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So simple and delicious, my favorite Split Pea Soup recipe is the ultimate winter comfort food that doesn’t break the bank. I make my split pea soup with bacon for a little bit of smokiness and it makes ALL the difference!
I can’t think of a better lunch or dinner than a big bowl of Split Pea Soup and a hunk of crusty, buttered bread. It’s a surprisingly substantial meal; its naturally creamy texture warms me up all the way to my toes. Seriously, I could make this soup every week and be happy.
A big pot of Split Pea Soup is a great way to use a leftover ham bone from the holidays, too. This easy pea soup can be made with a ham bone, ham hocks, or even a fried-up ham steak for an extra hearty soup. There’s just no wrong way to make Split Pea Soup.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Bacon: Or substitute a leftover ham bone. Since bacon provides a lot of fat for sautéing the vegetables, you’ll need to add ¼ cup olive oil to the skillet to cook the onions, carrots, and celery if you use a ham bone instead.
- Green Split peas: Or substitute quick-cooking red lentils (no soaking required). Pick over split peas before cooking to remove any pebbles or debris.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a Dutch oven over medium heat, fry bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from pot, chop, and set aside. Do not drain grease.
- Add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to the bacon fat and cook until tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add butter and flour and stir for 30 seconds.
- Add chicken broth, water, split peas, bay leaves, and thyme. Bring to boil. Cover and reduce heat and continue simmering for about 2 hours, or until split peas are tender and soup becomes thick and creamy.
- Remove bay leaves, stir in chopped bacon, and season to taste with salt and pepper
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 10 generous servings, perfect for a family with plenty of leftovers.
- Storage: Store leftovers in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Chop the carrots, onions, and celery a day in advance and store covered in the refrigerator (store the onions separately).
- Freezer: Leftover Split Pea Soup freezes beautifully! Store in freezer-safe containers (leaving space at the top for expansion). Label, date, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat to 165 degrees.
- Creamy split pea soup: No cream needed! Use a blender (or immersion blender) to pureé some of the peas to desired consistency for a creamier soup.
Frequently Asked Questions
To make split pea soup in a slow cooker instead of stove top, in a skillet, fry the bacon. When crispy, remove the bacon, chop, and set aside. Add butter and flour to drippings in the skillet and stir until bacon fat, butter, and flour are incorporated and slightly toasted, about 30 seconds. In the bottom of a crockpot, combine the bacon drippings, split peas, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, thyme, pepper, bay leaf, and chicken stock. Cover and cook on LOW for 5-6 hours, or until peas are tender. Remove bay leaves, stir in bacon, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
To make split pea soup in an Instant Pot, set your Instant Pot to “sauté,” add the bacon, and cook until crisp. Remove bacon, chop, and set aside. Add butter and flour to Instant Pot and stir for 30 seconds. Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Add split peas, bay leaves, thyme, and broth, and stir to combine. Lock the lid and set the machine to cook at high pressure for 12 minutes. When finished, carefully turn the steam valve to the venting position to release the pressure. Remove bay leaves, stir in bacon, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
To serve with soup
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Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon preferably thick cut (see note 1)
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 2 carrots peeled and finely chopped
- 2 celery ribs finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 pound split peas rinsed and picked over (see note 2)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven over medium heat, fry bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from pot, chop, and set aside. Do not drain grease.
- Add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to the bacon fat and cook until tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add butter and flour and stir for 30 seconds.
- Add chicken broth, water, split peas, bay leaves, and thyme. Bring to boil. Cover and reduce heat and continue simmering for about 2 hours, or until split peas are tender and soup becomes thick and creamy.
- Remove bay leaves, stir in chopped bacon, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Notes
- Bacon: Or substitute a leftover ham bone. Since bacon provides a lot of fat for sautéing the vegetables, you’ll need to add ¼ cup olive oil to the skillet to cook the onions, carrots, and celery if you use a ham bone instead.
- Split peas: Or substitute quick-cooking red lentils (no soaking required).
- Yield: This recipe makes 10 generous servings, perfect for a family with plenty of leftovers.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Cooking this soup for family thats coming over, can I use gluten free flour in place of the regular flour? Trying to accommodate everyone, thank you 🙂
Hi Holly, I don’t see why not. It’s to help thicken the soup, so any one-to-one gluten-free flour should work. I hope everyone enjoys it! – Meggan
Looks good, but I’d like to make this in my Instant Pot ~ is it possible?
Hi Lisa, yes! Instructions to make it in the Instant Pot are in the post. I’ve copied them in this comment so you don’t have to go searching:
Set Instant Pot to Sauté and add the bacon, and cook until crisp. Remove bacon, chop, and set aside.
Add butter and flour to Instant Pot and stir, cooking for about 30 seconds.
Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes.
Add split peas, bay leaves, thyme, and broth, and stir to combine. Lock lid and set machine to cook at high pressure for 12 minutes. When finished, carefully turn the steam valve to the venting position to release the pressure.
Season with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaves, and add bacon.
Take care! – Meggan
Thanks, Meggan, I can’t wait to try it!
Hey Meggan! I love your recipes and make them constantly, always winners and this was no different….such a great soup and we had a CRAVING for split pea. Just wanted to mention that there is no mention of when to add the thyme in the recipe…I guessed and added it along with the bay leaves but might want to clarify. Thanks all the same 🙂
Hi Amanda, I’m so sorry about that. Yes it gets added with the bay leaves! You probably know this but recipes are supposed to be written with ingredients listed in the order they are used, so with thyme listed after bay leaves that was definitely the right place to add it. So good job! I’ll fix the recipe now, thanks for letting me know and also for all your really kind words. That’s so nice. I appreciate you so much! Thanks again. -Meggan
Hi Meggan, thanks for sharing this great recipe! I was looking for a hearty soup to make with my slow cooker and I tried yours, so delicious! I have also added a bit of yogurt as you suggested and it made it super creamy! Thanks 😀
I’m so glad you loved it! Thanks for letting me know! 😀
My favourite soup of all time! YUM! I can’t wait to try your recipe 🙂