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Beans & pulses

Cowpea

Vigna unguiculataAlso called Vigna unguiculata and Vigna unguiculata unguiculata cultivar group

Cowpeas are legume seeds. Cooks boil, simmer, steam, or stew them, and blend them into a paste.

  • Plant-based
  • Gluten-free
  • No listed allergens

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Part used
Seed
Family
Fabaceae
Cooked most in
Asia, Africa
Top country
Indonesia
Cowpea, whole

Photo: Thamizhpparithi Maari · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use cowpea

Typical ways to cook or use it

  • Boil simmer
  • Paste blend
  • Steam
  • Stew

Nutrition

What 100 g of cowpea holds

Per 100 g, raw. Averages from USDA; real values vary by variety, season and growing conditions.

Protein 13%Fat 2%Carbohydrate 85%of the macronutrients by weight

Nutrition per 100 g of cowpea, raw
Energy90 kcal · 376 kJ
Protein3 g
Fat0.35 g
of which saturated0.09 g
Carbohydrate19 g
of which sugars3 g
Fibre5 g
Sodium4 mg
Cholesterol0 mg
Nutrition per 100 g of cowpea, raw: minerals and vitamins
Potassium431 mg
Calcium126 mg
Iron1.1 mg
Magnesium51 mg
Zinc1 mg
Vitamin C2.5 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)41 µg
Folate168 µg

Source: USDA FoodData Central (food 169220), public domain. Minerals and vitamins are listed only where USDA measured a non-zero amount.

Around the world

Where cowpea is cooked

3 dishes in the catalogue use cowpea. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list cowpea among their ingredients.

Origins

First cultivated
in Africa

  1. 2,300 BCE · South-eastern Asia

    Cowpeas are believed to have reached Southeast Asia.

On the table

Dishes made with cowpea

3 dishes in the catalogue use it.

  • Ketupat betumis

    Indonesia

  • Acara

    Senegal

  • Mageli

    Indonesia

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include cowpea.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: cowpea in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.
Allergens
None of the 15 listed allergens foundChecked and not found: soy, eggs, fish, milk, lupin, wheat, celery, sesame, mustard, peanuts, molluscs, sulphites, tree nuts, crustaceans, gluten cereals.
Animal origin
No animal ingredients foundChecked and not found: egg, fish, meat, dairy, honey, insect, gelatin, poultry, bone char, shellfish, other animal, animal fining, animal rennet.
Gluten
None
Alcohol
None
Caffeine
None
Pork
None

Family

Related forms

A kind of
legume
Kinds
asparagus bean
Varieties
asparagus bean

Around the world

What cowpea is called

Names in 76 languages, from Wikidata.

  • Spanish

    Vigna unguiculata · Caupí · Vigna sesquipedalis · Dolichos unguiculatus

  • French

    vigna unguiculata · Voème

  • Italian

    Vigna unguiculata · fagiolo dall'occhio · fagiolo con l'occhio

  • Portuguese

    Vigna unguiculata · Feijão-frade · Feijão mineiro · Feijão-mancanha

  • German

    Augenbohne · Vigna unguiculata · Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata · Kuhbohne

  • Dutch

    Vigna unguiculata · Zwartogenboon

  • Greek

    αμπελοφάσουλο

  • Turkish

    Börülce · Karnıkara · Vigna unguiculata · Börülceler

  • Russian

    Коровий горох · Долихос двуцветковый

  • Polish

    wspięga wężowata · Vigna unguiculata · Fasolnik chiński

  • Arabic

    لوبياء ظفرية · لوبياء بلدي

  • Persian

    لوبیای چشم‌بلبلی · لوبیای چشم بلبلی · لوبیا چشم بلبلی

Show all 76 languages

  • Albanian

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Ancient Greek

    φάσηλος

  • Aragonese

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Armenian

    Կովոլոռ

  • Asturian

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Balinese

    Kacang lindung

  • Bangla

    বিউলির ডাল

  • Basque

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Brazilian Portuguese

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Bulgarian

    папуда · Vigna unguiculata

  • Burmese

    ပဲတောင့်ရှည်

  • Cantonese

    黑眼豆

  • Catalan

    Vigna unguiculata · Cowpea

  • Cebuano

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Chinese

    豇豆 · 豇豆壳 · 豇豆根 · 赤小豆叶

  • Croatian

    Afrička crnookica

  • Czech

    vigna čínská · Vigna unguiculata · Phaseolus unguiculatus · Dolichos catjang

  • dag

    sanʒi

  • Divehi

    ރިހަ ތޮޅި · Cow pea

  • Egyptian Arabic

    لوبياء ظفريه

  • Esperanto

    Okulvigno

  • Extremaduran

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Filipino

    Paayap · Cowpea · Vigna unguiculata · V. unguiculata

  • Finnish

    lehmänpapu

  • Galician

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Georgian

    ძაძა

  • Gorontalo

    Kacang Panjang

  • Gujarati

    ચોળા

  • Hebrew

    לוביה

  • Hindi

    लोबिया

  • Icelandic

    Augnbaun

  • Ido

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Indonesian

    Kacang tunggak

  • Interlingua

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Interlingue

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Irish

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Japanese

    ササゲ · 豇豆 · ささげ · 大角豆

  • Javanese

    Polong sapi

  • Kikuyu

    Thoroko

  • Kinyarwanda

    Igishyimbo

  • Korean

    동부 · 광저기 · 강두

  • Latin

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Maithili

    बोडी

  • Malagasy

    Voanemba

  • Malayalam

    വൻപയർ

  • Min Nan Chinese

    Chhài-tāu

  • Nepali

    बोडी

  • Norwegian Bokmål

    øyebønne · Vigna unguiculata

  • Norwegian Nynorsk

    augebønne · Vigna unguiculata

  • Occitan

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Punjabi

    ਲੋਬੀਆ

  • Romanian

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Sango

    Gbari

  • Serbian

    Крављи грашак · Vigna unguiculata · црни окасти грашак

  • Shan

    ထူဝ်ႇယၢဝ်း · ထူဝ်ႇၽၵ်းယၢဝ်း

  • Shona

    Nyemba

  • Simplified Chinese

    豇豆

  • Simplified Chinese (China)

    豇豆

  • Sinhala

    කව්පි

  • Swahili

    Mkunde

  • Swedish

    Ögonböna · Black-eyed pea · Vigna unguiculata

  • Tamil

    காராமணி

  • Telugu

    అలసంద

  • Traditional Chinese

    豇豆

  • Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong SAR China)

    豇豆

  • Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)

    豇豆

  • Ukrainian

    Вігна китайська

  • Vietnamese

    Đậu dải

  • Volapük

    Vigna unguiculata

  • Waray

    Vigna unguiculata

Sources and credits

Data

Wikidata item: Q498940

Photos

Photo: Thamizhpparithi Maari · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons