Creamy, Bacony, Split Pea Soup with Ham

 

Now here's a dish that's so wonderfully simple, and literally quite heartwarming for a cold winter day. It's creamy and fragrant, yet at the same time, is relatively healthy! Split pea soup seems to get a bad rap - probably because it can be done quite poorly. Bryan had it for lunch at a restaurant the other day and it was bland and mushy. But - make it yourself, and you're in for a treat.

The split peas in the soup take on an almost parmesan cream flavor, despite the fact that no cream is added in this recipe - we're at a loss for why that happens, if anyone knows, let us know why in the comments! The soup takes only minutes to come together, has a simple set of ingredients, and can easily be pulled together any night of the week. Follow this recipe and give it a try!

Making the Soup
Get started by chopping up your ingredients. You'll need to dice up some onions, celery, and garlic, as well as shred up some carrots. Additionally, if you're using some nice thick cut ham (great if you're doing this after Easter or another holiday in which you eat ham), dice this up now into cubes as well.

Ham, whole frozen peas, and shredded carrots

In your soup pot, take two pieces of bacon and cook them on medium to low heat, cooking slowly so that the fat renders out without burning the bacon.

Simmering bacon - nothing better than this

Once the fat has rendered, remove the bacon strips from the pot and set aside. Into the fat, throw your onions, garlic, shredded carrot, and celery, as well as a dash of salt, cooking over medium high heat until the vegetables are nice and soft.

Adding in the veggies to the bacon fat (yum!)

Once the vegetables have softened and have lightly caramelized, add in your split peas and stir around for a minute, cooking them briefly. Then, add in the chicken stock, bring to a boil, and then cover and simmer for about 25 minutes until the peas have softened and the soup has taken on it's split pea color and smell. If you want to be adventurous (we did!) add the strips of bacon back into the pot while it's simmering so that the flavor of the bacon truly permeates the soup.

Split peas - artfully photographed

After 25 minutes have passed, check the soup and see if everything has softened nicely. You may need to give it some extra time. At time point, you can process about half of it in a food processor or blender and return it to the pot when done - or use an immersion blender until the soup gets to the desired level of consistency. Bryan tends to like his split pea soup very smooth, but you may like it a little chunkier.

Adding the rest of the ingredients and seasoning to the split pea soup

Once the split peas have been puréed with the blender or processor, add in the remaining ingredients - the cubed ham, whole peas (if using), and seasoning. We used salt, pepper, thyme, and some cajun foreplay.

Stir everything together and let simmer for another 10 - 15 minutes, uncovered, until the soup gets to your desired level of consistency. Then, serve and enjoy!

The Result
As we said, throughout this process we kept smelling the distinct smell of parmesan cheese, even though we hadn't used any. Regardless, the end result was almost creamy in flavor, and the seasoning gave it a nice, savory, subtle heat to top it all off. Serve this with crusty bread for a full meal, or delight guests with this as an appetizer. They'll be sure to love it!

Have a favorite wintertime soup we could make? Let us know about it in the comments!

Click through for the full ingredients list!

Split Pea Soup with Ham

Written by: Herbie Likes Spaghetti

The Perfect Soup for a Cold Winter Night

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min

(Serves: 2 - 4)

1 rib celery
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 shredded carrot
1 cup split peas
15 oz chicken stock
2 strips bacon
1 cup cubed ham
1/2 cup whole frozen peas (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp thynme
1 tsp cajun seasoning (cayenne