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This crockpot split pea soup is loaded with vegetables, fiber, and protein. It is very healthy, creamy, and full of flavor! It’s way better than the canned stuff.
Featured with this recipe
- Crockpot Split Pea Soup Ingredients
- Method to Making Crockpot Split Pea Soup
- Steps to Making Instant Pot Split Pea Soup
- Tips for Making Crockpot Split Pea Soup
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Storing Crockpot Split Pea Soup Leftovers
- More Crockpot Soup Recipes
- How to Make Crockpot Split Pea Soup
- Crockpot Split Pea Soup Recipe
Crockpot split pea soup is rich, warm, nourishing, and incredibly flavorful. It is the perfect soup to warm you up from the inside out on a chilly day. What I love most about making split pea soup in a crockpot is that you can just dump all the ingredients in and forget about it.
This slow cooker split pea soup has all your vegetables, meat, and beans to make a well-balanced meal! Make this crockpot split pea soup after a special occasion like Easter, Christmas, or Thanksgiving. When you have already made a ham. Leftover ham is the perfect way to use that meaty ham bone. The rich flavor from the ham bone will take this soup to the next level. It is a healthy and delicious dinner.
Crockpot Split Pea Soup Ingredients
This split pea soup is simple to make and is loaded with fresh ingredients!
- Hambone – Use a leftover ham bone if possible. Simply add the ham bone to the crockpot with the other ingredients and let it simmer away. It will add a depth of flavor. Remove before serving.
- Peas – Dried green split peas will cook in the crockpot. Find these in your local grocery store near the dried beans aisle. They are small sized and have a pretty bright green coloring.
- Chicken broth – This adds flavor but also gives the soup a warm liquid. You can also use chicken stock.
- Vegetables – Slice carrots, potatoes, celery, onions into slices and chunks. Try to make each type of veggie uniform to the others. This will help the cooking process to be more evenly distributed.
- Ham – Diced ham is cooked in the crockpot. The chunks of ham add texture and protein.
- Garlic – You always need a little garlic! It goes a long way and gives a savory flavor.
- Bay leaf – We love to add bay leaves for an extra boost of richness and flavor. Discard bay leaf before serving.
Method to Making Crockpot Split Pea Soup
The crockpot is always a great way to cook soups! It gives the soup balance as well as cooking it all together and allowing the ingredients to blend together. Cook on high or low for this soup depending on the timeframe you have available.
- Add – If using a ham bone, add it to a large crockpot first. This will take up most of the room in the crockpot.
- Slow cook – Add remaining ingredients and cook on low for about 7 to 8 hours or on high for about 5 hours.
- More meat – When the soup is done cooking, remove the ham bone cut off any good, meaty pieces, and add them straight back to the soup.
Steps to Making Instant Pot Split Pea Soup
If you need to speed up the process of making this soup, throw all the ingredients in a large Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 25 minutes. Make sure to add the liquids first so you don’t get a burn notice. Do a quick release, give it a quick stir, and you are ready to eat!
Tips for Making Crockpot Split Pea Soup
- Veggies – It is okay to substitute! I love all the different veggies in this soup. But you can add or subtract any veggies you like.
- Large batch – This soup makes a huge batch, so if space is an issue in your Crockpot, I suggest cutting the recipe in half.
- Vegan – To make a vegan version of this recipe, omit the ham and swap out the chicken broth for vegetable broth or water.
- Salty flavor – Don’t over-salt! Especially if you are using a ham bone, a lot of that salty flavor will come out in the soup. Wait to salt until the very end and always salt to taste.
- Bacon – Try it with bacon instead of ham or add it alongside the ham!
- Blender – If you prefer a smoother texture, you can use a blender or food processor to smooth it out after cooking. Be careful to do this in small batches because it’s hot! An immersion blender also works great. Puree the mixture until it is at your desired consistency.
“I’ve always had a hard time getting my kids to eat anything “green”, but they tried this & actually went back for seconds! Very rich & flavorful!”
-Rebecca
Frequently Asked Questions
For this recipe, no. They simmer long enough to become perfectly soft and creamy. I do like to give them a good rinse before adding them to the pot though. Just to rinse off any random debris.
I like to always make my split pea soup on the thicker side and add more broth at the end to thicken it if necessary. It is easier to thin out the soup rather than thicken it. However, if you need to thicken your soup after it has cooked, you can stir in some instant mashed potato flakes (or leftover mashed potatoes).
You could use half water half chicken broth if you are worried about the salt. You can always add more later if it needs more flavor!
Read Next: The Best Soup Recipes
Storing Crockpot Split Pea Soup Leftovers
This split pea soup recipe makes a large batch and you are likely to have some delicious leftovers. Placing the leftovers into small portions is helpful or in large bags depending on who and when you will be serving the leftovers.
- Refrigerator – Store your leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freezing – This also freezes nicely so if you make a full batch and can’t eat it all within a few days, freeze it in individual freezer-safe containers. It’ll stay nice and fresh for up to two months.
- Reheating – Reheat slowly on the stove or in the microwave.
More Crockpot Soup Recipes
How to Make Crockpot Split Pea Soup
Crockpot Split Pea Soup
Equipment
- Crockpot
Ingredients
- 1 ham bone (optional)
- 1 package dried split peas about 2 ½ cups or 1 pound
- 9 cups chicken broth if you like it thick, use 8 cups
- 4 carrots coarsely chopped
- 3 medium potatoes diced small
- 3 celery stalks chopped
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2-3 cups diced ham
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- If using a ham bone, add it to a LARGE Crockpot.
