This Instant Pot Split Pea Soup, made with a leftover ham bone (or any other ham), is a game-changer. The pressure cooker cuts the cooking time in half and imparts the flavor of the ham into every scrumptious bite. It’s so simple, but SO delicious. And it’s ridiculously easy to make!
What are split peas?
Dried split peas are part of a food group known as pulses, which include beans, chickpeas, peas, and lentils. I love cooking pulses in my pressure cooker because it takes such a short amount of time, meaning you can start it on a weeknight and have it ready in less than an hour for dinner. My last pressure cooker pulse creation was this Instant Pot Chili, made with dried kidney beans and ground beef.
I love cooking with split peas because they have many of the same health benefits as other pulses, but take a shorter time to cook and don’t require pre-soaking. And they are just so tasty!
And my favorite part about pulses: you get a lot of nutritional bang for your buck. They are one of the cheapest and healthiest foods out there- a whole 1lb. bag of split peas cost me only $0.89 when I made this recipe.
How to make split pea soup with a ham bone
If you’re planning on having ham this holiday season, do NOT throw out the bone! And don’t let the person hosting throw it out either. I fully plan on being “that person” who asks to take the turkey carcass home after Thanksgiving at my in-laws so I can make homemade turkey stock. I don’t care, I am who I am :-)
Adding a ham bone to split pea soup elevates it to a whole new level. There is a ton of flavor in the bone itself, as well as marrow and gelatin, which infuses into the soup as it cooks (which both thickens it and gives it many of the same health benefits as bone broth). And there’s also still likely a lot of meat left on the bone, which will easily come off after letting it simmer in the soup for so long.
Confession: I actually bought a whole ham JUST so I would have the bone to make this soup. Such is the life of a food blogger.
What to do if you don’t have a ham bone
You don’t have to be like me and buy a whole ham just for the bone! If you don’t have a ham bone – since it’s not very often in life that we come across them, is it? – you can definitely just use thick-cut diced ham, or a ham hock.
You can use a smoked turkey leg if you want a pork-free version.
And you can even make this soup vegetarian or vegan by omitting the ham and making a few other changes (see notes in recipe below).
What kind of pressure cooker to use
I made my Instant Pot split pea soup in (you guessed it!) an Instant Pot. It’s a very popular and high-quality pressure cooker, and I’ve been LOVING it.
You can even replace it for your slow cooker (it has a slow cooker setting as well). Pressure cookers not only cut the cooking time of things like pulses and tough cuts of meat wayyyyy down, but I find it also tends to cook things with better flavor than a slow cooker. It also has a sauté function, so you can cook up the mirepoix (that’s the fancy word for the celery, carrots, and onions) right in the pot.
Keep an eye out for black Friday sales- I got my six quart Instant Pot for only around $60 last year (what a deal!).
Don’t have a pressure cooker or instant pot? Just look at the recipe notes below for how to make this on your stovetop or in your slow cooker.
Other Easy Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Chicken, Broccoli, and Quinoa with Cheese
- Instant Pot Pot Roast
- Instant Pot Turkey Breast with Lemon and Thyme
- Instant Pot Pulled Pork
- Instant Pot Fish Stew
Here’s a link to all of my pressure cooker/instant pot recipes! For a plant-based version, try this vegetarian split pea soup with potatoes, lemon, and dill.
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Instant Pot Split Pea Soup with Ham
Equipment
- Instant Pot 6 qt. minimum size, see recipe notes for more info.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 2 carrots diced
- 1 ham bone a smoked ham hock or 6 oz. diced deli ham can also be used
- 1 lb. dry split peas sorted through and rinsed
- 6 cups low sodium chicken stock/broth or veggie stock, water, or a mixture
- 2 bay leaves
- kosher salt and black pepper (see notes)
- chopped fresh parsley for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Turn pressure cooker to the "sauté" setting. Melt butter (3 tablespoons) and sauté onion, celery, and carrots for about 5 minutes, until softened.
- Add the split peas, chicken stock (6 cups), ham bone (or hock or 6 oz. diced cooked ham), and the 2 bay leaves. Turn off the "sauté" function.
- Cover pressure cooker and set to manual, high pressure for 15 minutes.
- Allow the pressure to naturally release for 10-15 minutes. Then, quick release the pressure valve.
