Black Eyed Pea Salad (Mediterranean style)

Name: Black Eyed Pea Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 1+1/2 cup cooked black eyed peas; 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped; 3 green onions, finely chopped; ½ cup parsley, chopped; ½ cup fresh dill, chopped; 1 small cucumber, chopped; 1 medium sized tomato, diced; 1 lemon, squeezed; 1 tablespoon vinegar; 3 tablespoon olive oil; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon sumac

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This cold black eyed pea salad is extremely easy to make and can be whipped up in less than 10 minutes. You should only use the freshest ingredients to create a beautifully balanced bitter and sweet flavor profile. And, what’s even better is that you can easily adapt the flavors to your liking.

Salads are a quick, easy and very healthy lunch and dinner option. We love legume salads like this and shared several of them here. Check out Turkish piyaz, chickpea tuna salad and curried chickpea salad too.

Black eyed pea salad in a white bowl with a spoon inside it.

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What are black eyed peas?
Ingredients
How to make
Alternative Add-Ins
How to Store
FAQs
More Vegan Salad Recipes
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What are black eyed peas?

Black eyed peas or black eyed beans are a type of legume, more specifically a bean. The more common commercial black eyed pea you will find is a California Blackeye.

These peas are a pale off-white, almost cream, color with a very prominent black spot – sometimes this spot can also be brown, red, pink, or green depending on the variety, but these aren’t as common.

Each pod ranges between 3-6 inches (7-15 cm) and contains between 6-13 oval and slightly curved peas.

The peas are fresh when harvested and have a very green color to them. Once processed the color changes. Black eyed peas are most often canned or dried, both helping to extend their shelf life.

Ingredients

This black eyed pea salad recipe only needs a few very simple ingredients. When combined in the correct ratios, they create a fantastic and refreshing flavor profile!

Black eyed peas in a white bowl in the middle and green onions, fresh dill and parsley, lemon, onion, cucumber, tomato, vinegar, salt and sumac around it on a dark background.

For the salad, our hero ingredient is of course the black eyed peas. To save yourself some time, use pre-cooked black eyed peas. If you have dried black eyed peas on hand, you had better soak them overnight and cook until tender.

For the rest of the salad, we only need some chopped onions to add bitter-sweet flavors, cucumber to add some freshness, and finally, some freshly chopped herbs like parsley and dill.

The salad dressing we are using is also very simplistic and helps enhance the natural flavors of the salad ingredients. Combine some lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, and season it with salt and sumac. We use apple vinegar, but you can use whichever vinegar you like.

We love using sumac in our salads, it gives an amazing tangy flavor. If it is new to you, check out our sumac onions salad and shepherd salad too!

How to make

This is an incredibly quick and easy cold black eyed pea salad recipe that is both healthy and filling!

Finely chopped onion, green onion, herbs, tomato and cooked black eyed peas in a white bowl.

First, make the salad. Combine all of the ingredients for the salad and mix them together well.

Salad dressing in a white bowl and a spoon inside it.

Second, make the dressing. Add all of the salad dressing ingredients together and whisk them to combine.

A hand pouring salad dressing over black eyed pea salad with a spoon.

Pour the dressing over the salad, toss to combine all the ingredients, and serve while still cold.

Alternative Add-Ins

To make this salad meatier, you can add in virtually any type of cured meat like cooked bacon bits, salami, or chorizo.

You can add some crunchy texture to your black eyed pea salad with a seed mix or some chopped nuts.

What we love most about this salad is its simplicity, however, you can add a ton of different salad ingredients to it to create more complex flavors. Some ideas are fresh apple slices, some nectarines, some bell peppers, or simply some feta cheese.

How to Store

To store this salad, we would recommend keeping the dressing and salad ingredients separately. The dressing can be combined and stored inside a jar. Keep the jar in the refrigerator for up to a week. When you are ready to use it again, simply shake the jar to combine the ingredients again, and serve.

For the salad, keep it inside an airtight container. This will help keep the ingredients fresh for as long as possible. Store it inside the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

It is important to use only the freshest ingredients possible to make them last longer once they have been cut.

A spoon pouring salad dressing over the salad in a white bowl.

FAQs

How long do you soak dried uncooked black eyed peas?

If you aren’t using canned black eyed peas, you will need to soak your dried ones to help them rehydrate and make them edible.
To do this, simply place them in a bowl of water, cover the bowl, and keep them in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or even better, overnight. Then they cook easier.

What can I add to black eyed pea salad for flavor?

You can add some chopped herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage, or even aromatics like garlic and ginger.

What is a substitute for black eyed peas?

Chickpeas would be the best substitute as everyone is familiar with them and they are very easy to find.
Alternatively, you can use lima beans aka butter beans or romano beans too. These have very similar flavor profiles, textures, and preparation methods.

Are black beans the same as black eyed peas?

Black eyed peas and black beans are not the same bean. They are both legumes and members of the same botanical family, but that is where the resemblance stops.
Black beans are completely black (or dark purple) and have a tiny white spot in the middle. They also have a much more oval-like shape.

Black eyed pea salad in a white dish and lemon salad dressing in a small bowl next to it.

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