Black Eyed Pea Casserole

This Black Eyed Pea Casserole is the perfect combination of wild rice, black eyed pea, veggies, and hearty sausage. Serve it as a side dish or as a main dish and hopefully it will bring you luck!

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Side Dishes

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1

Servings: servings

Calories: 277kcal

Author: Jennifer Stewart

Ingredients

5 slices bacon diced
1 pound ground pork sausage
1 small onion diced ~approximately 1 cup
2 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 cups wild rice mix
1 teaspoon cajun seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 ounces diced tomatoes
4 ounces chopped green chilies
30 ounces black eyed peas frozen
3 cups chicken broth
3 cups fresh spinach
2 cups cheddar cheese shredded

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large dutch oven or pot, cook bacon over medium heat until crispy. Remove the bacon to a paper towel lined plate.
Add the pork sausage to the pot and cook until no longer pink. Remove to a bowl.
In the pork and bacon fat, add the onions, garlic, wild rice, and spices.
Cook for roughly 5 minutes to toast the rice and soften the onion.
Add the black eyed peas, diced tomatoes, chopped green chilies, cooked sausage, and broth.
Bring to a boil.
Remove from the heat and stir in the spinach.
If the pot you are cooking in isn't oven safe, carefully transfer the casserole to a casserole dish, cover tightly with foil, and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and top with the shredded cheese. Continue baking for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the rice is tender.
If the pot you are cooking in IS oven safe, add the top and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the top and cover with cheese. Bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the rice is tender.
Remove from the oven and top with crispy bacon.
Serve warm and enjoy!

Notes

You can make this vegetarian and vegan. This is also gluten free?

Bacon is great crumbled on the top but you can totally leave it out. But, as a true Southern dish, would you really want to leave it out ;)

Use white rice, brown rice, or wild rice. Using brown or wild rice will increase the cooking time or you can par boil it ahead of time.

The bell peppers, Rotel, and Southwest seasoning gives it a Tex Mex flavor profile, but you can absolutely leave it out and just use plain diced tomatoes and a simple all purpose seasoning.

You can prepare the bacon and sausage ahead of time in a large skillet and store in the refrigerator until ready to make the casserole.

If you don't want to use pork sausage you can also use ground beef or ground turkey.

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