- If you used a ham bone or hock: remove the it from the soup and remove the ham meat that’s still attached to it. Add the ham meat back into the soup.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary (see notes). Serve immediately, or store in your refrigerator for up to 1 week or freezer in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Notes
- A note about salt: if you use salty chicken broth, you may not need to add any salt at all since ham is also usually very salty.
- The peas may take longer to cook depending on their age – the older dried legumes are, the longer they take to cook. This can vary based on brand, how long they’ve sat on grocery store shelves, or how long they’ve been in your pantry.
- If you want to use a frozen ham bone, you shouldn’t need to adjust the cooking time, since ham bones are technically already cooked, you’re just reheating it! Keep in mind though, the colder your ingredients are, the longer it will take to come to pressure.
- For a vegetarian version, omit the ham, use more salt and pepper, and make sure to use vegetable stock or water instead of chicken. For a vegan version, use olive oil instead of butter.
- If you don’t eat pork, you can substitute the ham bone for a smoked turkey leg.
- To make this in your slow cooker, add all ingredients (omitting the butter) to slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours, or until split peas are cooked to desired tenderness.
- To make this on your stovetop, sauté veggies as instructed in a large pot. After adding the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for approximately one hour (or until split peas are cooked to desired tenderness).
- Ham usually comes cured/smoked, which means it’s cooked and ready to eat. However, sometimes stores sell “fresh ham,” which means it’s uncooked. Do NOT use fresh ham for this recipe- use already cooked, smoked, and/or cured ham.
- This soup will likely thicken once it cools and is refrigerated, especially if you use a ham bone to make it because of the gelatin. Thin out with water and adjust seasonings as necessary.
- I made this recipe in my 6 qt. Instant pot. It should work the same in an 8 qt., but you may need to cut the ingredients in half for a 3 qt. mini. You should also be able to double the batch in an 8 quart pressure cooker.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Patricia Norman
PRETTY GOOD SOUP AND OH SO QUICK! I might try to add garlic next time. My soup was not thick, so maybe extra peas next time and maybe a potato or 2. Hubby and sis in law loved it!!
Elizabeth Lindemann
It’s so funny, some people say it’s thin and some people say it’s thick! I’m sure that has something to do with the age of the split peas, or the variations in pressure cookers. So happy you liked it!
Kris
I save my ham bone every year for pea and ham soup.
I never considered using the instant pot.
I know what I will be doing this time :)
Elizabeth Lindemann
I really love the way split peas come out in the instant pot- hope you like it!
Renee
Why shouldn’t we use fresh ham? I have a fresh ham steak from someone and was planning to use it in this
Elizabeth Lindemann
The concern is that it won’t cook enough with the amount of time it takes to cook the split peas. If the fresh ham is cut into small pieces, or really thin, it might be fine! But the timing in the instructions is not guaranteed to cook fresh, uncooked ham. Hope that helps!
Tim
Made without bay leaves. Out of. Used minced ham, hit with Emersion blender. A little thick, and a little bland. Will use 7 cups veg stock next time, and will include bay.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks for sharing your experience- also, make sure you use enough salt, especially with vegetable stock as it can be blander than chicken stock!
Sherry
I added one chopped large potato sautéed with the other vegetables, then 1/4 lb cut up bacon and one diced clove of garlic the last 2 minutes of sautéing, for added smokey flavor. I also substituted 1 teas. Thyme for the bay leaves. It was delicious!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing your adjustments!
katherine kodiak
Absolutely loved it. So easy to make and it was delicious. Very thick though. Had to add more water.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Tracey Struthers
Very, very yummy. I made exactly as posted, just needed to add an additional two cups of chicken broth to the soup at the end because soup was super thick, I used a ham bone.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Glad you liked it!
Kat Farlowe
I have been craving split pea soup and thanks to my new Instant Pot this was super easy and came out great. I did add a few more carrots (my preference), used olive oil instead of butter, and when the vegetables were ready, added a large clove of minced garlic and sauteed for about 2 minutes more. I didn’t have a ham bone because my brother threw it out after New Years ( I know, it’s a sacrilege), so I used chunks of ham from a ham steak. Excellent results in no time at all! Thank youa
Kat Farlowe
Oh, and I added a can of hominy. I had it once in the Boston area and it adds a nice texture and depth of flavor.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! LOVE the idea of adding hominy!
