Vegan Jambalaya Recipe with Brown Rice, Black Eyed Peas and Collards (2024)

December 11, 2018(updated May 22, 2022) // by Phoebe Lapine // 12 comments

4.75 from 4 votes

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This easy vegetarian jambalaya recipe is brought to you in partnership with my friends atUSA Rice&TheFeedfeed. All opinions are my own (duh). Thank you for supporting the brands that make this site (and my NYE wishes) possible!

The first party that Charlie and I ever hosted together was a New Year’s Eve affair a few months into our relationship.

By then, I was intimately aware with my paramour’s cooking skills and entertaining tendencies. His food was always wonderful, but per the latter, didn’t make it on the table until hours into the party when everyone was too drunk to notice.

This party was the beginning of a long process to manage my other half’s time tables, and other people’s tummies by extension.

We decided on a southern New Year’s theme, given his South Carolina roots and my love of mac and cheese. The menu obviously included a gluten-free version (this jalapeno one, to be exact) and to make sure there would be food on the table no matter what, I made large quantities of it the day before the party.

The other elements of a proper southern New Year’s were new to me: black-eyed peas and collard greens. It was my first time cooking either, believe it or not, but I knew we had to incorporate them for symbolism’s sake. Apparently black eyed peas look like little coins (at least, if you’ve consumed enough bourbon), and therefore guarantee a prosperous New Year ahead. Collard greens, being the color of money and all, guarantee the same. So needless to say, we cooked up a mess of both for our meal.

And I guess you could say, the rest is history.

Now, 5 years later, being a married lady that is deeply into this Southern New Year’s superstition, I knew I needed to create the ultimate dish for you guys to welcome in 2019.

Another recipe I came across in my search all those years ago was something called a Hoppin’ John, which is essentially a pot of rice, black-eyed peas and collard greens—the money dish, if you will. I decided to riff on this using spices from my favorite southern rice dish, but keeping it vegan (sorry true southerners, I know hog jowl is lucky too!)

This vegetarian jambalaya uses US grown long grain brown rice, which is both nutritionally rich and perfect for a black-eyed pea mash-up, since they cook for roughly the same amount of time. Carolina brown rice has a subtle nut-like taste and somewhat chewy texture. It’s also a great source of whole grain dietary fiber which, as a part of a total diet plan, has been shown to reduce the incidence of some forms of cancer and coronary heart disease. So you could say it’s its own source of prosperity right there.

Read on for this vegan jambalaya recipe and let me know what you’re cooking this year for good luck in the comments! I would love to absorb all your superstitions.

With health and hedonism,

Phoebe

Vegan Brown Rice Jambalaya with Black Eyed Peas and Collards

4.75 from 4 votes

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This easy vegetarian version of a classic New Orleans jambalaya uses a mix of cajun seasonings and hardy whole grains and legumes to make up for the meat! Instead of sausage, pork, chicken or shrimp, this vegan recipe uses other southern favorites: US grown long grain brown rice, black-eyed peas (your New Year’s good luck charm!) and leafy collard greens. It’s gluten-free and healthy too. Don’t be intimidated by the ingredient list or the cook time, the prep is fairly straight forward and simple. Make sure to check out the recipe notes for how to make this low FODMAP or using canned black-eyed peas if you can't find dried or don't have time to soak them overnight.

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 35 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Phoebe Lapine

Ingredients

4 tablespoons olive oil divided
1 bunch collard greens thick stems removed and thinly sliced
Sea salt & pepper
1 small yellow onion
1 red bell pepper finely diced
2 celery stalks thinly sliced
1 large jalapeno seeds and ribs removed, minced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 cups chopped tomatoes or one 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in their juices
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
8 cups vegetable stock
2 cups dried black-eyed peas soaked overnight
2 cups American long grain brown rice
1 bunch scallions thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Instructions

In a large pot over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the collard greens and stir-fry until wilted and tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove to a plate. Set aside.
Add the remaining olive oil along with the onions, bell pepper, and celery, and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the jalapeno, garlic, smoked paprika, regular paprika, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Cook for 2 minutes more, until very fragrant, then add the tomatoes, bay leaves, and thyme. Bring to a simmer and allow the tomato mixture to thicken slightly.
Pour in the stock, black-eyed peas, and brown rice. Bring to a boil, partially cover, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the peas and rice have grown in size, but still have quite a bite to them. Cover the pot completely and continue cooking over low heat, undisturbed, until tender (but not mushy) and all of the liquid has been absorbed, another 20 minutes.
Fold in the collard greens and half the scallions. Cover and cook until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and the veggies are tender, about 10 minutes longer. Remove from the heat.
Season the vegetarian jambalaya with parsley, the remaining scallions, and serve warm.

Notes

Instructions for canned black-eyed peas: If you don’t have time to soak the peas in advance, you can a) cover them with boiling water for 10 minutes, or b) start with canned black-eyed peas. For the latter, simply cut the amount of stock in half, and add the rinsed beans to the pot when you fold in the collard greens in step 4.
To make this recipe low FODMAP: Omit the onions, garlic, and black-eyed peas. Reduce the amount of stock to 4 cups. It will be slightly more tomato-heavy without the extra legumes to dilute the flavors, but I didn’t mind!

Reader Interactions

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Comments

Frankie says
December 11, 2018 at 1:44 pm

Black-eyed peas make me ploof (as defined by Kavanaugh) and I hate the taste of collard greens but these spices would definitely make them palatable! Anyway, if it brings me money, I’m eatin’ it.
Reply
- Phoebe Lapine says
  December 13, 2018 at 10:01 am
  
  oh boy. well you can always do a version with all rice.
  Reply
giuseppe manti says
February 21, 2019 at 6:21 am

Great!Ican’twaittogetitready!Thankyouverymuch
Reply
Carmen says
December 6, 2019 at 6:37 pm

Way more than 6 servings!
Reply
Sara says
December 30, 2020 at 1:38 am

I love the way you cook this altogether so the rice and peas can soak up the flavors. I use slick mustard greens as I much prefer the flavor and texture to collards and usually simmer them for an hour or so with seasoned ham (I’m not vegan). I’m planning on using Camellia brand dried lady cream peas as I prefer the flavor and texture compared to black-eyed peas.
2 questions:
1. Why do you wait till the end to add the greens…why not add them at beginning of the cooking process?
2. Also, two cups of brown rice is too much for me. If I use 1 cup, how much should I decrease the liquid? I don’t want a soupy dish.
Reply
- Phoebe Lapine says
  December 30, 2020 at 9:06 am
  
  I prefer my collards to have some bite to them but if you want them to melt away you can add them at the beginning. Halving the rice means halving the stock. It’s a ratio game 🙂
  Reply
Mai says
August 26, 2021 at 11:44 pm

Thank you for this recipe. I really enjoyed this – its got all my flavors! However, as a non-Vegan I sorta did miss the sausage and seafood (don’t hate me). So I did end up adding a few things to pump up the umami a bit. Added about a tbsp of concentrated tomato paste, a dash of fish sauce (which made it non vegan … I know), a few dashes of golden mountain seasoning sauce and topped it with a healthy dash of franks hot sauce.
Reply
- Phoebe Lapine says
  August 27, 2021 at 1:35 pm
  
  you are welcome to add any meats you want! glad you enjoyed
  Reply