Hearty, healthy crock pot split pea soup with ham, carrots, onions, celery, and dried herbs, partially pureed for an easy dinner soup recipe.
If you need an easy dinner recipe to throw into the slow cooker, split pea soup with ham is your answer. It is filled with protein-rich split peas, hearty vegetables, fresh herbs, and a little diced ham for flavor.
When it is cold outside, nothing tastes better than hot soup, fresh from the slow cooker. Pair it with cheese biscuits, a grilled cheese sandwich, dinner roll, or cornbread and leave the table feeling full and satisfied.
If you have a whole ham bone, consider making pressure cooker split pea soup with ham bone.
RELATED: Interested in other soups with beans? Try 15-bean soup, Cajun 15-bean soup, and taco soup.
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You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy to make ahead. Easy to freeze.
- Hearty and filling.
- Conveniently cooked in the slow cooker.
Split Pea Soup Ingredients
Split Peas: Split peas are the main ingredient, the star of the show. Split peas are peas, which have been removed from their pod. Then they are dried, peeled, and split.
Do Split Peas Need to be Soaked Before Cooking?
Split peas can be cooked without soaking and many people can eat them without experiencing intestinal gas.
However, I recommend soaking the split peas to shorten cooking time and to help eliminate gas.
To cut down on cooking time, pre-soak the split peas overnight. It will take 3 to 4 hours to cook pre-soaked split peas on the low setting of your crock pot. Otherwise, raw split peas will take 8 or 9 hours to cook on low.
Vegetables: Carrots, celery, and onions are the main vegetables in split pea soup. These three vegetables are the flavor base in many soups.
In this recipe, do not pre-cook these three vegetables as you would when making a mirepoix. Instead, add them raw to the crock pot and they will slow cook with all the other ingredients.
The flavor combination of carrots, celery, and onion balance the taste of split peas, which can be overpowering without other ingredients to soften it.
Ham: Diced ham, ham hock, Canadian bacon, and turkey bacon are all examples of ham that can be added to split pea soup.
Ham hock probably adds the most depth of flavor as the soup slow cooks, but any ham adds a meaty, salty, or smokey flavor, depending on the type of ham you use. After I cook a ham for dinner, I usually use the leftovers in the soup.
You can also buy deli ham if you don't have ham leftovers.
Vegetable or chicken broth: Broth gives the soup more flavor than just cooking the soup with water.
I recommend using Better than Bouillon concentrated vegetable base. The bouillon contains seasoned, concentrated vegetables.
As a bonus, Better than Bouillon also contains less salt than other bouillons or broths. Add 1 teaspoon vegetable base for every cup of water. Whisk together until combined.
Alternately, you can use your favorite pre-made vegetable or chicken broth.
Herbs: Thyme is my favorite herb to flavor split pea soup. Oregano is my second favorite. I also add bay leaves, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Dried herbs are a better choice to use in a crock pot soup since the flavor of fresh herbs diminish when they cook for a long time.
Dried herbs also save time since you don't have to mince anything. Just make sure that when you open your herb container and take a sniff, you can smell the aroma of the herb. Otherwise, the herbs are too stale to use.
Add salt and pepper at the end of cooking time to adjust the taste.
Salt is a little tricky in split pea soup with ham. The salt content of broths vary widely. In addition ham is a salty meat. I recommend only adding 1 teaspoon of salt to the soup as it cooks.
When it is finished cooking, taste it and add additional salt if necessary.
How to Make Crock Pot Split Pea Soup with Ham
Using a slow cooker to prepare the split pea soup is always a lifesaver.
This is a great make-ahead meal if you are gone all day and want minimal meal prep time when you get home.
The directions are very easy.
- DICE the vegetables and ham.
- WHISK the Better than Bouillon vegetable base into the water to make the broth.
- COMBINE all the ingredients in the slow cooker container. Give the soup a stir and let it cook 3 to 4 hours.
- REMOVE the bay leaf when the soup is finished cooking.
- PARTIALLY BLEND 1 or 2 cups of soup, if you want a creamier soup.
- STIR the partially blended soup back into the soup pan. Taste the soup and then salt and pepper if necessary.
- GARNISH with bacon and croutons, or other toppings of your choice.
- SERVE with a dinner roll, cornbread, or a grilled cheese sandwich.
How Thick Should Split Pea Soup Be?
Pea soup that is completely pureed is thick. Some people like a thick texture. But that is not what most people prefer.
I used to completely puree my split pea soup because my son is suspicious of green things in his food.
However, my daughter saw the soup in the slow cooker and said, "That looks so good.” But when I started pureeing it, she didn’t think it looked as appetizing and wasn’t as excited.
With only part of the soup pureed, we mixed it all back together and we had a tasty soup that looked and smelled appetizing.
Now we always partially blend the soup and get the best of both worlds.
So how thick should split pea soup be? It should be thick enough that you feel the split peas and vegetables pulling at your spoon as you stir the soup.
But it should not be so thick that your spoon remains upright by itself (even for a few seconds). It should not be mush.
I find that pureeing part of the soup gives the soup the right consistency.
Please note: The soup will thicken as it cools. Keep this in mind as you decide how much of the soup to puree. If the soup ever gets too thick, add broth to thin it out.
