Old Fashioned Turnip Green Soup with Black Eyed Peas

5 from 4 votes

Old-fashioned turnip green soup with black eyed peas, vegetables, and a smoked ham hock or other smoked meat. It can also be made as a mustard or collard greens soup. Serves 6

Prep Time15

Cook Time2 15

Total Time2 30

Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: swamp soup, turnip green soup recipe

Servings: servings

Calories: 300kcal

Author: Alan Bergo

Cost: 5

Equipment

1 large soup pot or slow cooker

Ingredients

Broth

1 smoked ham hock, around 1-1.5 lbs or a smoked turkey leg, smoked bones, etc
12 cups water or more to cover
1 small onion halved
1 bay leaf

Soup

1 small leek washed and diced ½ inch
1 small yellow onion diced ½ inch
2 ribs of celery diced ½ inch
3 large cloves garlic finely chopped
4 tablespoons of cooking olive oil or bacon grease separated
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 small russet potato (3 oz) peeled and diced ½ inch
1 bunch (12oz) turnip greens you can add up to 1 lb of greens
¾ cup dried black eyed peas great northern beans or white beans
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh roughly chopped
8 oz sliced andouille sausage optional
8 cups chicken broth or smoked meat stock

Method

Hot pepper vinegar
3 oz very hot peppers
2 cups white wine vinegar

Instructions

Turnip greens

Trim an inch from the bottom of the turnip greens, then lay the greens out and cut vertically into ⅓rds. Cut the leaves into roughly 1 inch cubes, cut the stems into ½ inch slices. Soak the greens in water for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. Remove the greens (don’t dump them) into a colander and reserve.

Broth

Combine the ham hock or other smoked meat, onion and bay leaf with water to cover. Cover, bring to a simmer on high heat, then turn down to low-medium heat and simmer gently for 2 hours. Strain the stock and cool.
Reserve 8 cups of broth for the soup. Extra broth can be used to make a larger batch or thin the soup if it gets too thick.
Cool the meat until you can handle it. Remove the meat from the bone, put in a covered container and chill so it holds its shape, then dice into small pieces and reserve.
If using dried black eyed peas, cover them with 2 inches of cold water and allow to soak for an hour.

Soup

In a 1.5 gallon soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, sweat the onion, celery, garlic and leek in half of the oil, cooking slowly, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.
If using sausage, cut it into slices and brown it quickly in a pan before adding to the pot.
Add the tomato pasta and remaining oil, stir and cook 2 minutes more. Add the sausage if using, and remaining ingredients except the cooked meat, bring to a simmer, turn the heat to low and simmer gently with the lid ajar for 2 hours.
During the last 20 minutes of cooking, add the reserved meat just to heat though. Taste the soup and adjust the salt until it tastes good to you. It’s nothing for me to taste and season a soup 2-3 times.
The liquid should've reduced and the soup should be thickened slightly. If it isn't, reduce it a little longer.

Serving

Serve the soup with hot pepper vinegar on the side.
Like most soups the flavor is better the day after it's made. You can double the recipe easily and turnip green soup freezes well.

Video

Notes

Hot Pepper Vinegar Sauce

Ingredients

4 oz very hot peppers
2 cups white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt

Method

Cut the stems from the peppers with a scissors and combine in a jar with the salt and vinegar. Shake the jar and leave for a week, then strain. The vinegar will be usable withing 24 hours.

Nutrition