Good Luck Soup

This easy slow cooker Good Luck Soup has black-eyed peas, greens, and pork for a healthy, lucky, and prosperous year. Plus, it takes very little effort to prepare. Toss in the crockpot New Year's Day morning or New Year's Eve and let it cook all night.

About Good Luck Soup

If you like to eat certain foods on New Year's Day to ring in the new year, this soup has you covered.

Plus, it's great for a crowd since the recipe makes 12 cups of soup and only costs about $14 for the whole batch. Also, everyone loves it!

My grandmother Nan introduced me to this recipe a few years ago as an alternative to the pork, black-eyed peas, and turnip greens my parents used to serve on New Year's Day.

Luckily, this soup is such a tasty and easy way to enjoy all those superstitious and special new year's day foods. Much better than the boring plate of pork, peas, and greens.

The amount of effort is doable even if you're not feeling your best (i.e. hungover), so it's ideal for lazy days.

Ingredients

Sausage: This good luck soup recipe has been tested using pork sausage links, ground pork sausage, chicken sausage, and even vegetarian sausage. Check the seasoning and spiciness level.

If you use ground sausage, cook and drain the sausage before adding to the slow cooker.

Onion: Yellow, red, white, sweet, or Vidalia onions are all good options for this good luck soup.

Garlic: Fresh garlic or garlic powder will work.

Greens: You can use turnip greens, collard greens, mustard greens, kale, spinach, or a combination to total 16 ounces. Frozen or fresh greens will both work well.

Spices: The spices in this Good Luck Soup recipe include onion flakes (or minced onion), salt, red pepper flakes (or crushed red pepper), paprika, and garlic powder.

Black Eyed Peas: The black eyed peas symbolize prosperity, so don't forget to include them. If you don't love black eyed peas, you can use one can instead of two.

Tomatoes & Green Chilies: The brand name you'll find for these is Rotel. But the store brand label is the exact same. Be sure to check the spiciness. I usually buy mild if I have a spicier sausage, so the soup isn't overly spicy. But it depends on how spicy you like things. Remember that you can always add spice; it's harder to take away.

Beans: You can use any type of bean you like. This soup has been tested with navy beans, pinto beans, garbanzo beans (or chickpeas). Also, you can increase the beans if you want a bigger batch of soup or omit if you don't want beans.

Broth: Homemade or store-bought chicken broth, vegetable broth, or beef broth can all be used. I prefer unsalted or lower sodium to keep the soup from being too salty, but it's not a huge deal if you use regular broth. The broth adds depth of flavor to your soup, but water can be substituted.

Cost of Recipe

• sausage 12 ounces: $4.99
• onions 2 medium: $1
• garlic 2 cloves: $0.12
• greens 16 ounces: $2.50
• black eyed peas 2 (15 ounce) cans: $1.56
• navy beans 1 (15 ounce) can: $0.78
• diced tomatoes and green chilies 1 (10 ounce) can: $0.68
• onion flakes ½ teaspoon: $0.12
• salt ¼ teaspoon: $0.01
• red pepper flakes ¼ teaspoon: $0.05
• paprika ¼ teaspoon: $0.04
• garlic powder ¼ teaspoon: $0.02
• bay leaf 1: $0.10
• broth 4 cups: $1.99

TOTAL COST: $13.96 or $1.16/serving (Based on San Diego grocery stores 2021)

Note that this is not the recipe; it's simply to show the cost breakdown of ingredients. Be sure to scroll down to the full recipe to see the specific ingredients and directions.

How to Make Good Luck Soup

How to Make Good Luck Soup in the Instant Pot

1. Turn the pressure cooker to Sauté on normal. Add the sausage and diced onions.
2. Cook five minutes.
3. Add the remaining ingredients, and stir.
4. Cover and set the valve to sealing. Turn off Sauté function.
5. Use the Pressure Cook or Manual button, and cook for 30 minutes on High.
6. Allow the pressure to release for 15 minutes, then do a quick release.
7. Remove bay leaf, and enjoy!

How to Make Good Luck Soup on the Stove

1. Add the sausage and diced onions to a large soup pot, and heat over medium-high.
2. Cook five minutes.
3. Add the remaining ingredients, and stir.
4. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low.
5. Simmer for 2-4 hours, stirring occasionally to make sure the soup doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. (The longer the soup cooks, the better)
6. Remove bay leaf, and enjoy!

Recipe Tips

Variations

Ingredient Options

Beans: Pinto beans, navy beans, white beans, great northern beans are all great options for the beans. You can omit these if you aren't a huge fan of beans.

However, the nice thing about having the beans is that it stretches the soup so it serves more with a smaller budget.

Garlic: Use ½ teaspoon of garlic powder in place of the two cloves of fresh garlic.

Alternative Prep & Cooking

Instead of using the slow cooker, you can cook this in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker. Also, this can be cooked on the stove. See the full recipe below for details.

How to Make Allergy Friendly

This soup is already gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, and nut-free. Be sure to check the ingredients list if needed, especially on the sausage.

If you want this to be vegetarian or vegan, use a vegan/vegetarian sausage.

How to Fix a Mistake

This soup is quite forgiving, and you can adjust the flavors if needed.

Soup is too spicy: Add an extra can of beans or black eyed peas that have been rinsed and drained.

Soup is lacking flavor: Add a tablespoon or two of lemon juice or vinegar (like apple cider, white wine, or red wine), or you can add another pinch of salt or red pepper flakes.

Make Ahead Ideas

This is best made ahead so the soup has time to cook.

You can also assemble the ingredients in the slow cooker and cook overnight on low. Or you can add everything to the crockpot (or soup pot if using the stove), store it in the fridge, and cook whenever you're ready.

Storage Suggestions

Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator or in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Benefits

Good Luck Soup is filled with tons of nourishing vegetables, spicy sausage for protein and flavor, and beans for fiber, extra protein, and nutrients.

You get 20% of the recommended daily amount of iron, 17% of Vitamin C, and 18% of potassium.

What to Serve with Good Luck Soup

The only way to make this New Year's Good Luck Soup any better is to add a slice of cornbread on the side. Since cornbread is supposed to signify gold, you might want to make a whole batch.

And if you want a festive cocktail, try Bourbon Hot Chocolate, Tia Maria Cocktails, or Sparkling Cranberry Apple Orange Cocktail (or mocktail).

Final thoughts:

File this recipe under "too good to make once, forget about, and never make again" and "this shouldn't just be for the new year."

This recipe is as delicious as possible. Plus, it gives you all the things you need on New Year's Day: black-eyed peas, greens, and pork for good luck, prosperity, and health. Additionally, it's a total crowd-pleaser.

MORE NEW YEAR'S RECIPES YOU'LL LOVE:

• New Year's Breakfast Casserole
• Sparkling Cranberry Apple Orange Cocktail
• Black Eyed Pea Casserole

Meme

This post was originally published on December 31, 2014. Text, recipe, and photos have been updated.

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New Year's Good Luck Soup Nutrition Facts

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