Sarah
This is so so good! Thank you for sharing, I’m making it for the second time. Really knocked my ham hock socks off!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
J S
Is there a specific reason you would have to use cooked/cured ham and not fresh?
Elizabeth Lindemann
It won’t cook through the whole way with the given time if you use fresh 😊 you can precook fresh ham if you want, and then use it in the soup!
Alina
Just made this recipe as directed and I loved it! My husband, who says he hates split pea soup said it’s one of the best soups he’s ever had. I was scared that it would be ready so quickly but to my surprise, it turned out better than I could ever imagine.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you and your husband liked it!
Linda
Soup was delicious. I added 3 cloves of chopped fresh garlic, because I think garlic enhances most soup recipes. I used 4 cups low sodium chicken broth and 3 cups vegetable broth. Thank you.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you liked it!
Alyssa
I loved how easy and delicious this recipe was. Thank you so much for sharing. I will definitely double the recipe next time!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks! So happy you liked it!
April
Great recipe, easy to do and tasted great.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks so much! Glad you liked it :-)
Jessica
Came out amazing!!!! Followed recipe to a tee.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks so much! Glad you liked it :-)
Northern Grandma
Love split pea soup!
Following your recipe roughly lol.
Using – 1 cup ea celery and carrot.
9 oz cubed ham steak
1 onion
just under 1 lb peas (package 450 grams)
4 cups mushroom broth 2 cups water 2 bay leaves and tsp pepper 1 1/2 tsp salt.
Cooking as per your recipe
2nd use of my Instant Pot. Normally I would be simmering this all afternoon so if this truly does work then I will be extremely impressed! 15 minutes is unbelievable cooking time. Do things continue cooking on the “cool down pressure release” phase?
Fresh dinner rolls proofing so looking forward to yummy dinner tonight
Elizabeth Lindemann
Hope it worked out well for you, and LOVE the idea of using mushroom broth in this. Yum!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oh and to answer your question, yes, things continue to cook gently during the natural pressure release. I once left it for far longer (about an hour) on natural release for this split pea soup, and while it was delicious, the peas were completely mushy and disintegrated.
Jill
Super easy to make and very good! I used my own ham broth (My husband is allergic to chicken) made from the thanksgiving ham; worked well!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you liked it!
Amanda
Jill, I have ham broth from the holidays, as well. Did you add full amount of ham AND the broth? Seems like that might be too hammy. I’m thinking of using the ham broth and adding a little diced ham after cooking. What did you do?
Jill
Amanda, I had two jars of ham broth each containing about 3 ounces of ham. The total broth was probably equivalent to about roughly 4 cups, so I added two extra cups of a fake chicken broth since my husband is allergic. It’s a little bit thick after being refrigerated but it worked well. I don’t find it too ham flavored! :)
Anne T
I am so happy I found this recipe! I had some leftover ham (and bone) from New Year’s Day and wanted to make split pea soup. I doubled the recipe so I could send some to my in-laws because it’s my father-in-law’s favorite. I added 1 T. minced garlic at the end of the sauté stage.
I also placed my ham bone in cheesecloth, as I hate having to fish pieces of bone out of my soup. It worked great!
One more thing – i added a dash of ground ginger to my individual bowl of soup (just a sprinkle). The soup is excellent as is, but I loved the “mystery” spice the ginger added so much that I added it to the rest of the pot (only a little – a few shakes).
Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Elizabeth Lindemann
This is the second time I’ve heard of adding ginger to the soup, and I LOVE that idea! I can’t wait to try it next time. Also, what a wonderful idea about adding cheesecloth around the ham! Never thought of that! Thanks very much for your suggestions, and so glad you liked it :-)
Barbara
This is soooo good. I never liked split pea soup as a kid, but decided to give it another chance. I am making it for a second time my IP right now using leftover ham from Christmas. Plus, split peas are so good for you! Don’t let how it looks fool you. It is absolutely delicious!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Isn’t it funny how split pea soup is soooo delicious but looks… well, not? It was hard to capture appetizing photos of it haha. So glad you liked it!
laurie
Perfect! Made vegan and it was perfect consistency and flavor.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Paul
Terrific recipe; thanks! Along with the bone I had 6 qts of ham stock from the Christmas ham (Braised and Baked) and that added a ton of depth of flavor. Threw in some ham meat at the end as well. Loved how the veggies disintegrated and added to the peas to make a really thick soup.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks, and so happy you liked it!