Split Pea Soup
This classic Split Pea Soup recipe is made with a meaty ham bone, carrots, onions, potatoes, and has a thick and flavorful broth. It’s easy to make on the Stove Top, Instant Pot, or Crock Pot!
I realize that I’m making quite a claim when I say that this is the best split pea soup ever, but it really is. Just read through the comments, people are in love. There is no doubt in my mind that it could win awards.
The recipe comes from a super old cookbook that my mom has. The steps are simple, and so are the ingredients! This one even landed a coveted spot in The Cozy Cookbook, so you know it’s good!
How to Make it
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions, including the Crock Pot and Instant Pot cooking methods.
Add a meaty ham bone to a 4.5 quart Dutch oven or soup pot along with the rinsed split peas, onions, butter, olive oil, onion powder, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and water.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover partially and simmer for 2.5 hours or until desired thickness is obtained. (Higher altitudes will require longer cooking time.) Add the potatoes and carrots about 40 minutes prior to serving.
Remove from heat once the potatoes and carrots are fork tender. Discard the bay leaves and thyme stems. Remove the ham bone and cut/shred 2 cups of ham from it and add it back to the soup. Serve!
Do You Need to Soak Split Peas
- Soaking split peas may decrease the cooking time slightly, but since they’re already halved and pretty thin, it’s not necessary. I don’t soak them for this recipe.
Using a Ham Bone
Using a meaty, uncleaned ham bone is what gives this soup it’s amazingly rich and savory flavor.
- If your ham bone is small, or you are using a ham bone substitute: Be prepared to add up to 4 chicken bouillon cubes to the broth to add more flavor if needed.
- If your bone doesn’t have much meat: You can also add a diced ham steak at the beginning of cooking. 1 (8oz.) steak = about 1 ¼ cups diced ham.
Ham Bone Substitutes
- Bone-in Picnic Shoulder or smoked ham shank
- Using a ham hock is the next best option.
- Chopped salted pork and/or chopped smoked bacon can also be substituted.
Pro Tips
- Unlike most soup recipes, the vegetables don’t need to be softened in butter/oil first. They float to the surface of the soup and cook/soften in the fat from the ham bone.
- The longer you simmer split pea soup, the more it thickens. Just make sure the temperature is low if you are going to simmer for several hours to avoid losing too much liquid.
- If you’re at a higher altitude, longer cooking time is required.
Try These Next
- Chicken in White Wine Sauce
- Taco Soup
- Chicken and Broccoli Pasta
- Easy Chili Recipe
- White Chicken Chili
- Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- This soup does freeze and reheat very well, just ensure that the potatoes and carrots are cooked until just fork tender so that they don’t become too soft.
Tools For This Recipe
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- 4.5 quart Dutch oven – the perfect size for this recipe.
- 6 quart Crock Pot – This one is programmable and will automatically switch to warm when the cooking time is up.
- Instant Pot
- Soup Ladle (This is the one pictured in this recipe.)
- 16 oz. storage containers I use these to store/freeze my soups. They have 8 oz. sizes as well. They’re stackable, leak proof, and dishwasher/microwave safe.
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Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb. dry split peas, equal to 2 cups
- 1 ham bone, See notes for substitution options
- 2 cups ham, cut from the ham bone at the end.
- 2 cups onions, diced
- 1 ½ tablespoons onion powder, not teaspoons
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 8 cups water
- 2 cups carrots, diced
- 2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
Equipment
Instructions
- Note: The split peas do not need to be soaked for this recipe.
Stove Top
- Add the uncleaned/meaty ham bone to a large soup pot along with the rinsed split peas, onions, onion powder, butter, olive oil, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme.
- Add the water and bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, with the lid slightly cracked.
- Let the soup simmer for 2.5 hours or until desired thickness is obtained. Stir occassionally as it cooks to lift any settling on the bottom of the pot. (Note that higher altitudes may required 5 or more hours of simmering time.) The longer it simmers, the thicker and more flavorful it will get.
- Add the carrots and potatoes about 40 minutes prior to serving.
- Once the carrots and potatoes are fork tender, remove the ham bone, bay leaves, and thyme stems. Shred/cut 2 cups of ham from the bone and add it back to the soup. Serve and enjoy!
Instant Pot
- Rinse the peas. Add all of the ingredients to 6+ quart instant pot. Make sure the pot isn’t more than 2/3 full.
- Secure the lid and set it to cook on high (or press the ‘pressure cook’ button) for 25 minutes.
- Once finished, let 10-15 minutes pass before you trigger the quick release valve. This will allow most of the pressure to release naturally, allowing the soup to cook a little bit longer.
- Remove the ham bone, the bay leaves, and thyme stems. Slice/cut 2 cups of ham from the ham bone and add it back to the soup. Serve!
Slow Cooker
- Rinse the peas. Add all of the ingredients to a large Slow Cooker (5 quarts or larger).
- Cook on low for 8+ hours or on high for 6+ hours. It's ready to serve once the peas are tender and the soup has reached your desired level of thickness.
