Rainy days and Holiday exhaustion mean soup days here. Split pea soup is one of my favorites. If you don’t have an Instant pot I have my regular version here, which is very similar, but pressure cooking makes it much faster and super simple.
Everything is dumped in the IP, there is no need to pre sauté vegetables. If you like you can puree the soup afterwards (minus the ham) but I like it with some texture. My butcher always has smoked ham hocks but you could definitely make this without a ham hock. Just replace the water with a stock. You can even make it vegan by using vegetable broth. If you are using a ham hock there is no need to use stock as the ham hock becomes ham stock.
Instant Pot Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound (approximately 2 cups) green split peas
- 6 cups water
- 1 ham hock*
- 4 carrots, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place everything except the salt and pepper in the instant pot (or pressure cooker) insert.
- Use the manual function to select high pressure for 20 minutes.
- After the 20 minutes is complete allow to naturally come down in pressure for 15 minutes (you can leave for longer if needed as well).
- Remove bay leaf and discard.
- Remove ham hock and remove meat off of the bone. Dice ham and return to soup. Season with salt and pepper.
- Leave on warm until ready to serve.
To make without a ham hock:
- Replace water with vegetable, chicken, or ham stock.