Savory Yellow Split Pea Soup || Easy One Pot Recipe

A big pot of savory yellow split pea soup on a cold, dreary day warms the heart. Somehow indulging in foods that have a creamy texture, a hearty substance, and an old-fashioned vibe has the power to do way more than fill our bellies. It nourishes us more completely than that, raising our overall vibe from the inside out!

This soup recipe is pretty fantastic and so easy to make. About 15 minutes to get it all in the pot. Then you can walk away for an hour, and when you return you’ll have creamy, delicious yellow split pea soup to enjoy.

YELLOW SPLIT PEAS VS. GREEN SPLIT PEAS

Yellow split peas and green split peas are really quite similar. As a matter of fact, when I inquired about the difference between them at my local Amish store, folks there didn’t seem to think there was much of a difference at all.

They are cooked the same (no surprise there) and they have similar nutritional profiles (no surprise there either).

But some say that yellow split peas have a more mellow flavor. And also that they are a bit sweeter than green split peas. And I tend to agree with them.

I particularly like to make soup from them, if for no other reason than the gorgeous color they lend to the final product. It is like a little bowl of sunshine. And if you could indulge in a little bowl of sunshine in a cozy, warm house when it’s cold and nasty outside you would, right?!?!

WHERE’S THE HAM?

The very first pot of split pea soup that I ever made was meant to be a vegan dish. And it was so darn delicious that I have never made it any other way.

It can certainly be made with ham. Simply cook down a big ‘ol ham bone in the broth before you add it to the soup pot.

It’s delicious this way. And I suppose it’s a bit more traditional than going vegan, at least in my little part of the world.

I certainly wouldn’t pass up a bowl of split pea soup with ham if it was offered to me. But when I make it at home I pass on the meat and just enjoy every bit of the yellow split pea goodness as it is.

INGREDIENTS FOR THIS RECIPE

This recipe is not very complex in spite of the fact that it does have quite a few ingredients. Every ingredient, apart from the split peas, is a basic kitchen staple.

• YELLOW SPLIT PEAS – Yellow split peas are creamy and mellow in flavor. They are a good source of plant based protein, iron, and potassium.
• CARROTS, ONIONS, CELERY – Adding carrots, onions, and celery to this soup gives it a more complex flavor profile. And they also provide their own nutrient value to the dish.
• CHICKEN/VEGETABLE BROTH – Either chicken or vegetable broth work great in this recipe. Use whatever you have on hand. Unless, of course, keeping it vegan is important to you. Then the veggie broth is the only way to go.
• SPICES (DILL WEED, BASIL, SALT, PEPPER, CUMIN) – Each one of these seasonings is found in most kitchen cabinets. And the flavor profile that resluts from combining them is really rather fantastic.

INGREDIENT VARIATIONS FOR THIS RECIPE

As I mentioned above, making this soup with ham is a very common option. And a tasty one at that!

It’s also really great made with bacon or sausage, both sweet and hot sausage work really well. It all depends on what you’re ‘hankering for’ at the time.

As I searched the web looking for variations of this soup that I could share with you, I saw it prepared all of these ways. And I feel confident recommending them because I’ve had it prepared with each of these meats myself. They’re all great options.

But I also saw that many people make yellow split pea soup using Indian spices. I personally have never tried to make it this way. So I can’t really recommend it with confidence.

Yet, it sounds fantastic and I’m hoping to give it a try one day. I’ve really developed a fondness for curry. Yellow split pea soup may just be another way to enjoy the flavor of that great spice.

HOW TO SERVE YELLOW SPLIT PEA SOUP

Yellow split pea soup is fabulous just as it is. There’s no real need to dress it up. And if I’m completely honest, I rarely do more than ladle some into a soup bowl and dive in.

Yet, there are endless ways to serve it and I have prepared it many of them myself. When I am having guests I like to go a bit above and beyond with the food I prepare. I think it stems from my extreme love for all things food and the need to share that with others.

Topping it with a few croutons, a dollop of sour cream, or both is crazy easy to do. And, while it’s a very simple variation for serving this soup, it ‘fancies it up’ more than enough to make it noteworthy.

This soup is also really great served with a simple grilled cheese sandwich. Or if you’re feeling it, go gourmet grilled cheese by making your sandwich with a little shaggy dough bread and a variety of specialty cheeses.

Don’t forget to dip the sandwich in the soup, please. It makes all the difference in the world.

Another option to run with is to make a fresh loaf of shaggy dough bread, hollow it out, and use it as a bread bowl to serve the soup in. You can even split the dough for the recipe I have in this post on shaggy dough bread and make two smaller loaves so that your bread bowl isn’t quite so large.

HOW TO FREEZE YELLOW SPLIT PEA SOUP

Yellow split pea soup last about a week in the refrigerator. I rarely ever have to freeze it because it is long gone before a week passes around here.

However, I have frozen it in the past when I’ve wanted to stock the freezer with frozen soups to take to work with me for a quick and easy lunch. And it freezes really well.

It can be placed in an airtight container and put in the freezer short term. It is easier to take it along and warm it up this way. But it will sometimes develop ice crystals on the top of the soup when stored in this manner. And that changes the taste of the soup over time. Ever so slightly at first, but if left for too long it can make a pretty big difference.

For this reason, I prefer to ladle my soup into a quart size freezer bag and freeze it that way. It’s a bit of a pain in the butt to ladle it in the bag, but it won’t develop freezer burn when stored this way.

Just ladle it into the bag, make sure it is tightly sealed, and then lay the bags out individually in your freezer. Laying them out this way will keep them from freezing together. And after they are frozen you can stack them to save freezer space.

If you make this yellow split pea soup recipe I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. If you have any favorite soup recipes I’d love to hear about them. So, let’s meet in the comments and chat all about soup!

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