This Split Pea Soup with Ham recipe is by far the best we’ve ever had. You can make this cozy soup on the stove top or in your slow cooker, using a leftover ham bone or just leftover ham and even a store bought ham steak.
Why We Love This Split Pea Soup with Ham Recipe
We’ve been making this Split Pea Soup with Ham recipe for years and we still crave it every time. Try making our Bourbon Glazed Ham or an Easy Baked Ham and use the bone for this soup!
- Brothy and Thick: Of course we want our split pea soup to be thick and creamy and cozy. But we don’t like it so thick and creamy that it resembles baby food. We like some broth, we like some texture – we want it all and this recipe has it.
- Versatile: You can make this soup on the stove top or in your slow cooker, either way is delicious. If you have a leftover ham bone, perfect. Just leftover ham? Use that. Or buy a couple of ham steaks from the store.
- Easy To Make: All you need to do is cook down some vegetables and add the rest of the ingredients to the pot. Cook and serve!
Ingredients For Split Pea and Ham Soup
A photo to show you the ingredients needed to make this soup recipe (minus salt and pepper). For the complete list of ingredients with amounts needed, scroll down to the recipe card.
- Ham: You can use a leftover ham bone with ham left on it, just leftover ham (even if you don’t have a bone) or you can buy a ham steak from the grocery store. A ham bone will lend a deeper ham flavor.
- Split Peas: Split peas are found by the dried beans and lentils at the grocery store.
- Celery: Diced celery, some leaves add great flavor if you have them.
- Carrots: We like to dice the carrots about the same size as the celery.
- Onions: Sweet yellow onions add tons of flavor to the soup.
- Butter and Olive Oil: For cooking the vegetables, both adding different flavors. Can use all butter or all olive oil, too.
- Fresh Thyme: Fresh thyme will add the best flavor but you can also use dried thyme.
- Chicken Broth: We’re using just 2 cups of chicken broth along with 6 cups of water to make the broth. You can also substitute vegetable broth.
- Cumin: Cumin adds a warm, slightly smoky flavor to the soup. You can skip it if you don’t like cumin but try just adding 1/2 teaspoon.
- Bay Leaves: Optional, not shown because I don’t want you to think you have to use them if you don’t have them. I do think they add a nice flavor to this soup so I usually throw them in if I have them.
What Are Split Peas?
Split peas (a legume) are a type of field pea made specifically for drying. When the peas are hulled the split in half, hence the name split peas. Because the peas are “split” you don’t need to pre-soak them because they will naturally cook faster.
There are green and yellow split peas, green we often see in soup recipes like this one and yellow are often found in dishes like curry.
Can I Use A Slow Cooker To Make This Soup?
Yes! While we often cook this split pea soup on the stove, you can also make it with a slow cooker. We do recommend still cooking the carrots, onions and celery on the stove before adding to your slow cooker for best results.
Making this soup on the stove top will take about an hour, while making it in a slow cooker will take 4 – 8, depending on if you’re cooking it on high or low. It all depends on what you have time for, if you’re going to be around the kitchen or not. The flavor really turns out fantastic either way.
How Long Will Split Pea Soup with Ham Stay Good In The Fridge?
This soup is so hearty and filling, a medium sized bowl is really enough for most people. Since this recipe makes a large pot of soup, you’ll most likely have leftovers. Let the soup cool and then store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Or you can freeze the soup for up to 3 months.
That being said, it does depend on how long you had your leftover ham in the refrigerator. Leftover ham is good for up to 5 days in the refrigerator, so if you made this soup on day four of your ham being in the fridge, I would only keep it for another day or two.
Making the soup with your leftover ham doesn’t extend the shelf life of the ham! So If you plan on using up leftover ham to make this soup or maybe our Pasta Fazool recipe, try to do it the day or two after you make your ham. Or you can freeze the ham and use it to make soup within 6 months.
How To Serve
We love serving this soup with buttered rolls or lots of croutons. Or both. A fresh grind of black pepper on top, for me, is a must and also more fresh thyme if you have it. Any type of cracker will work, our preference is buttered saltines…that salty, buttery bite is simply perfect with this thick and creamy soup.
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Split Pea Soup With Ham
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
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Pin RecipeThis Split Pea Soup with Ham recipe is by far the best we’ve ever had. You can make this soup on the stove top or in your slow cooker – with leftover ham, a ham bone or a ham steak from the store!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- Fresh black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves (optional)
- 1 (16 ounce) bag of split peas, rinsed
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 6 cups of water
- 1 ham bone from an 8-10 pound ham, with extra ham on the bone. (Can also use ham without a bone, See note)
- 3/4 pound extra diced ham (depending on how much ham is on your bone, you’ll want about 1 pound total)
- Croutons, crackers or buttered rolls for serving
Instructions
- Add the butter and olive oil to a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the celery, onions and carrots and cook for 5-7 minutes until softened. Season the vegetables with salt, pepper, cumin and thyme.
- Add the split peas, chicken stock and water to the pot and stir. Add the ham bone (or leftover ham or a diced ham steak) and the bay leaves (if using) and then bring the soup to a boil.
- Turn down the heat to a simmer, partially cover the pot and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- After cooking for an hour, check to see if the peas are tender. Usually you’ll need another 15-30 minutes, but just check the consistency of the peas after the first hour.
- When the peas are tender, remove the ham bone to a board to cool. Remove any extra ham from the ham bone and add it back to the soup along with the extra 3/4 pound diced ham. (If using all diced ham and no ham bone, you can add it all in the beginning)
- Remove the bay leaves and serve.
Slow Cooker Instructions
- Add butter and olive oil to a large skillet. Cook the onions, carrots and celery over medium heat for 5 minutes until softened. Add the vegetables to a large, 6 quart slow cooker.
- Add the salt, pepper, cumin, thyme, bay leave, split peas, chicken stock, water and ham bone or diced ham. Stir and cook on low heat for 8 hours or on high heat for 4 hours. Check to make sure the split peas are tender, then remove the ham bone from the slow cooker. Take off any ham left on the bone and add it to the soup. Remove the bay leaves and serve,
Recipe Notes
No ham bone? No problem. Use any leftover ham that you have or buy a ham steak from the grocery store. You’ll need approximately 1 pound of ham for this soup recipe. The ham bone does lend the best flavor to the soup but it’ll also be delicious without it.
Store: Store leftover soup in a container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, depending on how fresh your ham is when you made the soup. Reheat the soup in the microwave or on the stop top.
Freeze: let the soup cool and then transfer to containers or freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost the soup in the refrigerator and then reheat in the microwave or on the stop top.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Fabulous recipe! I loved the spices and used our leftover hickory smoked ham from Christmas- absolutely delicious.
Best Split Pea Soup recipe so far! Heated next day broth was exactly the same as when it was made, no broth needed because of being too thick!
So, so good! We just used leftover ham from Christmas. No bone, no hocks. It was still delicious. This will be our go to split pea soup from here on out.
Amazing! Great recipe and will now be my go to. I used my Easter ham bone and left overs this round. Next round I will use the smoked ham hock I have in the freezer. Thank you for the great recipe!
You’re welcome! We’re so glad that you enjoyed it!
Are you missing the addition of the cumin in the recipe?
Yes, thank you I updated that!
Fantastic recipe! In place of ham I had about 1/2 pound of pork belly (i.e. about 50% fat) plus I added a few potatoes. The result? An absolute winner, and perfect for a cold winter’s night. I’ll be making this again!
Well that sounds amazing…happy to hear that you liked it Jennie! If you could give the recipe a star rating along with your comment we’d really appreciate it!