Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

Name: Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 4 h
Yield: Serves 9
Ingredients: 1 lb dried green split peas; 2 cups ham steak, cubed (or 1 leftover ham bone); 3 ribs celery, diced; 2 large carrots, peeled and diced; 1 large white onion, diced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 2 bay leaves; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary; 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme; 4 cups chicken broth; 2 cups water; Kosher salt, to taste

An absolute classic made effortless.

Kristy Norrell

Split Pea Soup is not a soup that’s going to win any beauty contests. It’s a shade of green that isn’t particularly appetizing and it’s just, well, homely… BUT, it also happens to be absolutely delicious. On the long list of soups that I love, it sits at the very top – it’s comforting, a little sweet and plenty savory, and the slow cooker makes incredibly easy work of it. (As in, you barely have to do a thing.)

I love to make Split Pea Soup when we have a leftover ham bone but you don’t have to hold out until those circumstances present themselves. In fact, you can usually buy a little package of diced ham at the grocery store and that makes this soup even easier. The only chopping you’ll have to do is for the veggies.

There’s no sauteeing or stovetop work, you just place your split peas, some onion, celery, carrot, and garlic into the slow cooker along with some chicken broth, a couple of bay leaves, and some rosemary, thyme, and black pepper, and then set it to cook and walk away.

It takes about four hours on high or eight hours on low, but then you’ll have a hearty and nourishing soup that’s full of herby flavor and that perfect juxtaposition of sweet peas and savory ham. If you find the soup too thin, you can blend a portion of it (I find about half works well) and stir it back in to thicken things up. Enjoy!