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Instant Pot Split Pea Soup is a good recipe to use for leftover ham! Quick cooking and easy to make, this flavorful pressure cooker split pea soup is one of my most popular recipes. It’s really delicious!
Instant Pot Split Pea Soup
Turning on the Way-Back Machine, I can recall eating Split Pea Soup when I was still in a high chair! It has always been a favorite soup recipe of mine. This recipe is inspired by my Mom.
Use Leftover Ham
If you cooked a bone-in ham you can use the meaty ham bone to flavor this soup.
If you don’t have a bone, just use the ham meat, cubed. It will still add the flavor you want.
You can also use ham hocks. Best if not frozen.
A Faster Split Pea Soup
When I make Split Pea Soup on the stove, it takes 2 to 3 hours, though it tastes awesome!
I wanted to have a quicker cooking split pea soup, so I adapted my recipe for the Instant Pot®.
Pressure cookers are great for just this kind of recipe, as the flavors are extracted from the ingredients and make the broth taste delicious!
Pressure cookers speed up the process and cook the soup in way less time than on the stove.
Instant Pot Split Pea Soup only takes about an hour, with the sautéing and natural release, so that’s a big time saver! The peas come out nice and soft, and the flavor is very good!
If you want a Vegetarian or Vegan pressure cooker split pea soup, omit the butter (for vegan), use vegetable broth, and try some liquid smoke to give the soup a nice smoky hint of flavor.
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Instant Pot Beef Barley Vegetable Soup
Instant Pot Ham Hock and Bean Soup
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If you make this yummy pressure cooker split pea soup recipe, let me know! Please leave a comment with a star rating below. I’d love to know how you liked it!
Instant Pot Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- 1 Onion, diced
- 3 Stalks of Celery, diced
- 2 Bay Leaves
- ¼ tsp Thyme Leaves, dried
- 3 Carrots, chopped
- 4 cloves Garlic, pressed or finely minced
- ¼ tsp Pepper
- 6 cups Chicken or Vegetable Broth low sodium (use only 5 cups for a thick soup, 7 cups for a thinner soup)
- 1 lb Green Split Peas, rinsed and sorted (unsoaked)
- 1 tsp Liquid Smoke (Optional) for vegetarian version
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt (add last, after cooking, if needed) (1/4 tsp table salt)
Use any of these for your meat (or a combination of them)
- 6 slices Bacon (Optional) chopped
- 2 small Ham Hocks (Optional) Not very meaty, but add a nice smoky flavor and richness.
- 1 Leftover Ham Bone (Optional) I like to use this with the diced ham
- 2 - 3 cups Diced Leftover Ham (Optional)
Instructions
- Turn the pressure cooker on to the Sauté function. Let it warm up and add the olive oil and butter.
- Add the onion, celery, bay leaves, and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion starts to turn translucent.
- Add the carrots, garlic, bacon or ham, if using, and pepper. Cook for a minute.
- Add the broth and ham bone or ham hocks, if using (Add liquid smoke, if using, for vegetarian method). Let come to a simmer.
- Stir in the split peas.
- Place the lid on the pot and lock it in place. Set the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
- Cancel the sauté function and Choose Pressure Cook/Manual, and use the + or - or dial to choose 18 minutes. High pressure. It will take a few minutes for the pot to come to pressure.
- When the cooking time has finished, let the pot sit undisturbed for 15 minutes to naturally release some of the pressure. Then turn the steam release knob to Venting to quick release the remaining pressure.
- When the pin in the lid drops down, carefully open the lid, facing away from you. Remove the bay leaves and the bone or ham hocks, if you used them.
- Taste and add the salt as desired.
- Serve hot. The soup will thicken quite a bit when it cools, that is normal.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
RESOURCES TO MAKE Instant Pot Split Pea Soup recipe and more
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This was amazingly delicious!! I’m probably going to have to battle my 5yo and 8yo for leftovers. 😉
This was my first ever Instant Pot recipe, and it was a wonderful way to get started. I’ll be making this recipe again, and I have plans to check out some more of your recipes.
Thank you for a tasty start to my Instant Pot journey!!
I like to keep this vegetarian. How much liquid smoke do you recommend? Recipe doesn’t give a quantity
To taste. About 1/2 to 1 tsp. Add more after tasting if you like a stronger smoky flavor.
This was amazing!!!! Thank you! I added 1/2 tbsp of paprika instead of ham and 6 cups of vegetable broth. It was amazing. My kids ate 3 plates with rice and biscuits.
Wow, wow, wow – this was SO delicious. I used 7 slices of regular bacon, naturally smoked, and 20 baby carrots instead of chopped carrots, and it turned out PERFECT. I added the salt at the end and some extra black pepper for our tastes, but both of us went back for a 2nd bowl. So so easy, and so so delicious!
Your split pea soup recipe is the first dish I’ve made in my brand new Instant Pot, and I couldn’t possibly be more pleased with both! This was the very best split pea soup I have ever had, and I’ve been a fan of this soup for decades.
I pretty much followed your recipe and after my first taste, I’m not going to change a thing the next time I make it.
Thanks for a wonderful meal!
I’m trying today after reading I love split pea soup. The first time trying it this way. None of the recipes have failed me yet. And today is NOT going to be the first.
My first time making split pea soup was with this recipe. Hubs and I loved it!
Perfect! I made the recipe using half of a ham steak that I diced small enough to fit on the spoon, I made no changes to the recipe and wouldn’t in the future either. Bookmarked and sent to my TNT recipe file.
Sandy, this recipe is great every time. Once again, you’ve made some North West coast tummies very happy at my place. Thanks!
Adore your pea soup so much that we go big with it: 900g bag of split peas, 1/2 tsp thyme, double the garlic, more celery, and enough chicken broth to fill pot to safe max. 😁. Last night’s batch used frozen ham bone + 4 chopped slices of bacon.
Sandy, I love how flexible your recipe is.
Cheers from across the border in Vancouver.☺️
I’ve made this 3-4 times, a little different each time(I.e. I don’t have bay leaves or celery one time or use onion flakes instead of onion, etc) but every time it turns out delicious because the texture of the peas is perfect. Without the hours of stove top cooking. Split pea soup has become my children’s favorite dinner and they eat every bite! They cheer when I say I’ll make it! Thank you thank you thank you for sharing this recipe. (PS also from WA! North of Seattle)
I made this today and it turned out brilliantly! Thanks for the recipe. I used half a pack of green split peas and half a pack of yellow split peas. My husband – who hates a variety of veggies – saw the the celery and carrot cut up and freaked out that they were going in the soup. But I managed to convince him that once I blitz it up at the end he won’t even know that they are in there! So…..happy husband who is having Pie Floater for dinner tonight!