Split pea soup with ham

Split peas are not green peas

Split peas are field peas that have been dried, hulled and split in half. They cook down into a thick, earthy soup that tastes nothing like a soup of fresh or frozen peas. For the bright green, sweet kind that takes 20 minutes, see our green pea soup. This one takes longer, costs less and is far more filling.

Do you need to soak split peas?

No. Because they are split and have no skin, split peas cook through in 1 to 1 1/2 hours without soaking, and they fall apart on their own without any blending. Like the red lentils in our red lentil soup, they only need a rinse. Pick through them as you rinse, because bagged peas occasionally include a small stone.

Age matters more than soaking. Split peas that have sat in the pantry for years can take much longer to soften, and sometimes never break down fully. Hard water slows them down too. If your peas are still firm after 1 1/2 hours, keep simmering and add water as needed.

Split pea soup with ham hock

A smoked ham hock is the lower part of a pig's leg, cured and smoked. It is mostly skin, bone and connective tissue, with a few ounces of meat. That is exactly why it works here: over an hour and a half it gives the soup smoke, salt and gelatin, which gives the soup its body. You will find hocks near the bacon and ham in most supermarkets.

Other ways to get the ham in:

• Leftover ham bone. The bone from a holiday ham, with some meat still on it, is the classic use for split pea soup and works just like a hock.
• Diced ham. Use about 2 cups (10 oz) of diced cooked ham. It has less smoke and no gelatin, so the soup is a little thinner. Stir it in for the last 10 minutes so it stays tender.
• Both. A hock for flavor plus a cup of diced ham gives you more meat in every spoonful.

The hock is salty, so add salt only at the end, after tasting.

Green or yellow split peas

Either works, with the same cooking time. Yellow split peas make a golden soup with a slightly milder taste. Green ones give the familiar color and a little more of a pea flavor.

How thick it should be

Split pea soup should be thick enough to coat a spoon. It keeps thickening as it cools and sets almost solid in the fridge, so thin it with water when you reheat it. Stir often toward the end of cooking: as the peas break down, they sink and stick to the bottom of the pot, where they scorch easily. For a smooth soup, give it a few pulses with a stick blender; for a rustic one, just whisk it hard.

Instant Pot split pea soup

Soften the vegetables on Sauté, then add the peas, hock, herbs and only 6 cups of water, since nothing evaporates under pressure. Keep the pot no more than half full, the limit for foods that foam; in a 6-quart pot, make two thirds of the recipe. Cook at high pressure for 15 minutes and let the pressure come down naturally, at least 15 minutes. Split peas foam a lot as they cook, and a quick release can spray that foam out of the valve. The soup looks thin when you open the lid; stir it well and it thickens within a few minutes as it stands.

Slow cooker split pea soup

Put everything in the slow cooker raw, with 7 cups of water instead of 8. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours, until the peas have broken down. Pull the meat from the hock and stir it back in.

Vegetarian split pea soup

Leave out the hock and use vegetable broth instead of water. To replace the smoke, add 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika with the garlic, and finish with 1 tsp soy sauce and the vinegar. Made with olive oil, it is vegan. A bowl then has about 320 kcal, with 19 g of protein and 3 g of fat.

Keeping it

Four days in the fridge and three months in the freezer. It freezes very well, since there is no dairy or potato to change texture. It tastes even better on the second day.

What it is worth nutritionally

A bowl of about 1 2/3 cups has about 370 kcal, with 25 g of protein, 8 g of fat and 52 g of carbohydrate, including about 20 g of fiber. That is more than two thirds of the daily value for fiber, in one bowl. Most of the protein comes from the peas themselves, not the ham. Split peas are also a good plant source of iron and folate; see our guide to iron-rich foods for how to absorb more of it. The ham hock makes the soup high in sodium, so taste before adding any salt.