Instant Pot Split Pea Soup with Ham
A leftover ham bone, a bag of green split peas, and 20 minutes of pressure turn into the thick, smoky soup that used to take three hours on the stove.
instant-pot Timer
Set for 20 mins @ High Pressure with Sauté sweat
Ingredients
Base recipe calibrated for 8 adults.
Get to the Point
Sauté 2 tbsp butter, diced onion, carrots, celery 5 min. Add 4 garlic cloves, 1 bay leaf.
Rinse 1 lb split peas; add with 1.5 lb ham hock and 8 cups broth.
Cook 20 min High Pressure with 15 min natural release. Pull ham, shred, discard bone.
Stir shredded ham back in; blend half the soup with an immersion blender for creaminess.
Step-by-Step Guided Instructions
Set Instant Pot to Sauté Normal. Melt 2 tbsp butter and add 1 diced onion, 2 sliced carrots, and 2 sliced celery ribs. Cook 5 minutes until softened. Add 4 minced garlic cloves and 1 tsp black pepper; stir 30 seconds. Cancel Sauté.
Butter over olive oil here — the milk solids brown against the vegetables and give the soup its base note of caramelized sweetness.
Pour 1 lb dry green split peas into a fine-mesh strainer. Rinse under cold water for 30 seconds while running your fingers through to catch any small stones or shriveled peas. Drain fully.
One pebble in the bag will crack a molar. The sort is 20 seconds — it is worth 20 seconds every single time.
Add the rinsed peas, a 1.5 lb bone-in ham hock, 1 bay leaf, and 1 tsp dried thyme to the pot. Pour in 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth. Do not add salt yet — the hock releases plenty.
A ham hock is 8x cheaper per pound than diced ham and packs 3x the flavor because the bone and skin melt into the broth.
Seal the lid and set the valve to Sealing. Cook at High Pressure for 20 minutes. Allow a full 15-minute natural pressure release, then vent any remaining pressure.
Quick-releasing split pea soup sprays a starch geyser out the top valve. Full natural release only.
Lift the hock onto a cutting board. Pull the meat off in shreds using 2 forks — discard the bone, cartilage, and skin. Chop the shredded ham roughly and set aside.
The connective tissue on a hock is delicious once it gelatinizes into the soup, but a chewy piece on a spoon is unpleasant. Trim it clean.
Return shredded ham to the pot. Use an immersion blender to blend just 1/3 of the soup, leaving plenty of pea and vegetable texture. Taste and season with kosher salt as needed.
A total puree makes the soup taste like baby food. Blending only a third gives you creamy body with recognizable ingredients — that is the whole point.
Split peas foam aggressively under pressure. Never fill an Instant Pot past the max line with legumes — leave a full inch of headspace or the foam will clog the pressure valve mid-cook.
Serve in a mug with a handful of oyster crackers stirred right in. Kids find the green color easier to swallow when there is something crunchy on top of every spoonful.
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Warm in a saucepan over medium-low for 8 minutes, stirring often and thinning with 1/2 cup broth per quart — the soup thickens dramatically in the fridge as the peas keep absorbing liquid.