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:
Sally Lilly
It had a lot f ham left over from Easter. I was looking for something quick and easy. I followed the recipe exactly, and it was wonderful. This is definitely a keeper. Thanks for sharing it.
Elizabeth
So glad you liked it!
Shirley
Had a huge ham yesterday, so used the bone! Great simple recipe that I will use over and over again. I read everyone ‘s comments and was pleased that there wasn’t a negative comment in the bunch. ????????
Elizabeth
So glad you liked it, Shirley! Thanks for the comment :-)
Chris
Just made this. It’s delicious. Was out of carrots and had no bay leaves. Added half a red bell pepper and a small sprinkle of Cajun seasoning. Used a ham hock. My go-to split pea recipe. Thank you.
Elizabeth
Happy you liked it!
Beth Epstein
I made this soup in my IP which I got recently for my birthday. I was having friends who don’t eat pork so I used smoked turkey necks that were on sale at my local supermarket. This is similar to using the ham hock that someone else suggested, as they are both smoked and give a wonderful flavor, as well as lots of meat, to the soup. This is the easiest recipe for split pea soup I’ve ever made. Thanks for this easy and delicious recipe.
Elizabeth
What a great idea to use turkey instead! Thanks for the comment, and glad you liked the recipe :-)
Shelby
This was incredibly easy and REALLY good. Thanks for the recipe!
Elizabeth
Thanks- so glad you liked it!
Leslie
I just bought an instant pot and this is the second recipe I’ve tired. It’s delicious! I used salt pork (always have it in the freezer for collard greens) and it was terrific. I’ve already sent the recipe to my daughter in Paris!
Elizabeth
So happy you liked it! :-)
Ryan
Is a serving 1 cup?
Elizabeth
I cannot speak from a professional, nutritionist’s perspective on what constitutes a serving size. I always try to give my best estimate. This soup ends up making about 10 cups total, so at 8-10 servings in the whole batch, it comes out to about one cup. That said, I definitely went in for seconds (I always find “official” serving sizes to be a bit limiting!). To me, it also depends on if you are serving it as a whole meal, or with bread, etc. Hope that helps :-)
Sylvia P.
OMG! I just made this soup tonight with my brand new instant pot that I asked for and received for Christmas! Best Pea Soup I’ve ever had and I will positively be making this pea soup again using this exact recipe! My Instant Pot is my Wonder Pot! LOL The more I use my IP the more I love it! Fantastic recipe! (I added the potatoes called for in one of the reviews and I only used the 6 cups of liquid called for in the recipe. I forgot to add the extra cup of liquid, but the soup turned out just great “as is.” I may have to add more liquid after it sits for a bit or tomorrow or upon reheating, but that’s quite alright)!!! Two thumbs up!
Elizabeth
Yay! I’m so happy you liked the recipe, and glad you are enjoying your Instant Pot! As much as I’m loving all the soups and cold weather recipes, I’m also so excited to use it in the summer to not heat up the whole house with the oven. Thanks for the comment!
Rosemary
How would I adjust the time if I were using a frozen ham bone? Does 5 minutes sound good to you?
Elizabeth
Good question! I’ve never done this, but I actually don’t think you need to adjust it at all. The IP will start pressure cooking once it’s heated up and reached the desired pressure- which will take longer if you use a frozen ham bone (so keep that in mind when planning for dinnertime). I would be more concerned about adding more time if the meat was raw, but since you’re already using cooked (smoked) ham, I think it should be fine! That said, adding another few minutes shouldn’t hurt much, since the split peas turn pretty mushy anyway. Hope that helps!
Sharon Toji
The only comment I have is that you need to figure in a fairly long time for the soup to come to pressure. I think it took about a half hour for mine. I did put in quite a few vegetables, so with the ham bone, the vegetables and the other ingredients the soup almost reached the capacity level in my 6 quart Instant Pot. So, I would start making this about two hours before serving time, including all the steps from cutting up the onions and other vegetables. The soup is delicious and tastes as if you have been slow cooking it half the day. Like others, I used our Christmas ham bone, which still had some nice chunks of ham clinging to it.
Elizabeth
Thanks Sharon- so glad you liked the recipe! I agree, it takes a while to come up to pressure- that always surprises me when I make an Instant Pot recipe.