- Remove the ham bone, the bay leaves, and thyme stems. Slice/cut 2 cups of ham from the ham bone and add it back to the soup. Serve!
Notes
Using a Ham Bone:
Using a meaty, uncleaned ham bone is what gives this soup it's amazingly rich and savory flavor.- If your ham bone is small, or you are using a ham bone substitute: Be prepared to add up to 4 chicken bouillon cubes to the broth to add more flavor if needed.
- If your bone doesn't have much meat: You can also add a diced ham steak at the beginning of cooking. 1 (8oz.) steak = about 1 ¼ cups diced ham.
Ham Bone Substitutes:
- Bone-in Picnic Shoulder or smoked ham shank
- Using a ham hock is the next best option.
- Chopped salted pork and/or chopped smoked bacon can also be substituted.
Nutritional information is an estimate, and is per serving. There are 6 servings in this recipe.
Nutrition
This recipe was very disappointing. I followed it using my crock pot. 8 hours later, the soup was very watery and the potatoes were not cooked, even though I put them in over an hour before serving rather than the 40 minutes suggested in the recipe. I put the contents of the crock pot into my blender, which was time consuming and more work, but I saved the soup.
Hi JoAnne, the instruction to add the potatoes 40 minutes prior to serving was if you were cooking them on the Stove Top, not the Crock Pot. The Crock Pot instructions indicate to add all ingredients to the Crock Pot at the beginning. The instructions also do indicate 8+ hours on low, sometimes it can take longer than 8, Crock Pots can vary in terms of temperature. I would probably have cooked it on high instead. Glad that you were able to save the soup though and I’m sorry it didn’t work out the way you had hoped!
Hi! The recipe calls for water, but you have a pic of chicken broth. Which do you use? Thanks
Water if you have a ham bone, half chicken broth half water if you don’t. ☺️
Very good, we love soup at our home. It’s going into my rotation. I had all the ingredients which made it even more yummy. I love your recipes.
Thanks so much Caron you’re the best!😍 I keep this one in my rotation as well! I love the way it makes the kitchen smell! Thanks so much for the review!
I found this recipe on Pinterest. I looked through all of the recipes and chose this one. It’s great because you can make it by stove top, instapot or slow cooker. Plus this recipe has potatoes, which will make this soup thick and hearty. Wonderful for a cold winter day. I saved the ham bone from Christmas 3 days ago. I am making it right now in the slow cooker. It will be ready for dinner tonight. Can’t wait to eat this soup!
Hi Rosie! I am excited that you’ve got this in the Crock Pot, you are going to LOVE this soup! I actually just finished eating some for lunch!! 🙂 Enjoy!! -Stephanie
You are so right – hands down best split pea soup recipe – and so easy!!!
*I added salt free Greek seasoning and pepper flakes – so yummy<3
I’m so glad you liked it Ana! I had my mom’s help with this one, she’s the split pea soup master!😀 Thanks so much for the review!
What is the number of servings and serving size this recipe makes?
Hi Jane, the servings are at the top of the recipe card, (just for future reference!)- this one makes enough for 6 people. I didn’t measure the number of cups/quarts however. I try to do that nowadays!
On the stove, 2nd hour … do you scrape the meat off the bone at end of cooking, or discard it altogether ( house smells amazing – will serve this tomorrow)
Hey Donna! Sometimes I can’t resist adding some of the delicious meat into the soup, but if I feel like there is enough ham in there already, then I might not. (You can always save that meat and serve it with eggs!) 😉 ENJOY the soup!!!
Made stove top version with these changes:
added ~2 cups of diced celery. Used the olive oil in the recipe to sauté the onion, celery, and carrot before adding. Used water and whatever chicken broth I had open in the frig (probably abt 1 c). Didn’t add the potato. My family loved this.
Glad you enjoyed it Patty!! If you ever try this again, (and use a ham bone), the onions/carrots/celery will rise to the top of the soup and end up cooking in the ham fat, which is why we don’t saute them in oil first! It’s a nice time saver and there is no difference in taste! 🙂
If you use the instant pot method and put the potatoes in at the beginning, after 25 minutes of pressure cooking, won’t the potatoes melt completely? Are they supposed to? If not, how would you recommend I cut the potato so that there are still decent chunks?
Hi Tania, you would just cut the potatoes about 1/2 inch thick or so, the potatoes cook through fine without overcooking. 🙂
My oh my……this soup is the best! I was a bit worried that it was going to be too “brothy” …… but oh no…it thickened up to just the way we like our pea soup. I followed your recipe (isn’t that what a recipe is for?) and wow……. I made it stove stop and probably simmered for about 2 1/2 hours and it was so delicious. We will be having leftovers in about 20 minutes and I know it will be more outrageous! Found this on Pinterest …… will sign up for your newsletters and recipes! Thank you!
I’m so glad you liked the Pea Soup Jano!😀 I loooooove this one! I even love the way it makes the house smell, so warm and comforting. I’m happy to hear you’re signing up for the newsletter, I can’t wait for you to try others! Thanks so much for the review!❤️