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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.
Instant Pot Potato Soup
Instant Pot Potato Ham Soup
Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana (Sausage Potato Soup)
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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omg. delicious. I used some bfast sausage left over from a campout and some salt cured pork ham. doubled recipe and used 1lb of split peas and 12 oz of split mung beans. DELICIOUS.
Thank you, Meeree! I appreciate your review! So glad you enjoyed my recipe!
Excellent recipe Sandy! Made it vegetarian and also hand blendered mine before serving. It was smooth and stick to your ribs thick and was fantastic with some garlic croutons on top. Thank you for posting this recipe 🙂
Thank you! I’m happy you liked it!
Thanks for the receipt Sandy! It is a very cold, blustery day and this was great for warming up. I didn’t have carrots so used sweet potato and it was delicious!
Omg we loved the soup so easy and it was delicious
I used whole baby carrots and it came out perfect I did double the recipe it was very thick so I added some broth after it cooked I used my honey baked ham pieces and bone
Omg yummy
I have been using my IP for over a year now and this is one of my all time favorites!! I highly recommend this recipe. Thank you for making one of my favorite foods so easy and delicious!-Eileen from Long Island, NY
Hi Eileen, thank you so much for your review! I’m happy that you liked this recipe!
This is a fabulous soup recipe. My seven year old son who doesn’t like any soup had 3 servings. I used bacon bits from Costco and 6 cups of chicken broth. I didn’t need to add extra salt. The instant pot is perfect for split pea soup. Thank you for this recipe.
That’s great, Sara! Thank you!
This is basically the same pressure cooker recipe I’ve been making for 45 years. I don’t find sauteing adds much to the recipe, just makes it a longer process. but I’m glad to see I can use my Instant Pot because I had read thar it can’t be used for split peas.
That’s great, Charo! My mom was my inspiration for this version. Enjoy!
One question: If you use the hambone and the diced ham, I assume that you add the diced ham at the end of the cooking time. I’m afraid that if you use the diced ham cooking under pressure it would take all of the flavor from the ham out
You can do it either way. Personally, I add the ham and let it cook. The flavor has been great. Maybe it depends on the ham? Not sure.
Getting ready for an Arctic front. We are so lucky that here in Westchester County we have a new honey baked ham store! Not only can you purchase ham for Easter or Christmas, they also sell ham bones. The bones are left over from the sandwiches they sell too. They have so much meat on them, I think it’s cheaper to buy a honey baked ham bone and cut off the meat then to buy ham at the deli. Using my hambone for soup today. You can cut the butt end Hambone into two pieces. Using one section for split pea soup and the next section for black bean soup
Thank you for this great recipe! I’ve always loved making split pea soup and this was the first recipe I tried with my Instant Pot. I’ve made it twice now with a few variations, and it will continue to be a staple of my “winter” (I live in Los Angeles) recipes 🙂
Thank you, Kiley! I’m glad this was a comforting meal for you on a “LA winter” day!