- One of my mom's favorite recipes
is a classic split pea soup,
and just smelling this soup while it cooks on the stove
definitely takes me back to my childhood.
It's a simple, comforting and hearty soup
made from a bag of dried split peas,
but what really amplifies the flavor
and makes it next level
is the ham bone that simmers while it cooks.
So if you've got a leftover ham bone
after a holiday like Easter or Christmas,
this is a must-make recipe.
But if you don't have a ham bone lying around,
I'll also give you a few ways
that you can adapt to the recipe and still enjoy it today.
All right, let's dive in.
Similar to my other soup recipes,
this one starts with a mirepoix base
of diced celery, carrot, and onion.
You'll need two stalks of celery,
two carrots, and one onion.
And while I'm dicing those up,
I just have to ask you guys,
does anyone else remember
the Pea Soup Anderson's restaurants in California
in the seventies and eighties?
I remember old family road trips
where we'd pass by those restaurants
and they were notable
because of the big Dutch windmill out front.
And my mom would of course say,
"Ooh, let's stop and get some split pea soup."
Those restaurants, if you didn't know,
have since gone out of business,
but the good news is that you can now make
a very similar restaurant-worthy split pea soup
in your own kitchen.
And making it from scratch
really is the way to go for the best flavor.
Those packaged and canned versions of split pea soup
that you can buy from the market
really are so lackluster compared to this homemade version
with fresh ingredients.
Once you try this recipe,
you can give me your feedback, of course,
but I'm pretty confident that you'll agree with me.
All right, now that the veggies are all diced up,
let's talk about the ham bone.
As you can see from the one I'm using today,
there's still a bit of meat left on it, and that's ideal.
Not only will it flavor the soup,
but you'll chop up that extra ham
and add it back into the soup at the end.
But if you don't have a meaty ham bone,
even a non-meaty one will add flavor.
And if you wanna skip the ham bone entirely,
you can use a ham hock
or simply add diced ham from store bought ham steaks.
I've even used diced panchetta in this recipe before
and skipped the ham entirely.
So point being is that there's lots of options to tweak it
and I'll list all those options for you
in the recipe blog post on my website.
You'll need one pound of dried split green peas
for this recipe,
though you could also use yellow split peas.
Just note that green split peas are a bit sweeter
and yellow split peas are a bit more earthy.
And if you think that the texture of the soup
looks similar to my lentil soup recipe,
that's because split peas
are part of the legume family like lentils
and do cook to a similar soft texture in soups.
Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil
to a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat
and then dump in the carrots, celery, and onion.
Saute that for three to four minutes
or until the veggies of softened,
then mince two garlic cloves on top
and stir that together for another minute.
Add the dried split peas
after you've given them a rinse and sort through.
And pro-tip, just don't rinse them too far in advance,
otherwise they'll clump together.
Then add half a teaspoon of dried thyme,
half a teaspoon of kosher salt,
and half a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper,
and stir it all together.
And see, now you can see what I mean
about the split peas clumping together a bit,
but that's fine.
Just break them up with your spoon.
Next, you'll add the ham bone,
and you can just nestle it in between the veggies.
One bay leaf, four cups of low sodium chicken broth,
and three cups of water.
The ham bone itself
can impart extra salty flavor to the soup,
so I always default to a bit less kosher salt
and low sodium broth to start,
because you can always add more salt to taste
at the end if you'd like.
Give the veggies around the ham bone a stir
just to make sure nothing's stuck together,
then bring the soup to a boil.
Once it's boiling, reduce the heat to a low simmer,
cover the pot and cook the soup for 50 to 60 minutes,
stirring it occasionally until the soup has thickened a bit
and the peas have broken down.
At this point, you'll use tongs
to carefully remove the ham bone to a cutting board,
and then you're gonna dice up
the remaining meat from the bone.
My recipe calls for one cup of diced ham
that you'll add back into the soup,
but if you have a bit more or a bit less,
it's really no biggie,
and if you don't have a lot of meat on your ham bone,
this is where you can just add diced ham
from purchased ham steaks back into the soup.
(cheerful music)
In the five to 10 minutes or so
that it took to dice up the ham,
you can see that the soup has thickened nicely,
and then all that's left to do
is toss the diced ham into the soup
and give it a stir to get all of that flavor dispersed.
Lastly, use tongs to locate your bay leaf
and then remove that,
because no one wants to accidentally chomp down
on a bay leaf in their bowl of soup.
This is a soup recipe
that definitely thickens the longer it sits,
so if you find that it's thickening up
a bit too much for your liking,
you can always add another cup of water or broth
to thin it back down to your preferred texture.
And if you plant a meal prep this soup, which I did do,
be forewarned that it will definitely thicken
into a solid mass in the fridge,
but again, it's super easy
to thin back down when you reheat it.
After serving up portions and individual bowls,
I like to add a little sprinkle of fresh herbs on top
and some freshly ground black pepper
for that finishing touch.
And you guys, I was so thrilled when I made this recipe
that it tasted just like I remembered as a kid,
and it truly is a bowl of warming comfort food.
I hope you all enjoy today's video,
and if you did, make sure to hit that like button
as it helps to support my channel.
Share this recipe with your family and friends
and let me know in the comments below
what favorite soup recipe of yours
you'd like to see me make next.
(cheerful music)