One-pot Black-Eyed Peas and Spinach Rice is a healthy and wholesome dish, perfect for weeknight meals. This vegan and gluten free dish is easy to make in the Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker.
I am always looking for one-pot recipes where I can include protein and vegetables together. These are perfect for weeknights, so you don't have to cook multiple things, and can have dinner ready in just 30 minutes.
When my friend Khushboo Murarka suggested this recipe to make in the Instant Pot, I was excited to try it for dinner. Pairing a legume with rice and vegetables is a great option for a complete vegetarian meal. Let's say this is real comfort food...the kind that is good for you. We will make this in an Indian style, but with some basic spices that most would have in their pantry.
When I sat to write this recipe, I realized this is very similar to a vegan variation of Hoppin' John. Hoppin' John, also known as Carolina Peas and Rice is a peas and rice dish served in the Southern United States. It is said that eating it on New Year's Day brings a prosperous year filled with luck. Even though we are not anywhere close to new year, I think this is perfect comfort food that you will enjoy!
If you enjoy black-eyed peas, don't forget to check out my Black-eyed Peas Curry recipe. It is a popular dishes in North India, also known as Lobhia Masala.
How to make Black eyed Peas & Spinach Rice in Pressure Cooker?
This is an easy to make one-pot dish in the Instant Pot. Start with some oil and whole spices. I only added cumin seeds and cinnamon, but other whole spices such as cloves, cardamom and black pepper corns would be great additions too.
Then add onions, ginger, garlic and saute for a few minutes. After that, add tomatoes and spices.
Pro-tip: The above are common steps in many recipes. Many times I also bulk cook onion, ginger, garlic and tomatoes for a week, so that I can make any rice, lentils or curry quickly on a weeknight.
From this point, this is a dump-and-go recipe - Add the black eyed peas, rice, spinach and water. Stir them all and cook on rice mode.
I soaked the black eyed peas overnight, but 4 hours of soaking will work too. Typically I cook rice on high pressure for 4 minutes, but for this recipe, I used the Rice mode which gives the black eyed peas enough time to cook well.
The below pictures showing the how the rice looked before pressure cooking, after pressure cooking, then stirred and served.
You can also add other veggies in this rice pilaf. I add a number of veggies to my Vegetable Pulao such as carrots, green beans, peas and corn.
Enjoy this pilaf with a side of yogurt or raita.
If you like this combination of lentils/beans and rice as one-pot meals, check out this Instant Pot Mujadara recipe. It is a one-pot version of the popular Lebanese lentils and rice.
Black eyed peas & Spinach Rice Pilaf Recipe - Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Ghee or Oil
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
- 1 stick Cinnamon (Dalchini) about 2 inch
- 1 cup Onions diced
- 1 tbsp Garlic minced
- 1 tbsp Ginger minced
- 1 cup Tomatoes chopped
- 3/4 cup Black eyed peas (Lobhia) soaked for 4 hours or overnight, then drained
- 1 cup Basmati Rice rinsed
- 2 cups Water
- 2 cups Spinach chopped
Spices
- 1/4 tsp Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne or Red Chili powder
- 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Start the pressure cooker in sauté mode and heat it. Add oil, cumin seeds and cinnamon. Sauté them for 30 seconds until the cumin seeds change color.
- Add onion, ginger and garlic. Sauté for 2-3 minutes until onion turn transparent.
- Add tomato and spices. Mix well.
- Add black eyed peas, rice, water and spinach. Stir well. If anything is stuck to the bottom of the pot, deglaze it. Close the lid with vent in sealing position.
- Change the instant pot setting to RICE mode (or Pressure cook at low pressure for 12 mins). Note: For me the Rice mode set for 12 minutes.
- When the instant pot beeps, do a 10 minute NPR. This means let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then release the pressure manually.
- Fluff the rice gently. Enjoy with homemade yogurt or raita.Note: Remove the insert from the instant pot, so the lower layer of rice does not overcook from the hot base.
Notes
- Vegan Variation: To make this vegan, skip ghee and use your preferred plant based oil.
