Split Pea Soup
Split Pea Soup is a flavorful, hearty soup with tender, shredded ham steak, delicious seasonings, carrots, celery, and of course sweet split peas. And the best part, this soup can be whipped up all in one pot. Minimal dishes equals minimal mess.
Serve with Mom’s Dinner Rolls and Cranberry Jello Salad for a great meal.

We love soup at our house, Zuppa Toscana Soup, Brisket Chili, or Baked Potato Soup. I love this recipe because this soup has it all. Vegetables, protein, and flavor! This soup does not need to be just simply an appetizer with all its filling ingredients. Split Pea Soup can be the star of the show.
While I love a good Tomato Basil Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons, sometimes I want a really hearty soup with lots of protein that needs no additional food to make it a complete meal for dinner.
What You Need to Make Split Pea Soup
No obscure or crazy ingredients in this recipe. In fact a lot of the ingredients you may already have on hand. So let’s pursue this list and get shopping.
- Unsalted Butter
- Vegetables: Onion, Carrots, and Celery Rib
- Spices: Salt and Pepper, Garlic Cloves, Bay Leaves
- Liquids: Water, Chicken Broth
- Meats: Ham Steak and Thick Cut Bacon
- Split Peas
- Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
Supplies:

How to Make Split Pea Soup
Split Pea Soup is a fabulous one pot wonder. Simply start out by simmering some veggies, then bring veggies and other ingredients to a boil. Then just simmer, remove ham and add additional ingredients and further simmer. Lastly remove some ingredients used to flavor the soup, add the ham back in, and season and serve. No headache with this dish. Dinner is served!
Cook Onion and Garlic in Butter Over the Stove
Melt butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat and then add onion and salt. Once the onion is fragrant, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

Add All Other Ingredients Except Carrots and Celery.
Add the ingredients and cook on high until boiling.
Cover and Simmer.
Once boiling, reduce heat to low and then cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
Remove Ham and Shred, Add Other Ingredients, and Simmer.
Remove ham steak pieces. Stir in carrots and celery. Then continue simmering with food covered for 30 minutes. Meanwhile shred ham.

Remove Thyme, Bacon, and Bay Leaves. Add Ham Back In.
Remove thyme, bacon, bayleaves, and discard. Add ham back in.
Season and Serve.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Tips and Tricks for making Split Pea Soup
Making this recipe is Eazy Peazy but here are some helpful tips and tricks so it goes smoothly every time.
- Freeze: This soup can be frozen and whenever I freeze a meal I like to put the date. This way you know when you pull it out of the freezer you don’t have to rely on memory for how long it has been in there. Simply put freezer meals in gallon sized freezer bags and write the date with a sharpie marker.
- Add Water: If leftover soup becomes too thick, add a little water when you reheat the soup.
- Vegetarian Soup: If you want to make Split Pea Soup vegetarian, do it! Leave out the ham and bacon, substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth, and feel free to add larger portions of veggies to it. The ham and bacon do add salt and flavor, so taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Any Peas Work: You can use yellow or green split peas for this recipe. I recommend green though because green split peas tend to be sweeter.
- Add Stuff In: This Split Pea Soup recipe is delicious all on its own. However, if you want to add a little more pizazz, add croutons and a dollop of sour cream on top.

Make Ahead and Storage
How to make this recipe ahead of time:
Split Pea Soup can last in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Follow directions as normal.
- Let the soup cool completely.
- Transfer the soup into an airtight container.
- Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
*Note: Eating it fresh is of course best.
Freezer Meal Option:
- Freeze up to 3 months in the freezer.
- Cool soup completely and then put soup in gallon sized freezer bags and put in the freezer.
- Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Reheat on the stovetop.
Other Great Recipes:
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Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons butter unsalted
- 1 large onion chopped fine
- salt and pepper
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 lb ham steak cut into 4 pieces
- 3 slices thick cut bacon
- 1 pound split peas rinsed
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 carrots peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces
- 1 celery rib cut into ½ inch pieces
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven (5 qt), melt butter over medium-high heat
- Add in onion and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring throughout until onion is softened and fragrant. About 3-4 minutes.
- Add garlic, and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add water, chicken broth, ham steak, bacon, split peas, thyme, and bay leaves.
- Increase heat to high, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 45 minutes.
- Remove ham steak pieces, and set aside.
- Stir in carrots and celery.
- Cover, and continue to simmer for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, use two forks to shred the ham into bite sized pieces.
- Once the 30 minutes is up, remove thyme, bacon, and bay leaves and discard.
- Add ham in.
- Taste, and season with salt and pepper to preference.
- Serve.
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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