Split Pea Soup
Categories: Vegetarian and Vegan ,Food Recipes
Tags: ham soup soups split pea
I'll admit upfront that I'm veering from our rule of sharing recipes made ONLY with ingredients from Trader Joe's. You have to get the split peas elsewhere, but just about any grocer carries them. When I went to my local market, I grabbed the last bag of split peas on the shelf, so clearly a lot of people are making split pea soup this week.
I just leave the soup chunky and textured, but if you want a smooth soup, simply puree the soup in a blender or with an immersion/stick blender. You can also cook the soup in a crockpot. The longer the soup cooks, the more the peas will break down and make for a smoother soup.
Serve with some crunchy croutons or crusty bread, and it makes for a filling, inexpensive meal. It's a nice balance to all the heavy holiday meals that are popular this time of year.
Split Pea Soup Recipe
1 pkg Mirepoix (or make your own by chopping 1 onion, 2 celery ribs, and 1 carrot)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 (32 oz) carton chicken broth or vegetable broth (4 cups)
4 cups water
2 cloves garlic, crushed, or 2 cubes frozen Crushed Garlic
1 tsp oregano
Leftover ham bones and up to 1 cup chopped ham (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Optional garnish - croutons, chopped ham, or parsley
1. Wash and drain peas (no need to soak).
2. In a soup pot, saute Mirepoix (onions, celery, carrot) in oil for 10 minutes or until vegetables are softened. Add broth, water, peas, garlic, oregano, ham bones, ham, salt, and pepper.
3. Bring soup to a boil, then lower heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour or until peas are tender and soup is a green color.
4. Remove bones, tearing off any ham meat to add back to the soup. Taste and add more salt if needed.
Serves 8.
Variation: use 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary instead of oregano 
My wife and I converted this to vegetarian by using bacon salt in place of ham. I know it sounds weird, but it actually worked out really well.
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Great tip, Wil! I've been meaning to try bacon salt - I love the taste of bacon but try not to overindulge in the fat. Bacon salt is a great way to get that yummy bacon taste without the fat, calories, or even the meat. And it's even kosher!
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We have pea soup w/those little TJ Parmesan Pastry Pups. Yum
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Ever since I was a kid, I have absolutely loathed split pea soup! Still do, unfortunately. But I love most soups and have a huge ham bone stashed in my freezer. Can I use this recipe and switch out the peas for white beans or lentils, or some other type bean? Will it alter the taste? Or perhaps you have another good soup recipe that uses a ham bone and all the meat attached to it? Will appreciate any advice you can provide! Love your blogs...and have BOTH your cookbooks! Thanks for everything, and Happy New Year!
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Gaylee, yes, you can use other beans such as navy beans, lentils, or even a mixture of beans. Trader Joe's has a 17-bean mixture or you can use your own selection of dried beans. Soups are very flexible - you can add more broth/water for thinner soups, or leave it thick like a stew. Happy New Year!
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I always have a problem with the pea soup bone when I just throw the bone in without trying to cut off all of the ham on it. It seems to toughen up too much by the time I am done cooking the soup. I also have a big ole hambone in my freezer and TJ's 17 bean soup mix and Honey Bake Ham's pea soup too so quite the problem.. which do I choose? Yummy! Looks like a great Recipe thanks!
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I think this looks awesome! I heard about you through Networking Witches.
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I made this soup minus the ham. So good! I was prepared to add more salt (to compensate for omitting the ham), but I found it was just perfect. Thanks for posting!
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