Legumes, soy and plant protein
Black-eyed peas on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 8 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), cooked or tinned, drained, for around 115 calories. Half a tin, drained, about 130 g (4.6 oz), gives roughly 10 g of protein for 150 calories.
To reach 30 g of protein from black-eyed peas alone you would need about 375 g (13.2 oz). On a small appetite that is often more than one sitting allows, which is why we pair it rather than chase the whole target from one food.
How black-eyed peas sits on a GLP-1
Black-eyed peas are a bean rather than a pea, thin skinned and creamy with an earthy, slightly sweet flavour, and they cook faster than most dried beans. At about 8 g per 100 g (3.5 oz) they are a middling protein with the usual fibre load, so on a GLP-1 they behave like every other bean: soft, easy to eat, filling long before the protein target is reached. They are the bean of the American South, where they are cooked with pork, which turns out to be the right idea for a small appetite.
When your appetite is small
Half a tin, about 130 g (4.6 oz), warmed with a chopped rasher of bacon or some shredded ham and a splash of stock is about 17 g of protein in a small bowl. The pork brings the flavour and the leucine, and the beans bring the softness. Skip the cornbread and rice that would usually come with it.
Three ways to prepare it
Warmed with bacon or ham and a little stock
Beans, one chopped rasher, stock, black pepper, ten minutes on the stove. A small savoury bowl that reheats well.
Cold in a small salad with feta and tomato
Rinsed beans, cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta, red onion and lemon. About 14 g with the feta, no cooking.
Simmered into a soup with greens and sausage
Beans, stock, kale and a sliced chicken sausage, blended half smooth. A mug of it is about 15 g.
What to eat it with
Bacon, ham, sausage, feta or a poached egg for protein; onion, garlic, thyme, hot sauce and vinegar for flavour. Beans and rice alone is a plate that is mostly starch.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black-eyed peas | about 8 g | 115 kcal | this page |
| Black beans | about 9 g | 130 kcal | See the page |
| Kidney beans | about 8 g | 125 kcal | See the page |
| Lentils | about 9 g | 115 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, cooked or tinned, drained, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Black-eyed peas in the US and Australia, black-eyed beans in the UK, cowpeas in agriculture and lobia in Indian grocers. Tinned in all three countries, most easily found in the US; in the UK and Australia they are often in the world food aisle.
Questions people ask
Are black-eyed peas high in protein?
Moderate: about 8 g per 100 g (3.5 oz) cooked, so half a tin is about 10 g. They are useful for their softness and speed, and they need pork, cheese or an egg alongside to make a bowl of them a full stop.
Your number comes first
Knowing what is in a food only helps once you know how much you are aiming for. The target is 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kg of your goal weight, not your current weight, which for most people is 90 to 140 g a day.
Work out your protein targetMore on eating well when your appetite is small: high protein foods for a small appetite, how much protein on a GLP-1, and every food we have written up. The whole system in five documents is the Keep Muscle Kit, A$47 / US$29 / £23.
EverStrong provides nutrition and strength coaching and education. It is not medical advice and does not replace your prescribing doctor.