- Add remaining ingredients and cook on low for about 7 to 8 hours or on high for about 5 hours. Discard bay leaf before serving.
- Serve with sliced French bread.
Hi I’m having a really hard time getting the peas to soften. 15 hours of slow cooking over two days now.
Help- my mom said maybe I didn’t buy them fresh enough? How am I to know that? I got out of bulk at Whole Foods
That is VERY strange. I have never had them take longer than a couple hours to soften. I would let Whole Foods know that they weren’t good. Hope this helps!
I absolutely love this recipe of split pea soup. Has anyone ever made it in an instant pot or pressure cooker? I am new to the whole instant pot thing and was hoping to try that today to cook it quicker. Does anyone of suggestions on how to do this recipe in an instant pot? Thank you.
I love this suggestion! I will have to experiment with it in the instant pot because I bet it will be great! Let me know how it turns out for you if you try it.
I did try it in the instant pot and it was even better and made it super creamy. I followed your recipe for ingredients, except instead of the 1 tsp salt, I used seasoned salt. However, I followed the cooking instructions from a recipe that Nana used on https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/instant-pot-split-pea-soup-ham-bone/. So instead of 4 hours it took 30 minutes.
This recipe sounds so easy to make ..Can I use shredded carrots..?? thank you !!
Yes, you can use shredded carrots 🙂
Just turned on the crockpot. Can’t wait for 8 hours to go by. Looks great and already smells wonderful. I used a couple of ham hocks so will need to separate the meat from the bone at the end of the 8 hours. Also added just a small amount of already cooked and chopped ham out of a package from the store. Love Split Pea Soup and am anxiously awaiting a bowl! Thank you for the great crock recipe ~ makes it even easier!
Thanks Linda! I’m excited to hear how you liked it.
Thank you Barbi! I’m glad you like the recipe. I like your adaptations to the recipe. Adding marjoram and thyme sounds delicious!
Great soup as per recipe , everyone loved it , thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Rick! I’m so glad you liked it!
I’ve used this recipe several times and I love it! The only changes I make are I smoke a ham a day or two before and put the ham bone in to let it impart is amazing flavor and I wait until the very end to add the diced ham. That way the ham doesn’t lose all of it’s flavor to the soup. If there is leftovers, they’re fiercely fought over.
Very good. Will make again!
I’m trying the pea soup but I don’t have bay leaf can I use oregano
You can definitely try using oregano instead. We haven’t done it that way before but it will probably be ok
OOOPS, meant the PEA basil, ha ha!
Hello Erica!
I absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED this recipe. Sooooo easy and soooooooo yummy (always better the second day too!). I really appreciate your responses to commenters, I used a 6 qt crockpot, and even though I had to leave out some of the diced vegetables and only use one ham hock, I was prepared for my pot to be very full. Going to try the potato basil soup next.
Thanks again!
So glad you liked it! <3
so far things smell great and look great! On high for about 3 hours.. still doesn’t quite look like the consistency.. how long until it starts looking like yours? 🙂
I am hoping that if I give it a few more hours it will soften up..
Thanks!
It will look like ours once you start stirring it all together when it is finished 🙂
Does split peas soup freeze well? I love bringing previously frozen soups to work for lunch. I’m going to make your soup with the ham bone in it.
Thanks,
Lisa
Ehh, I don’t know if it is something I would freeze, but I don’t freeze much. You can definitely try it and let us know how it turns out!
I have made this soup many times and always freeze the leftovers with no problems.
I made this soup today and it was delicious. The only problem is that on low it didn’t cook all the way, I had to cook it down on the stove top for 30 min. I would put the crock pot on high to get it to cook thoroughly. Other than that it was the best split pea I have made and really easy too.
I know different brands of slow cookers can vary in temperatures– sorry it didn’t work on low for you! Glad you were able to simmer it down and it worked for you. 🙂 Glad you liked it!
Did you soak the peas first?
Nope! You can definitely try it that way though!
No
Have this in my crock right now – can’t wait to have it for dinner. My mother always made this for me when I was a wee lil kid, has always been my fave soup. Your crock pot recipe inspired me to make it on this crisp autumn day. Thanks for sharing !!
Excellent recipe–I cut it
In half but otherwise followed it-and used cubes ham –my husband loves it–he usually adds hot sauce to everything but he said this recipe was perfect as is !!!
And it looked like the picture !!!!
have you always made this with cut up ham? have you ever tried it with a ham hock? i’m planning to make this tomorrow and thought i might use a ham hock if i can find one but don’t know if it’ll make any difference.
Ham hock would be great, let us know how is turns out!
Thanks for sharing your great recipe, you saved me, we had all the stuff but I hadn’t made it in years, could not remember how I used to do it. I have a great huge crock pot so this looked easier than I had remembered. Its the recipe I will be using from now on, for sure ! We will do it in the dutch oven over the fire when we are camping as well, Thanks again , cook on and keep sharing
You can replace the ham with corned beef but we like the ham particularly when we get a good one
I’m so glad you found the recipe. It’s a great idea to replace the ham with corned beef – that would be fun for St. Patrick’s Day. Thank you!
I was just wondering if chicken would pair well with this recipe? I always have frozen chicken breast on hand.
I haven’t put chicken in this soup before, but I think it would be fine!