- Rice mode: The Rice mode in Instant Pot sets the cooking time itself, depending on the quantity of rice in the pot. For one of the readers, it set the time to 10 minutes, which would work too.
- This recipe was created in a 6qt Instant Pot DUO60 Multi-use Pressure Cooker.
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Nutrition
Check out other Instant Pot Rice recipes you might enjoy:
Do you have any tips to soften the black eyed beans? I soaked them in water for almost 24 hours and they were still not soft
I meant black eyed peas.
I did try this recipe in a pressure cooker as I don't have an instant pot. I guess I did something wrong as the rice burned at the bottom. Maybe pressure cooking is done differently? I would like to make this again but need to know exactly the timing when the cooker is closed and the vent put on.
Hi Heather - Sorry to hear the rice burned at the bottom. The reason probably is that stovetop pressure cookers need more liquid. I would add about 1/2 cup more water when using a stovetop pressure cooker. In India, the stovetop pressure cookers worked based on counting whistle after the pressure was built. So this recipe would need about 2-3 whistles. If the rice cooked well, then you did cook for the right time, it was most likely just the quantity of water that was less.
Can you make this with canned beans instead? How long would you cook for?
Hi Roshni - I think canned black eyed peas would work well in this recipe too.
Hi! I just signed up, this is awesome! As a full time working mom my only question is...Will you ever do a grocery list?
Hi Heather - Thank you for signing up and am glad that you like the meal plan. It is definitely on the cards to add a grocery list in the future 🙂
What kind of spinach have you used? Will any spinach work?
Hello - You can use any spinach. I usually get a box of baby spinach from Costco and use from that. But a bunch of spinach leaves from any grocery store works great too (remove the stems). Hope you enjoy the rice!
Thank you.
I tried this recipe yesterday (on New year's day .. coincidence :). Rice tastes great but it is a bit soggy (not as fluffy as your vegetable pulav recipe). Any tips ?
Hey Prajna - Maybe add a little less water next time to make this pulao with spinach. Spinach also releases some water, which could be the reason for the sogginess. Thanks for sharing back your experience!
Hi! How would the cooking time change for brown rice instead of basmati? Would I need to soak the brown rice ahead of time?
Hey Nina - I would suggest to soak brown rice for 3 hours in hot water. Then cook it on high pressure for 12 minutes. Hope you enjoy it!
I am a die heart rice eater you know 😉 i am bookmarking this variation.
Hey Priya - Thank you. Hope you enjoy it!
One other question.....what are the four pictures? I assume variations?
Hey Janet - I was just showing the process for the cooking. The first pic is once I had everything in the pot ready for pressure cooking. The 2nd when I just opened the pot. I wanted to share how it looks before and after cooking. I will clarify in the recipe. Hope it helps!
Great recipes! I love your bulk cooking pro tip. Will it be ok to use canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh/chopped? Thank you!
Hey Janet - Thank you. Yes, diced canned tomatoes would work in this recipe. I hope you enjoy it!
I'm sure this recipe is delicious just as is. Unfortunately, I was recently diagnosed with a digestive condition and have had to eliminate certain foods - many that I consumed nearly everyday for years. With that in mind, I made the following alterations to the recipe: I substituted 1 tsp asafetida for the onions and garlic. Will probably use more next time; I used 1 1/2 times the amount of ginger. I'm not a fan of cinammon so used only 3/4 the amount. Used jackfruit for the tomatoes (couldn't think of any other approprite substitution). Along with the spinach, I added a cup of diced carrots and celery. Eliminated the cayenne, sadly. and don't have any garam marsala. It was still quite tasty. Surprsingly, I rather liked the how the cumin and cinammon blended together and might use all the cinammon next time. Will be trying other ways to improve it within my restrictions. Suggestions welcome.
Hi Patricia - Thank you for sharing the detailed changes you made to the recipe to accommodate to your diet restrictions. Here are some options to add to this - potatoes, green peas, edmame, bell peppers or any greens you like. You can also change up the spices used such as adding Mexican flavors by using taco seasoning.