One Pot Southern Hoppin John

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A traditional Southern dish usually served on New Year's day, this One Pot Hoppin John is delicious, and a real comfort bowl of food.

Okay, I know it's not New Year's day or anywhere near that time of year, but with some cured pork to use up and a tin of black eye peas in my pantry. Hoppin John just seemed like the perfect dish.

Black-eyed peas and this dish Hoppin John is popular in the Southern States of the USA served on New Year's day, where Black-eye peas are believed to bring good luck for the coming year.  Whether you believe in the superstition or not, it's a definite dish to try. I am by no means an expert on the tradition of this dish and you will find various different explanations to what Hoppin John actually means.

You will also find a huge amount of different recipes for this dish, but the typical ingredients, of course, are those black-eyed peas and rice. Some recipes cooking the rice separately, some using different types of rice, some use a ham hock or bacon, but me I like to keep things simple and a one-pot dish with limited washing up afterwards is always a popular choice for me.

For the meat part to this dish, I used a joint of cured pork, which I diced up, but you really can use any kind of cured meat, like ham, bacon, or even gammon. I'm not sure how popular black-eyed peas are in other parts of the word, and traditionally Hoppin John uses those, but if you can't get them, feel free to replace with another white bean of your choosing. You can use a dried bean and soak overnight if you prefer, but again keeping things simple, I had a can in the pantry and so that was what I used.

A Southern Style dish just would not be complete without a little bit of heat, and so for this recipe, I added my own blend of Cajun Spice, which was perfect.

The last addition was some sweet potato. Traditionally you won't find this in Hoppin John, but I often will add my own twist to things, especially if I have something that needs to be used up, and I love sweet potato, so it seemed like a perfect addition and it was. It balances out the heat with a little natural sweetness. Perfect!!

You will notice I use olive oil in this recipe, yes I know you could make this healthy by using spray oil, but sometimes recipes just need the oil and you won't get the same browning on the pork using cooking oil spray. This recipe serves 4 people, so although I use a tablespoon of oil, when divided into portions. Worth it in my opinion.

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If you love one-pot dishes, check out some of these other recipes:

• One Pot Campfire Stew
• One Pot Creamy Yellow Zucchini Pasta
• One Pot New Orleans Cajun Pasta
• One Pot Creamy Cheesy Leek Pasta
• One Pot Cheeseburger Pasta
• One Pot Marmite Macaroni and Cheese
• One Pot Beef Fajita Pasta
• One Pot Shrimp Pasta

or head on over to my FULL RECIPE INDEX for over 700+ delicious Slimming Eats Recipes

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HOW CAN I ADD VEGETABLES TO THIS COMFORTING BOWL OF HOPPIN JOHN?

There are already peppers, onion and celery in this dish, you could also swap the sweet potato for cubes of butternut squash or serve with a side of vegetables of your choice to increase the vegetables and keep you well satiated.

WHAT KITCHEN ITEMS DO I NEED TO MAKE HOPPIN JOHN?

• Non Stick Frying Pan
• Kitchen Scales
• Measuring Jug
• Measuring Spoons
• Wooden Spoon
• Santoku Knife (perfect knife for chopping veg)
• Chopping Board
• Plate

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WATCH BELOW FOR HOW TO MAKE HOPPIN JOHN: