This recipe is proof that soup is a perfect food to slow cook. The low and slow cooking softens up the ham hock and infuses the black-eyed peas with loads of flavor, without turning them to mush. And after it’s finished its flavoring duties, that ham hock still has more to give your soup. The meat that’s clinging to the hock gets chopped into bits and added back in for a toothsome texture and heartiness that’ll satisfy the whole family. So next time you need a set-it-and-forget-it family dinner, you know what to do.
More About This Recipe
- Peasant food, cucina povera, whatever you want to call it, this soup descends from a cooking tradition that focuses on maximizing the flavor of humble ingredients. With little more than beans and a ham hock, which is more bone than meat, it’s almost confounding that this soup turns out so delicious. The slow cooking certainly contributes, simply by allowing time and heat to extract as much flavor as possible from the ham hock. Not that this couldn’t be done with stovetop cooking, but who wants to stand over the stove when you could leave this cooking all day and come home to dinner?
Slow-Cooker Ham and Black-Eyed Pea Soup
- Prep Time 25 min
- Total 7 hr 25 min
- Servings 6
- Ingredients 10
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- 2 medium stalks celery, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 carton (32 oz) Progresso™ reduced sodium chicken broth
- 3 cans (15.8 oz each) black-eyed peas, drained, rinsed
- 1 smoked ham hock or shank
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
Make With
Progresso Broth
Instructions
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Step1Spray 5-quart slow cooker with cooking spray.
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Step2In 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery; cook and stir 5 to 6 minutes or until vegetables soften. Add garlic and thyme; cook and stir 1 minute. Transfer to slow cooker.
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Step3Add broth, black-eyed peas and ham hock to slow cooker.
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Step4Cover; cook on Low heat setting 7 to 8 hours or until meat on ham hock is tender and easily separated from bone.
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Step5Remove ham hock. Remove ham from bone; discard bone. Shred ham; return to slow cooker, and stir.
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Step6Skim off any excess fat from top of soup. Add parsley, and serve.
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Nutrition
260
Calories
4g
Total Fat
16g
Protein
39g
Total Carbohydrate
3g
Sugars
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: About 1 1/2 Cups
- Calories
- 260
- Calories from Fat
- 35
- Total Fat
- 4g
- 6%
- Saturated Fat
- 1g
- 4%
- Trans Fat
- 0g
- Cholesterol
- 10mg
- 3%
- Sodium
- 850mg
- 35%
- Potassium
- 610mg
- 17%
- Total Carbohydrate
- 39g
- 13%
- Dietary Fiber
- 9g
- 35%
- Sugars
- 3g
- Protein
- 16g
% Daily Value*:
- Vitamin A
- 70%
- 70%
- Vitamin C
- 4%
- 4%
- Calcium
- 6%
- 6%
- Iron
- 25%
- 25%
Exchanges:
2 Starch; 0 Fruit; 0 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 1 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 1/2 Fat;Carbohydrate Choice
2 1/2Tips from the Betty Crocker Kitchens
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