Split Pea Soup with Ham

Split pea soup is quite possibly one of the easiest soups to make. You basically throw everything into a pot and cook it for about an hour. A hearty, soul-warming soup for those cold winter days!

Course Soups, Stews & Chilis

Cuisine American

Keyword ham, ham hocks, one pot meal, soup from scratch, split pea

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1

Additional Time 10

Total Time 1 25

Servings servings

Calories 489

Author Laurie McNamara

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups diced yellow onion
2/3 cup diced carrot about 2 medium
1/2 cup diced celery about 2 small
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 smoked ham hocks about 1-1/2 to 2 pounds in total weight
2 cups dried split green peas sorted and rinsed
8 cups water
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more to taste

Instructions

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add vegetables, stir, cover and cook for 5-8 minutes (stirring occasionally) until the vegetables just start to soften.
Add in the thyme leaves, ham hocks, peas and water. Cover and increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, crack the lid and reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour or until the ham is tender and the peas are melting into the soup.
Remove the ham hocks to a cutting board to cool and discard the thyme stems. Ladle 4 to 5 cups of the soup into a blender. Remove the center plug from the lid and cover with a kitchen towel to allow the steam to safely escape when pureeing. Pour the pureed soup back into the pot with the remaining soup and keep warm on low heat.
Discard the skin on the ham hocks and remove the meat from the bone (discard the bones as well). Dice the ham into small pieces and add it back to the pot. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired and serve piping hot.

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