Description
I created this recipe when I did not have a ham bone laying around and was really needing some good split pea soup. Serve a hot bowl of this soup with a nice crusty bread of your choice. I did not add any salt to this recipe due to the ham, but you can add salt as needed.
Ingredients
- 1 (14 ounce) bag green split peas, rinsed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ cups finely chopped onion
- 1 ½ cups finely chopped carrots
- 1 cup finely chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic, or to taste
- 7 cups chicken broth, or more as needed, divided
- 1 bay leaf, or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground thyme
- 2 pounds smoked pork neck bones (such as Smithfield®)
- 10 ounces cubed smoked ham (such as Carolina Pride®)
Instructions
- Place the split peas into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand for at least 3 hours. Rinse peas until the water runs clear; drain.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onion
- carrots
- and celery in hot oil until soft
- 8 to 12 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant
- about 1 minute.
- Combine peas
- onion mixture
- 6 cups chicken broth
- bay leaf
- black pepper
- and thyme together in a large pot. Stir neck bones into chicken broth mixture
- adding more chicken broth as necessary to cover bones completely. Bring mixture to a boil
- reduce heat to medium-low
- cover the pot
- and simmer until peas have dissolved and meat is falling from the bones
- 2 to 3 hours. Transfer bones to a plate to cool.
- Stir cubed ham into soup. When neck bones are cool enough to handle
- remove remaining meat from the bones; discard bones and stir meat into soup. Continue to simmer until ham and meat are heated through
- about 5 minutes.
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 2 hrs 15 mins
Total Time: 5 hrs 45 mins
Servings: 8