Instant Pot Split Pea Soup
Instant Pot split pea soup is a hearty, delicious soup that you can easily make in a little oven a hour and without soaking the peas! This hearty soup is made with split peas, smoked pork, and vegetables.
Table of contents
When the weather turns cold, our bodies need extra energy to keep running. This is why we crave hearty, protein-packed meals in the winter. Winter is definitely the time break our your favorite recipes for soups, stews, and chili.
If you’re a fan of the traditional split pea soup, you remember that it can take hours to make. It’s healthy, flavorful, and delicious, but it takes 4 hours to make. While it’s totally worth the time, I can save you a lot of time by using a pressure cooker. It’s my best friend when it comes to cooking food that normally takes hours!
My recipe for Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas and Ham and Bean Soup are great examples. Both are rich in protein and fiber, but it takes so much less time to make in an Instant Pot!
How To Make Instant Pot Split Pea Soup
- Prep the veggies and split peas: Dice the vegetables, smash and mince the garlic cloves, and rinse the peas.
- Preheat the pressure cooker: Set your pressure cooker to sauté setting and let it preheat for a couple of minutes.
- Add oil and sauté the veggies: Add leek, celery, and carrots and sauté for a few minutes. Let it cook undisturbed so it starts to get golden in color.
- Make a little hole in the middle of vegetables and add garlic. Let it sauté until fragrant, then stir it into the other vegetables.
- Add smoked pork, peas, stock, and seasonings: Mix everything together and close the lid. Be sure to latch the lid and turn the steam release valve to the close/seal position. Cook on HIGH for 15-18 minutes.
- PRO TIP: The Instant Pot needs some time to build up pressure. It takes about 15 minutes before it starts cooking.
- Natural release of pressure: When the cooking time ends, turn off the unit and let it perform a natural release for 10-15 minutes. Then, carefully turn the steam valve to release any remaining pressure.
- After all of the steam releases, the pressure cooker will let you open the lid. BE CAREFUL, it’s hot!
- Stir the soup and take out the bay leaf and smoked pork.
- Let the pork cool down and then pick out the meat that can be saved.
- Add the meat back into the soup and discard the rest.
PRO TIP: The soup may look brothy at first, but it will continue to thicken as the split peas absorb more water. If it thickens too much for your taste, add a little more heated stock.
How To Store and Freeze Split Pea Soup?
Refrigerate:
- Let the soup cool down completely and store in the refrigerator, in a food storage container with a lid.
- In the refrigerator, split pea soup will last for about a week.
- If you feel like it thickened to much, feel free to add a little bit of stock when reheating.
Freeze:
- Cool cooked soup quickly before freezing. Place the pot with soup into a larger container filled with ice and let it cool, stirring occasionally.
- Portion cooled soup into freezer zip-lock bags. Get the air out and seal.
- Label and date each bag and lay them flat on a cutting board. Place it in the freezer. (You can also use plastic freezer storage containers.)
- To thaw the soup, pull it out of the freezer and into the refrigerator. Make sure to slow-thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Recipe FAQs
When making the peas soup in the pressure cooker, soaking the peas is not necessary. Soaking the peas can help them cook more quickly and evenly, but that is more noticeable when cooking peas and beans on stove-top.
The different is minimal though, so if you’re short on time, you can simply add them to the soup without soaking.
So the unsoaked peas may take longer to cook on stove-top but won’t make a difference in an Instant Pot.
No, the cooking time will not change if you double or half the recipe. The cooking time is determined by the size of the food and how long it takes to cook through not the amount of food.
Yes, it’s always best to rinse the dries peas and beans under cold running water before cooking. This washes away any field dirt and dust.
Some More Soup Recipes To Try
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Instant Pot Split Pea Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb smoked pork neck, hock, or shank
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 large leek
- 2 carrots
- 2 celery ribs
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 lb peas
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 3 1/2-4 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- salt
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Dice vegetables and set them aside. (For the leek:, only use the white part and discard the dark green leaves.) Smash cloves of garlic and mince. Rinse split peas under cold running water but do not soak. Set them aside.
- Set the pressure cooker to sauté setting and let it preheat for a few minutes. Add oil and diced leek, carrots, and celery. Sauté until softened and starts to brown.
- Make a little hole in the middle of vegetables and add garlic. Let it sauté until fragrant and mix in with other vegetables.
- Add smoked pork and pour in the peas. Add seasoning, herbs, and bay leaves and pour in water and stock. Mix everything together and close the lid.
- Make sure the lid is latched and turn the steam release valve to the close/seal position.
- Set the pressure cooker to pressure cook HIGH for 15-18 minutes. NOTE: pressure cooker needs some time to build up the pressure so it will take about 15 minutes before it starts cooking.
- Once it's done cooking, let it do a natural release for 10-15 minutes and then carefully turn the steam valve to release remaining pressure. Once it's done, it will let you open the lid. Open carefully.
- Stir the soup and take out bay leave and smoked pork. Let the pork cool down and then pick out the meat that can be saved. Add the meat back into the soup and discard the rest.
- NOTE: the soup may look broth at first but it will continue to thicken as the peas absorb more water. So the soup will be thicker as it sits for several minutes.
Notes
- Meatless option: Smoked ham hock, neck bones, or shank adds a lot of flavor to this soup. However, you can make vegetarian split pea soup if you prefer. Just omit the ham and use vegetable stock or broth.
- Storing: Let the soup cool down completely and store in the refrigerator, in a food storage container with a lid. In the refrigerator, split pea soup will last for about a week. If you feel like it thickened to much, feel free to add a little bit of stock when reheating.
- Freeze: It’s important to cool cooked soup quickly before freezing. Place the pot with soup into a larger container filled with ice and let it cool, stirring occasionally.
Once soup is cooled to room temperature, portion it into freezer zip-lock bags. Get the air out and seal. Label and date each bag and lay them flat on a cutting board. Place it in the freezer. (You can also use plastic freezer storage containers.)
It’s easier to freeze soup in freezer bags to save room. When frozen flat, it can be stacked easily side by side or one of top of another. To thaw the soup, pull it out of the freezer and into the refrigerator. Make sure to slow-thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in November, 2020.
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Looks so delicious, I wanna try to do it now.
I hope you try it! 🙂