Split Pea Soup:
For some, the chaos of the holiday season is basically over now. If you are anything like our family you over-prepared and now you have enough food crammed into the fridge to last you like, the next week and a half. One of our favorite things to do with our left over holiday ham is to turn it into Split Pea Soup. This is the BEST recipe for split pea soup that you have ever tried, this year it was requested that we actually just skip eating the ham and go straight to split pea. Alright crowd you have spoken and we have listened. Straight from our kitchen to yours is our recipe for Split Pea Soup!
It is sometimes equally important in our house to have a plan for any food that doesn’t get devoured. Because if you have ever hosted you know that the nightmare is not having enough food, and on top of that usually if you make a ton no one is hungry and if you make a modest amount then everyone is begging for more. The frustration! This recipe is such a favorite because we get to use up the leftover ham and also not have to cook dinner for at least a night or two, because I should warn you the recipe makes enough to feed an army, but is easily halved for a more reasonable amount.
- 5 pounds 1/2 smoked ham - shank end
- 2 pounds dried green split peas
- 1 large onion diced
- 16 cups water (approx)
- 5 cups sliced carrots
- 3 cups sliced celery
- 4 cups diced potatoes
- 1 tsp pepper
- salt to taste
-
Remove plastic wrap and (mesh covering from ham if it has it)
-
In large soup stock pot, place ham, diced onion and water. Add 16 cups of water or enough water to cover the ham.
-
Rinse split peas in strainer and add to stock pot
-
Cover, bring to boil and slow boil for 2 hours. Stir frequently as the peas tend to stick to bottom of stock pot.
-
Remove ham from stock. Place on large cutting board.
-
Taste stock to see if it needs any salt. Many times the ham is salty enough to not need any additional salt.
-
Add carrots, celery, potatoes to stock in pot. Cook on low until veggies are tender.
-
While veggies are cooking cut ham from ham bone and dice into bite size pieces. Add this back to stock pot when it is cut. It can simmer with the veggies as they cook.
-
Taste again to see if any additional salt or pepper is needed/desired. Serve with crackers or a great crusty bread.
*This soup will get crazy thick as it cools. To reheat leftovers, one can add a little water as needed to thin.
*You can also make this with a leftover ham bone after one would have baked it for a ham dinner. It will more than likely just have less ham to add to soup.
*My family is silly....most do not like a "ham dinner" so they always ask if we can skip that and go directly to split pea soup.
*I have used a crock pot during part of the making of this soup. I have cooked the ham, peas, onions, water, on stove in stock pot and then moved the soup to a crock pot to add the veggies and ham back in and let the veggies cook in crock pot to finish cooking this soup.
*This recipe can easily be halved for a more reasonable amount of soup.
Enjoy! Also remember that this soup is like MOLTEN when you finish cooking it. Veggies hold heat like no other so take precautions so that you have taste buds left to enjoy it with.
I am now going to go back to enjoying holiday break with the family and maybe I’ll go have a couple of these, but really there is no maybe about it.
Remember to subscribe, comment, like, and share with your friends. We are extra excited to have brand new sharing icons so it is easier than ever!
-POG
Leave a Reply