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Ham is a tradition in our house on Easter. This year it was this Maple Glazed Spiral Ham, yum!
Over the years, I’ve come to discover a couple of mighty fine ways to put the bone from my Easter ham to use in the days following the holiday. Baked Beans from Scratch are at the top of that list and now this soup, thanks to my sis, Marj.
She has lots of good ideas and this is one of them. Love ya, sis.
I’m so drawn to the idea of making use of the entire ham, including the bone. There’s just something old-timey about it.
You know that our Grandmas would have never considered throwing that beautiful, meaty ham bone in the trash so why should we? These recipes that involve the leftovers can become as traditional in your home as the holiday meal they stem from.
It all starts with a 16 ounce bag of green split peas. Split peas have all kinds of wonderful qualities that are so fabulous that we need to talk about them for a minute before we make soup.
First, they are rich in soluable fiber which, in addition to helping to keep our cholesterol and blood sugar levels in check, also helps to make us feel full and satiated for a good long time.
It’s a stick to your ribs kind of food. They’re also high in protein and low in fat. And, they’re tasty to boot!
Give them a good rinse and pick through them to be sure there are no small pebbles or debris before you transfer them to your slow cooker.
Just like dried beans, split peas require a slow, long cooking time in order to become tender enough to consume. This is why the slow cooker method is far and away the best method for preparing Split Pea Soup.
The dry peas will break down and transform in front of your eyes into a beautiful, thick and creamy soup over the course of the cooking time. The longer you let them go, the creamier your soup will be.
And, this my friends, is a good thing.
Transfer the rinsed and drained split peas to your slow cooker and layer on the veggies – chopped carrot, celery, onion, and minced garlic.
Bring on the herbs – chopped fresh Italian parsley and thyme. Season with one teaspoon of salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste.
Toss in a bay leaf and tuck that meaty leftover ham bone down into the mixture.
You can see I didn’t work too hard to trim the meat from the bone. This meat will be a lovely addition to the finished soup.
Add about 4 to 5 cups low-sodium chicken broth.
You only need to add enough broth at this point to cover the split peas and veggies. Reserve the remaining broth to be added towards the end of the cooking time, if needed.
Place the cover on the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours.
Now and then throughout the cooking time, give it a stir and add a little chicken broth if you feel it’s needed. If you’ll be gone for the day, just stir it well before you leave and it will be fine in your absence.
Let it cook until the peas have softened to your liking and the soup has a nice, creamy consistency. Remove and discard the bay leaf and remove the ham bone. Tear off any remaining meat and return it to the slow cooker.
This is one wholesome and delicious pot of soup! It freezes and reheats exceptionally well – see the printable recipe below for all the details.
Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 16 ounce bag green split peas, rinsed well and drained
- 2 carrots peeled and chopped small
- 2 ribs celery chopped small
- 1/2 cup finely chopped white or yellow onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian flat leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon salt plus additional as needed
- Fresh ground pepper to taste
- 1 meaty ham bone
- 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth or more, as needed, divided
Instructions
- Layer the ingredients, through the ham bone, in a slow cooker in the order listed. Add about 4 to 5 cups of chicken broth, just enough to cover ingredients. Reserve remaining chicken broth for later. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours.
- Stir occasionally during cooking time. When peas are tender, remove ham bone to a cutting board. Pull off tear the ham into small pieces and return it to the slow cooker. Discard ham bone and bay leaf. Use a spoon to lightly mash some of the peas against the side of the slow cooker and stir until nice and creamy, adding more broth, if needed, to reach desired consistency. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, as needed.
- This soup freezes exceptionally well. Freeze cooled soup in freezer containers. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then reheat in microwave or in a saucepan on the stove. When reheating, thin with a little water or chicken broth, if desired.
Recipe Notes
The total cooking time and heat level have been adjusted since this recipe was originally published based on reader feedback. All slow cookers can vary so please watch and adjust cooking time as necessary for your appliance.
Nutrition
Martha says
What size crockpot do you use. If using a larger one, would doubling the recipe work?
Valerie says
I used a 6-quart slow cooker. A good rule of thumb is to be sure not to fill your slow cooker more than 2/3 or at the very most 3/4 full.
ali says
omg!!! perfect. I made this yesterday and based on how wonderful the soup turned out signed up to be on your recipe email list. I know I won’t be disappointed.
Valerie says
Yay! Welcome, Ali. So glad you loved the soup 🙂
Kristin says
Valerie, I have been making this delicious recipe for several years now. Everyone I make it for simply loves it, my husband, mother, mother-in-law and my 2 sons. I made for tonight and one of my sons wiped his bowl dry with a piece of bread. At this challenging time in our community, my family came to the table tonight and enjoyed this wonderful soup. Thank you. Your recipe brought my family joy.
Karen Dolce says
I want to try this recipe but my pantry is stocked with regular chicken stock not low sodium. Since several of the comments are that the soup can tend to be too salty if not careful I will not add salt until the end to taste. However, what would the ratio of water to regular chicken stock be to be able to dilute my regularl chicken stock down effectively?
Valerie says
Hi Karen. It’s fine to use regular chicken broth as a direct substitute for the low-sodium. I wouldn’t dilute the broth with water. Just taste and season accordingly.
Rose C says
I made this soup today. It is delicious! I followed the recipe as written. I will definitely make it again. Thank you!
Nina says
I just made this soup and only used one large hammock and then about half an hour before we ate the soup., I cut up four medium potatoes into small cubes, put them in the microwave for five minutes and then added them into the soup for a little more texture. It was very very good!
Thanks Valerie!!
Nina says
That’s supposed to be ham hock not hammock and I cooked it on high for 5 hours
Denise Silveira says
Just finished making this wonderful split pea soup. Made a couple adjustments. I used two ham hocks instead of a ham bone. Used dried parsley flakes and thyme instead of fresh. (Too raining to run to the store). I have a very old crockpot, so I ended up cooking it on high for the 10 hours. Finally in the last two hours the peas started to soften up. Took out the two ham hock and cut off any useful meat. Due to my timing, put the soup in the fridge overnight. This morning using my hand blender, blended the soup to smooth it out a bit. Then added chunks of ham that I had been waiting to use for the soup. Now I am rewarming on low in my old crockpot. My husband has already given his thumbs up due his many times if taste testing. This soup will be made many more times.
Karloz says
Ok, I cheated quite a bit on this one. Let me fill you in.
First, I didn’t have a ham bone or could I find a ham hock at the grocery stores. So, I settled on a smoked pork chop (chuleta ahumada) from a carneceria. I only got one, but should’ve gotten two. Three would’ve been too many in my opinion. No fresh thyme available so I used ¾ tsp. powdered thyme.
Using a crock pot, I only cooked 4 hours on high. I removed the pork chops, shredded them and returned them to the pot. The peas were pretty soft. The onion and garlic had not completely cooked down, but there wasn’t any really large chucks in the soup.
Ok. The soup. Absolutely delicious. No crunch to the peas. Low sodium broth provided excellent flavor base. If I were using ham bone or hock, I would definitely go the eight hours on low. However, with the smoked pork chop, I was confident I could go four hours on high.
I will make this again. I think I’ll also play with it a bit. Maybe heat it up a bit with some chili. Maybe put a bit of curry in there. Fun to be had.
The cat just finished cleaning the bowl. ‘nough said?