Split pea soup with ham, no soaking needed

The short answer: Split pea soup is a thick, smoky soup made from dried split peas, a ham bone and a few vegetables, and the peas don't need soaking.

Rinse 1 pound of dried green split peas and simmer them with a ham bone or 2 smoked hocks, 1 diced onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery ribs, 3 garlic cloves, a bay leaf and 8 cups of water or low-sodium broth for 1½ to 2 hours, stirring often, until the peas fall apart. Shred the meat back in, add diced ham and salt to taste. It makes about 8 servings. Below are the steps, a slow cooker version, texture fixes and storage.

I love cooking, and I love a pot of soup that turns a leftover holiday ham bone into another dinner.

What goes into split pea soup

How to make split pea soup, step by step

1. Rinse the peas in a colander and pick out any stones or shriveled peas.
2. Cook the vegetables. Warm the oil in a heavy pot over medium heat and cook the onion, carrots and celery for 6 minutes. Add the garlic for 1 minute.
3. Add everything else. Stir in the peas, ham bone, water or broth, bay leaf, thyme and pepper.
4. Simmer. Bring it to a boil, lower the heat and simmer partly covered for 1½ to 2 hours. Stir every 15 minutes, scraping the bottom, because split peas settle and scorch.
5. Shred. Lift out the bone, pull off the meat and chop it. Discard the bone and bay leaf.
6. Finish. Stir in the meat and diced ham. Mash or blend to the texture you like, then taste and add salt.

Stovetop, slow cooker or pressure cooker

Getting the texture right

• Chunky: skip blending and just stir hard at the end; the peas break down on their own.
• Silky: blend half with an immersion blender, then stir in the ham.
• Too thick: add hot broth ½ cup at a time. It thickens more as it sits.
• Too thin: simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
• Too salty: add water and a diced potato and simmer for 15 minutes.

Make it your way

• Vegetarian: skip the ham, use vegetable broth and add 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika and a splash of soy sauce for depth.
• Extra vegetables: add a diced potato or parsnip with the carrots.
• Bright finish: a squeeze of lemon or a splash of vinegar right before serving.
• Toppings: croutons, crumbled bacon, a swirl of sour cream or chopped parsley.

Have more ham to use up? Try our ham and bean soup or the full list of leftover ham recipes. Cooking the ham first? Start with how to cook a ham. On the side, a thick slice of toasted rye bread stands up well to a hearty bowl.

Storing and freezing

The USDA's leftovers guidance says to get cooked food into the fridge within 2 hours, and to split a big pot into shallow containers so it cools fast. FoodSafety.gov's cold storage chart gives soups with meat 3 to 4 days in the fridge and 2 to 3 months in the freezer. If the holiday ham bone can't become soup this week, the USDA's ham safety page covers how long cooked ham keeps, and the bone can go in the freezer until soup day.

Make soup night part of the plan

A pound of split peas costs little and stretches a ham bone into two or three meals, so it's one of the cheapest dinners in the rotation once it's on the plan.

• Meal Planner & Grocery List, $3.99. Plan soup night and its leftover lunch, and shop from one aisle-sorted list.
• Family Recipe Binder, $6.99. Recipe cards and divider pages to keep your split pea soup with the swaps your family likes.
• Holiday Season Bundle, $15.99 (regularly $25.94 for the six items bought separately). The meal planner plus the Christmas Budget & Gift Planner, a cleaning schedule and savings trackers.

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