How to Partially Puree the Soup
When the soup is finished cooking, partially puree it by using an immersion hand blender for 20 to 30 seconds. (Another option is to puree 1 to 2 cups of the soup in a Vitamix blender.)
Then stir the pureed soup back into the rest of the soup.
As a side note: In the United States, pea soup refers to smooth fully blended split pea soup. However classic split pea soup refers to a thinner soup with visible split peas, carrots, onions, and ham.
Toppings for Split Pea Soup
I do not recommend using all of these toppings at the same time. But based on what you have available and your personal taste, these are my favorite toppings.
- Crumbled bacon. You have plenty of time to cook bacon while you make the slow cooker split pea soup. Check out the easiest way to cook bacon in the oven.
- Chopped ham. You used it in the soup. Now use it as a topping for a meatier taste.
- Croutons. Any soup is good with croutons. Make homemade croutons while the split pea soup is cooking in the crock pot.
- Blue cheese. Try a strong blue cheese to compliment the rich taste of the soup.
- Sliced green onions. Add green onions to any of the toppings already listed.
- Sour cream. If you want to add a tang or smooth out the soup, try sour cream as a topping.
- Pepita pumpkin seeds. These are the green pumpkin seeds without the shell. They add a soft crunch.
- Walnuts or toasted almonds. Want an even bigger crunch than pepitas will give? Add chopped walnuts or sliced and toasted almonds as a split pea soup topping.
What goes with Split Pea Soup?
What you serve with split pea soup depends on what you have on hand or what you may want to prepare. The following suggestions are my favorites sides to serve with split pea soup.
- Cheddar cheese biscuits or buttermilk biscuits made with pancake mix
- Dinner roll
- Cornbread
- Grilled cheese sandwich
- Rye bread -- toasted or not
Get even more great ideas for side dishes to serve with split pea soup.
FAQ
If you have leftover soup, let it cool completely before putting leftovers in a storage container. The soup will thicken as it cools. Store the split pea soup in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
Most bean soups freeze exceptionally well and split pea soup is no exception. After the leftover soup has cooled completely, place it in an airtight freezer container. Freeze the soup for 2 to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.
Add broth to the soup when you reheat the split pea soup. Cold soup will be very thick. The amount of broth you need to add depends on how much leftover soup you have.
Add approximately one tablespoon of broth per cup of thick soup and heat on medium low heat, stirring occasionally. As the soup heats, you will be able to see if more broth is needed to get the right soup consistency.
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Recipe
Easy Crock Pot Split Pea Soup with Ham
Ingredients
- 2 cups dry split peas soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
- 4 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth
- 1 cup ham diced or shredded (or ham hock or turkey bacon)
- 1 cup yellow onion diced (about ½ medium onion)
- 1 cup carrots diced (about 4 medium carrots)
- 1 cup celery diced (about 4 medium celery stalks)
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon salt to taste — depending on saltiness of broth
- ¼ teaspoon pepper freshly ground
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley plus ½ teaspoon fresh to garnish (optional)
Garnishes
- Crumbled bacon
- Croutons
- Sliced green onions
- Blue cheese crumbles
- Chopped walnuts or toasted pecans
Instructions
- SOAK split peas for 8 hours or overnight with at least 8 cups of water in the bowl.
- DRAIN and rinse the split peas after they are finished soaking.
- DICE onion, carrots, celery, and ham. MINCE garlic and fresh parsley (optional).
- POUR all ingredients into a slow cooker, except for the fresh parsley. STIR to combine.
- COOK on low for 3 to 4 hours, or until split peas are cooked. Stir ingredients again.
- OPTIONAL: Remove 1 to 2 cups of soup and blend. Stir the blended soup back into the rest of the soup and stir to combine.
- TASTE AND SEASON with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
- GARNISH with fresh parsley and crumbled bacon, or other desired toppings.
- SERVE hot with a dinner roll or cornbread on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
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More Soups to Try
- Black Bean Soup: Mouthwatering vegan black bean soup made with roasted polbanos and tomatillos, corn, red onions, carrots, celery, and cilantro.
- Butternut Squash Soup: Rich, creamy soup with butternut squash, cream cheese, white beans, diced tomatoes, and flavorful herbs.
- 15 Bean Soup: Craving a hearty meal? How about a soup stuffed with protein? Wholesome beans and savory meat crammed into one soup bowl. That is what you get with this colorful, scrumptious 15 bean soup recipe.
- Vegetable Soup with ground beef: Combine tender vegetables and savory ground beef in a flavorful broth to get a mouthwatering vegetable soup with ground beef, packed with vitamins, minerals, and protein.
- Pumpkin Soup: Blend fresh herbs and spices with pumpkin puree, coconut milk, ginger, and apples in this seasonal soup, ready in 30 minutes.
- Turkey Soup: Use leftover turkey, along with potatoes, onions, leeks, celery, and herbs for a true comfort food experience. Don't have turkey? Substitute chicken instead.
- Slow Cooker Taco Soup with ground beef: Soup with ground beef, 3 kinds of chiles, 2 kinds of beans, and fresh herbs and spices.
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