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
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:
Liz
Just wondered if you soak your split peas for this recipe?
Elizabeth Lindemann
I don’t for this recipe. I soak all other legumes, but split peas cook so fast and are easier to digest, so I just give them a rinse and add them straight to the pot!
Stacey
I used my leftover bone-in spiral ham from Christmas to make the soup. But, I made it with lentil instead because the store ran out of split peas. It’s very flavorful! Thanks for a great and EASY recipe 😊
Elizabeth Lindemann
That’s great to know it works with lentils, thanks for sharing that! And glad you liked it :-)
Aaron Marcheski
Excellent recipe! I gave my wife an instant pot for Christmas. We made this as our first recipe and the family has already gone through all of the soup. We’re making a second batch right now!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you both liked it!
Michael
Wow! Very tasty, very easy. Heartens back to my split-pea soup days of old. We used deli chopped ham – added a few extra ounces (hey, it was New Year’s Eve). This recipe is a keeper.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks, so happy you liked it!
CC
The easiest and best split pea soup I have ever made…thank you!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks! So glad you liked it!
Allyson
Made it with home made ham stock/bone broth. Times were great for the perfect peas!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you liked it!
Katherine Curtin
I made this soup in my new Instant Pot and followed your recipe to the letter. It was DELICIOUS!! My eighty-eight-year-old father said it brought him back to his childhood! Thank you for this recipe! It’s a KEEPER!! YUM!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you and your father liked it- I always love when recipes bring back good food memories! Thanks so much for the comment :-)
KATHLEEN
our first instant pot experience — was great, easy & fast but the carrots were too mushy.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Glad you liked it! The carrots do cook much faster, so if you like them to be less mushy, I recommend doing thick slices rather than diced carrots. They’ll still be very cooked through, but hold up a little bit better. Hope that helps!
Nancy
I made this tonight with my new instant pot. I am here to tell you that cooking it at High pressure for 15 min. was not nearly enough time. I ended up cooking it for an additional 30 min. on high pressure. It had good flavor but everyone needs to be aware that the cooking time needs to be adjusted.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Hm, so weird! 15 minutes is always the perfect amount of time for me. My only thought is that maybe you used whole dried peas instead of split? The other thing is that pressure cookers can vary- I’ve heard of the newer versions of IPs needing different cooking times sometimes, or different brands. Sorry you had a frustrating experience, and better luck next time!
Maureen
Perfect soup! I (almost) doubled the recipe for my 8L IP. I used 2x14oz packages of peas…so not quite 2 pounds – therefore used only 11 cups liquid instead of 12 (4 cups of veggie broth and 7 water). With the ham bone and veggies it almost came to max in the pot. Super tasty!!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it, and thanks for sharing what you did for your big IP!
Jessica K
Wow! So easy and super yummy.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks! So glad you liked it :-)
Chris
Made with ham bone from our Honeybaked ham. Doubled the recipe in our 8 qt Instant Pot. Even had the neighbors asking for some!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you liked it!
dave
My entire family loved this! I had two ham bones left from Christmas dinners, so did both. Increased the ingredients by 25%. It was awesome.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks! So glad you and your family liked it :-)
Tiffany
Loved it, making it again tonight.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Gari
So good! Used one bullion cube with 6 cups water.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you liked it!
Barb
This was super easy and fast. Used bone from Christmas dinner ham in 6 qt. Instant pot. 45 minutes from start to finish. It is delicious. My husband and I love it.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Glad you and your husband liked it!
Beth
I made this for my husband tonight for dinner. He is a huge fan of Split Pea soup and extremely picky about it because of delicious his mom’s was. He loved it!! I added a little ginger to it and used homemade vegetable broth but that’s all I changed. Thanks so much!
Elizabeth Lindemann
I’ve never heard of adding ginger to split pea soup before- sounds delicious! So happy you and your husband liked it!
combatphoto
How much ginger did you add?
Shelly Brower
Today, I made this as my 1st recipe in my new Insta Pot. It is wonderful! I used a ham bone from our glazed spiral cut Christmas ham, and it gave the soup a little bit of a sweet flavor! Thank you!
Elizabeth Lindemann
I love using sweet ham for this too! So happy you liked it, and have fun with your new instant pot!
Joe Speziale
When you say to double the recipe for an 8 quart instant pot, do you also mean the chicken stock-so put 12 cups?.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Yes, double all the ingredients to double the recipe! 8 quarts is 32 cups, so you should be fine with all the ingredients :-)
Eva Sanderson Scalzi
This soup is great, and ready so fast! I used the leftover Black Forest ham from Christmas, cubed. I wanted a little more tooth to it, so I also added 3/4 cup dry barley and 3 more cups of stock. It’s just yummy, and I didn’t need any added salt. Thanks for the recipe!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Ooooo I love the idea of adding barley. I do that with lentil soup sometimes too. Thanks for the suggestion, and glad you liked it!
Jill
I just made it and doubled it and put it in my 6 qt. It fit…now to see if it pressurizes !🤔
Elizabeth Lindemann
Hope it worked out for you!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Also, you don’t HAVE to double it in an 8 quart instant pot :-)
Micheline
Wonderful! I did a double batch as we’d had a sizable hunk of meat on the ham bone after we ran out of spiral. I added both black and white pepper and then a heavy sprinkle of Nom Nom Paleo’s magic mushroom powder. It is delish. Everyone, hubby and kids, enjoyed it.
Elizabeth Lindemann
I have yet to try the nom nom paleo products, and that mushroom powder sounds amazing! I’ll ave to get some. So happy you liked it!