixture to a large bowl and stir in the chicken, black-eyed peas and 1 cup of the cheddar cheese. If your mixture seems dry, add an extra ¼ cup chicken broth.
• Transfer to the prepared casserole dish and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining cup of cheddar cheese and bake for another 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted.
• Serve hot with the reserved crumbled bacon, green onions and hot sauce. Enjoy!

Notes

Bacon: I use and recommend regular bacon - and I prefer a thick-cut bacon - but you could substitute a vegetarian bacon if you want to make this vegetarian-friendly. Alternatively, you could skip the bacon and use olive oil or butter to sauté the onions.

Rice: I use and prefer brown rice, but white rice would be fine here, too. Either way, cook according to the package directions but reduce by 1-2 minutes since it will continue cooking in the oven.

Collards: I julienne cut my collard greens, after they’ve been washed and trimmed, which is why they cook so quickly. (See picture above to see what I mean or check out my quick Southern collard greens post for more details and a how-to video.)

Chicken: You can use leftover roast chicken or a rotisserie chicken for this recipe but the chicken needs to be already cooked. Or you can substitute ham if you prefer. You could also skip the chicken entirely, which is how I made this originally, but I like that it adds some heft and protein.

Black-eyed peas: You need 2 cans for this recipe and they should be drained and rinsed. You could also make your own black-eyed peas if you prefer.

Cheese: We always go with sharp white cheddar cheese but a regular cheddar would work fine, too.

Make ahead: You can prep this casserole entirely ahead of time if you want. Cover and refrigerate then just bake it when you’re ready to eat, adding 5-10 minutes as needed to get the casserole completely cooked and hot.

Time saver: You can also make this go faster by working as you are cooking. While the bacon sautés, chop the onion and garlic and gather the ingredients. Then, as the rice is cooking, prepare the collards, drain the black-eyed peas and shred the cheese.

Casserole: This fits well into a 9x13 casserole dish but you can also use an 8x12 (like I did for these photos).

Leftovers: Once cooled, leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator in a covered container for up to 4-5 days. Reheat in individual servings in the microwave until hot.

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 339kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 67mg | Sodium: 505mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 2g

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