Pigeon Peas substitute

Best substitute

Black-Eyed Peas

Use the same amount drained, same cooking time as the pigeon peas you are replacing

Best for arroz con gandules

Close match

Which substitute you want depends on the form. For canned or frozen gandules in arroz con gandules or Jamaican rice and peas, canned black-eyed peas swap 1:1 and are the closest match, with red kidney beans a very traditional second choice. For dried split pigeon peas, that is toor dal, and yellow split peas are the best swap at 1:1 with about ten minutes less cooking, or chana dal at 1:1 with fifteen to twenty minutes more.

Other pigeon peas substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Red Kidney Beans (Red Peas)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount drained if canned
The traditional alternative in Jamaican cooking, where rice and peas is made with either gungo peas or red peas depending on the season, so this is not really a compromise at all.
What changes
Best for
Jamaican rice and peas, stew peas, soups, pelau, arroz con gandules
Kidney beans are much bigger and softer, with a mealy, almost floury interior where pigeon peas are firm and dense, so the pot goes from studded with little peas to chunky with beans and the cooking liquid thickens considerably more. They also stain the rice pinkish-brown, which is exactly right for Jamaican rice and peas and wrong for a pale Puerto Rican gandules rice. If you use dried kidney beans, soak them and then boil them hard for a full 10 minutes before simmering, which is a genuine food safety step for this bean specifically.
3Chickpeas (Garbanzos)
Different taste
Use the same amount drained
Nutty, firm and available everywhere, and they hold their shape through a long simmer as well as pigeon peas do, which is the main thing a rice pot needs from them.
What changes
Best for
arroz con gandules, stews, pelau, curries, soups, salads
Chickpeas are two or three times the size, so the dish looks quite different, and their flavour is more distinctly nutty and less earthy, which makes a gandules rice taste a bit more Mediterranean. Their skins can be tough after canning, and in a delicate soup that is noticeable. If it matters, halve them roughly with a knife before they go in so the scale reads closer to pigeon peas.
4Yellow Split Peas (for toor dal)
Close match
Use the same amount by volume, about 10 minutes less cooking, same liquid
The right substitute when the recipe wants dried split pigeon peas rather than the green kind in a tin.
What changes
Both are hulled split pulses that collapse into a puree, and both are used exactly the same way.
Best for
toor dal, sambar, dhal for roti, split pea soup, dal fry, khichdi
Split peas cook a little faster and break down more completely, so the dal comes out smoother and slightly sweeter, and it lacks the faint sourness and heavier body that toor dal gives a sambar. That difference matters most in South Indian dishes where the dal is the main flavour and hardly at all in a Trinidadian dhal that is going to be swizzled smooth with a dhal ghutni anyway.
5Chana Dal (Split Desi Chickpeas, for toor dal)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by volume, plus 15 to 20 minutes and about ½ cup extra water per cup
Similar colour, similar size and a genuinely good dal in its own right.
What changes
A frequent stand-in for toor dal in Indian home cooking.
Best for
dal, sambar, dhalpuri filling, soups, fritters
Chana dal is much more stubborn and stays in distinct nubs long after toor dal would have dissolved, so the dal ends up chunky and brothy rather than creamy, and the flavour is nuttier and firmer. Blitz half of it with a stick blender or crush it against the pot with a spoon at the end and the texture problem disappears entirely. It is also the better choice if you actually want texture, for instance in a dhalpuri filling.
6Frozen Green Peas or Edamame
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount added in the last 5 minutes only
The last-resort option, worth listing because they are in every freezer and because they get the colour and the scale of fresh green gandules right.
What changes
Best for
arroz con gandules for appearance, quick weeknight rice, soups where texture is not critical
This is a poor flavour match and it is worth being honest about that. Green peas are sweet and grassy where pigeon peas are earthy and savoury, so the rice tastes faintly of vegetable garden and the dish loses its backbone. Edamame is much better, being firmer and less sweet, and holds its shape well. Add either at the very end, since both turn to mush and grey out if they cook with the rice for twenty minutes.

