RECIPES / LOUISIANA CLASSICS
Patchez’s Hoppin’ John
Black-eyed peas simmered two hours with smoked sausage and a ham hock, served over long grain white rice. Patchez's own pot, and the greens at the end are for luck.
BY PATCHEZ KENNEDY
CO-FOUNDER AT 4SISTERS / SEPTEMBER 3, 2026
PREP
20 min
COOK
2 hr 30 min
SERVES
8 to 10
RICE
White
The Pot That Buys You a Good Year
Hoppin' John is what a lot of Southern families eat on New Year's Day, and the superstition is specific. The black-eyed peas are coins, the greens are folding money, and eating them on the first of January is supposed to settle the next twelve months in your favour.
That is why the last line of this recipe tells you to add a few handfuls of fresh spinach in the final ten minutes. It is not a nutrition note. It is the greens, and it is the other half of the tradition.
This is Patchez's pot, and it cooks the way a Louisiana pot cooks: sausage browned first so the bottom of the stock pot picks up flavour, the seasoning blend of onion, celery and bell peppers softened in that fat, then peas, water and a long partly covered simmer. Two hours, stirred often, topped up with water if the beans are still firm.
The rice is cooked separately and the peas go over it, which is the correct order for this dish. We use our Organic White Rice because long grain stays fluffy and separate under a wet, rich pot instead of joining in.
TIP FROM THE FARM
Her instruction to soak the peas while the sausage and onion blend cook is a real time saver, not a formality. The soak starts the peas softening during the twenty minutes you were going to spend at the stove anyway.
• 1 cup 4Sisters White rice, cooked according to package directions
• 2 cups smoked sausage, diced, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 whole ham hock, for flavor
• 1 pkg. frozen seasonings blend, or 2 cups chopped yellow onion, celery, red & green bell peppers
• 1 pkg. dry black-eyed peas, rinse & soak in water while sautéing meat and onion blend
• 2 tbsps. minced fresh garlic
• 3 beef bouillon cubes or 3 tbsps. Better Than Bouillon® paste
• 12 cups water
• 3 bay leaves, remove after cooking
• 2 tbsps. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp. onion powder
• 1 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 tbsp. paprika
• 2 tsps. Cavender’s™ seasoning
• 2 tsps. salt
• 2 tsps. black pepper
Directions
1. Sauté the sausage in a large stock pot until browned, scraping up the good stuff into the meat as you go.
2. Once meat is browned, add the seasoning blend of onions, celery and bell peppers & cook until tender. I like to crumble the bouillon cubes into this onion mixture and add the garlic at this time, too.
3. Once vegetables are tender, drain the black-eyed peas from their soak & add to the meat and onion mixture.
4. Add 12 cups of water to the pot, bay leaves & all other seasonings. Bring to a full rolling boil.
5. Reduce heat to medium to medium low, partially cover & cook about 2 hours, stirring often. Add more water, as needed, if beans are not tender and water has evaporated too much.
6. Remove bay leaves & ham hock. Serve black-eyed peas over the cooked rice.
7. Enjoy!
Serves about 8-10
*Add a few handfuls of fresh spinach the last 10 minutes for something green & good luck!
Scrape the bottom of the pot as the sausage browns. Everything stuck down there is flavour, and it is the reason this is cooked in one pot.
Serving It
Rice in the bowl first, peas ladled over. Not stirred together in the pot. Keeping them separate until the bowl is what lets the rice stay distinct under all that liquid, and it is how it is served across south Louisiana.
Cornbread on the table, hot sauce and a cruet of vinegar beside it. A splash of cider vinegar over a bowl of black-eyed peas does the same job a squeeze of lemon does for a rich soup, and most people who grew up with this dish reach for it without being told.
It is better the next day, which is the usual reward for a two hour pot. The peas keep absorbing the seasoning overnight. Cook the rice fresh when you reheat it rather than storing them together.
Questions We Get
Do I have to soak the peas?
Her recipe soaks them while the sausage and vegetables cook, which is roughly twenty minutes and is enough to help. A longer soak, even overnight, shortens the simmer and helps them cook evenly. Dried black-eyed peas are more forgiving than most beans, so a short soak is genuinely fine here.
Can I make it without the ham hock?
You can, and the recipe already notes the hock is there for flavour. Without it the pot is leaner and less smoky, so lean on the smoked sausage and consider a little extra paprika. A smoked turkey wing is the substitution we would reach for first.
What is Cavender's?
Cavender's Greek Seasoning, a salt and herb blend from Arkansas that has been in Southern pantries since the 1960s. It is in most American groceries near the spices. If you cannot find it, a mix of oregano, black pepper, garlic powder and a little salt covers most of what it does.
Is Hoppin' John supposed to be soupy?
It sits somewhere between a stew and a bean pot, and the twelve cups of water plus a partly covered two hour simmer are what produce that. If yours is looser than you want, take the lid fully off for the last half hour. If it tightens too much, her recipe already tells you to add more water as needed.
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