Tai Omholt
Finally sat down and read my Instruction manual to my instant pot and this recipe was my first. OMGOSH this was delicious and so easy! I’m smitten with both! Thank you.
Elizabeth
Yay! So glad you liked the recipe, and hope you make many more delicious things with your instant pot :-)
Julie Duever
This is such a simple and delicious recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Elizabeth
Thank you! So glad you liked it :)
jean
i cook my peas for 5 hrs and they are still hard what did i do wrong
Elizabeth
Hm- I’m going to assume you are making this in your slow cooker or stovetop, not a pressure cooker, right? If it is your pressure cooker, something is wrong with it and you should refer to your manual to make sure you are setting it correctly or it isn’t broken. For the slow cooker- were you cooking it on high or low? Low should be for about 8 hours. If you did it on high, there is a chance that your slow cooker is getting old and needs replacing- mine all of a sudden stopped getting hot enough to cook things and the same thing happened to me- dry beans didn’t cook in time, same with a pork butt. For stovetop, this definitely should not happen- they should soften in 1-2 hours max. Make sure you are using split peas, not whole peas- that’s the only thing I can think of that may have gone wrong here. Anyway, I hope this is helpful… wish I could help you troubleshoot the exact problem!
Kathleen
This is my first attempt at cooking with my new Instant Pot. For this recipe, when you say “Manual High Pressure”, what exactly do you mean? If I press “Manual”, is that automatically “High Pressure” or is there an adjustment required?
Elizabeth
No adjustment needed! I think it’s the default, but some people change the settings so may need to change them back. Good luck, hope you like it!
Jon Gudnason
Great recipe. We are having it for dinner tonight. I would suggest doing one thing different. Cook the ham bone in water and maybe some vegetables for at least an hour (I did 3 hours) to get a real bone broth effect out of the pressure cooker. Strain the broth and use that to make the soup. I cooked the bone yesterday and the broth gelled real nice in the refrigerator. I used the broth to make the soup tonight. There is no fishing the bones out of the thick pea soup this way and you get a more complete bone broth.
Elizabeth
Thanks for the suggestions, an glad you liked the recipe!
Stayce
So easy. I will be making more very soon because I have many requests from split pea soup lovers since I raved about this.
Elizabeth
Thank you! So happy you liked it :-)
Beth
Haven’t tried your recipe yet but it appears to be very similar to the one I’ve made for years on the stove and in a slow cooker; however, this will be my first time making in my recently purchased IP and I am super excited to try it! I wanted to share that I too used to be the one “begging for the ham bone” after holiday meals lol! But, I found an alternative several years ago…ham hocks…which can be purchased at most markets (including Walmart). Most ham hocks are pre-cooked or smoked, so you simply toss it in with your peas, beans, etc. Once cooked the meat will fall off of the bone and simply stir into your soup. You will need to remove the bone/cartlidge (which is pretty large and easy to scoop out). Bonus, ham hocks are inexpensive! Thanks for the great recipe and IP tips.
Elizabeth
I only JUST learned about ham hocks and I need to try this out soon! Thanks for the suggestion :-)
Linda
I just made your soup, it’s so delicious. I was going to freeze it for winter but we have already eaten half of it. Thanks so much for sharing it.
Elizabeth
So glad you liked it! I totally planned on saving mine to freeze as well and it definitely didn’t happen. I’ll need to make a whole other batch just for the freezer, and exercise more self control this time!
Robert Simzer
Really happy with how this recipe turned out– it was awesome. It was the third recipe I made in my instant pot!
I am going to try adding a tablespoon of mustard for a little extra bite. I will also probably make 1.5 x the amount, or even double.
Thanks again, I found your recipe through a google search but will follow your blog now.
Elizabeth
I’m so happy you liked it! I’ve added red wine vinegar to split pea soup and lentil soup before for that extra bite and it was delicious. I bet mustard will be great! So happy to have gained another follower, and thanks for the comment :-)
Cynthia G.
I loved this soup! It was so easy and absolutely delicious. I don’t have an Instant Pot, so it is also extremely easy to do in another brand’s electric pressure cooker. Thank you for this recipe. I’ll definitely be making it again.
Elizabeth
So happy you liked it! :-)