Perfect Split Pea Soup

Split pea soup is a classic American soup made with dried split peas. It's good for you, packed full of nutrients, and it still tastes like a total comfort food. As a kid, it was not my favorite soup, but as an adult, I really do appreciate the humble soup that it is, and how simple it comes together. There's a little bit of prep involved for making our split pea soup, which is chopping up three carrots. I'm gonna be using three ribs of celery. And this is all getting blended, and so the sizes, just make sure that they're small. It's not about what fits on the spoon. And then one large white onion. Now that our vegetables are chopped up, we're gonna head over to the stove. In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, we're gonna add in four tablespoons of salted butter. Once the butter's fully melted, add in your vegetables, and we're gonna let those saute for about five to seven minutes until those onions are more translucent. Our onions have softened up a bit. They're definitely fragrant. It smells amazing. Now we're going to be adding in our one pound of split peas. Those are dry. Along with four cups of water. Six cups of chicken broth. And then we wanna bring that to a boil. We have achieved a beautiful rolling boil, so now we're going to add in our ham hock. And it's just great when you have a ham, save that bone, those little bits of ham still left on there. That's what this soup is for. It's for your leftover ham bone. We're gonna add that in, along with a teaspoon of thyme for additional flavor. Give that a little stir. And then we're gonna lid that, drop the heat to simmer, and let that cook for 90 minutes. It has simmered away, and our peas are now tender, and the ham is also ready to shred. So we're gonna remove that from the heat. Go ahead and remove that ham hock from there. And what I love about split pea soup is it's a dish that reminds me of waste not, want not. We're taking our leftover ham hock here, and we're going to shred off all of that ham, because there is quite a bit of ham left over, and there's so many benefits of throwing that ham hock into this soup. All of the benefits that come from the bone itself, the flavors that are infused into that, I highly recommend doing this. And what I'm doing now is just picking off any little bits of ham that's left on that bone. Now before we add that ham back into it, you determine if you want to puree this to be a little smoother. I mean, I love the consistency that this is right now, and so I'm going to leave it just as is, because I wanted a little bit more texture to it. But if you wanted to puree it a little bit more, use an immersion blender or use a vented blender. Add in some of that ham, but leave a little bit so you can top your individual bowls. And then you're going to want to season that with salt and pepper to taste, and I say that because based off of the broth or the ham, it's going to be preferential. But then go ahead and ladle that into a bowl and dish yourself up. Thanks for watching! You can find the full written recipe in the video description below. Be sure to check out thestayathomechef.com where you can find hundreds of restaurant quality recipes that you can easily make at home. We'll see you later!