What is Pigeon Peas?

Pigeon Peas is one legume under a lot of names: sold fresh, frozen or canned as gandules, gungo peas or congo peas, and sold dried and split as toor dal or arhar dal, it supplies starchy body, mild protein and a nutty, faintly earthy savouriness rather than any loud flavour of its own.

Cooking tips

Work out which pigeon pea your recipe means before you shop, because the two forms behave nothing alike. Green gandules and gungo peas, sold frozen or in tins, are firm and stay whole in a rice pot. Dried split toor dal or arhar dal collapses into a puree. Substituting one for the other is the most common mistake with this ingredient.
Canned gandules come in salty liquid and often with a slick of oil. Drain and rinse them and hold back the salt in your recipe until the pot has come together, or a rice dish that already has sofrito, olives and cured pork in it will end up far too salty.
Fresh or frozen pigeon peas are firmer than any bean you might substitute and want 20 to 30 minutes of simmering to soften. Canned ones are already cooked and only need heating through, so add them with the rice rather than at the start of a long braise or they will turn to paste.
Toor dal is often sold oiled, coated in castor oil to extend its shelf life, and it will taste faintly rancid if you skip the rinse. Rinse it in several changes of warm water until the water runs clear, and do the same with any split pulse you substitute in.
If you are substituting dried red kidney beans for pigeon peas, soak them and then boil them hard at a full rolling boil for at least 10 minutes before you reduce to a simmer. Undercooked kidney beans, and slow-cooker temperatures in particular, are a real cause of illness with this bean, and it is the one legume where the cooking method is a safety matter rather than a texture one.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the pigeon peas out?

In a rice dish you can, and you will simply have seasoned rice, which is perfectly good but is not arroz con gandules or rice and peas any more, since the peas are the dish's name and a good part of its substance. Any tinned bean you have will do the job better than omitting them. In a dal you cannot leave them out at all, because the pulse is the entire dish rather than an addition to it.

Are pigeon peas and toor dal the same thing?

Yes, the same legume at different stages. Toor dal and arhar dal are mature pigeon peas that have been dried, hulled and split, which is why they cook down into a puree. Gandules, gungo peas and congo peas are usually the immature green peas, sold fresh, frozen or canned, and they stay firm and whole. Recipes are not always clear which they mean, so look at whether the dish ends up soupy or studded with whole peas.

What is the best substitute for gandules in arroz con gandules?

Canned black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed, at 1:1. They are the closest in size, texture and earthy flavour, and they hold up in the rice. Chickpeas are the next best and are firmer, though noticeably larger. Red kidney beans work and are traditional in Jamaican rice and peas, but they will tint the rice pink and soften more, so the dish will look different from a classic Puerto Rican one.

Can I use green peas instead of pigeon peas?

Only as a last resort, and stir them in during the final five minutes. Green peas are sweet and grassy where pigeon peas are earthy and savoury, so the rice will taste noticeably sweeter and the savoury backbone of the dish will be missing. Frozen edamame is a much better version of the same idea, being firm and much less sweet, and it holds its shape properly in a hot pot.

What can I use instead of toor dal in a dal or sambar?

Yellow split peas are the closest, 1:1 by volume with about ten minutes less simmering, and they produce a slightly smoother and sweeter dal. Chana dal also works well at 1:1 but needs fifteen to twenty minutes longer and extra water, and it stays chunky unless you crush some of it at the end. Red lentils will make a dal in half the time but the result is much softer and thinner in body, so hold back about ten percent of the water.

Related substitutes

More legumes substitutes

Pigeon Peas substitute

Other pigeon peas substitutes

2Red Kidney Beans (Red Peas)

3Chickpeas (Garbanzos)

4Yellow Split Peas (for toor dal)

5Chana Dal (Split Desi Chickpeas, for toor dal)

6Frozen Green Peas or Edamame