Split Pea Soup with Ham Hocks

olive oil

onion,

celery stalks, finely diced

carrots, finely diced

ham hock

chicken stock, water,

Salt and black pepper

In a large saucepan, saute onion, celery and carrots over medium-high heat. Add peas and ham hock and cover with stock by a couple inches. Bring to a simmer and cook about 1 hour until soup is thick and peas have almost disintegrated but not quite. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Remove ham hock and let cool. Pull meat from ham hock bone and shred. Garnish with ham and pepper.

I am a soup fanatic and I have made this recipe before. This time I read the reviews and added garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and sherry. Wow, adding those ingredients brought this soup to a different level. Even my husband said this was the best ever! Thank you for the recipe.

Nice, easy, satisfying recipe. Served with homemade cornbread, it makes for a comforting (but carb-filled) cold-weather meal. Like another reviewer, I added fresh thyme, a bit of garlic and bay leaves, as well as using unsalted chicken stock. To reduce the saltiness and fattiness of the ham hocks, I always par-boil them first, though they still add enough salty flavor and richness to the soup that it's not necessary to add additional salt.

This was super easy. The only thing I did differently was added chopped garlic when sautéing. 

Easy recipe and so tasty! I added thyme, bay leaf, garlic, and no salt stock since the hams hocks are salty.  Other changes were to double the amount of carrots and celery. Great forva cold winter day.

Loved this recipe. Easy to make.  I did grill some smoked Hillshire Sausage and added it before serving.  Loved it. Otherwise, followed the recipe

I've been making this recipe for years and years. I do use a ham shank as it has more meat than a ham hock.  I do the half water half chicken stock as suggested in the recipe. The secret touch I learned from the "Magic Pan" restaurant was add 2-3 tbs of dry sherry at the very end before serving. D-Lish!!

I add a little old bay seasoning and fresh English thyme from the garden, simple and always satisfying! 

Delicious! Easy to make, easy clean up, and inexpensive. I used low sodium beef broth, added a bay leaf and a little thyme. I upped the pepper. Definitely will make it again. 

I don’t think it’s possible to screw up this recipe. Everything I added seemed to make the soup better and better! In addition to the dried split peas, I added three 15.5-ounce cans of rinsed and drained beans (butter beans, black-eyed peas and northern white beans), 3 sprigs of rosemary and a bay leaf. Perfect for a cold night!

Good base to start with but far from a delicious soup as is.

I used this basic recipe here and took ideas from the comments… My ham was not smoked so I added smoked bacon and used some fat with the olive oil. I added some garlic, thyme, bay leaf, Old Bay: and even a dash of apple cider vinegar. I topped it with whole grain artisan sourdough croutons w olive oil and garlic powder. Came out delicious! Thanks for this basic recipe and to everyone for all your ideas to increase the flavor. It worked!

So happy I found this easy recipe. I recommend using regular ham on the bone or cut up ham. Ham hochs, sometime need pre boiling . I also had to add alot of salt bc the hochs were just smokey not very salty like a regular ham. This was delicious.  I could easily see doubling this recipe and freezing leftovers .

The easiest and best tasting recipe ever!  It’s so easy, I’ve been  making it weekly!  Thank you! 

Another twist to this basic recipe includes adding fresh foil and a splash of good cider vinegar. A good dose of Old Bay and some Louisiana hot sauce adds more flavor. Also sautéing the onions, carrots, and celery in bacon drippings adds more flavor too. 

I am not a great cook.  I lack the patience, the intuition and the creativity.  However, this recipe had me looking pretty great tonight.  Thank you so much for an easy and perfectly flavourful dish.  I didn't change a thing - it's perfect.

One taste and I had an organism!    'Nuff said! 

A great recipe for after Easter left over ham. I usually double the recipe so I can freeze some for easy weeknight meals. When served offer a splash of sherry....really adds a depth of flavor.

We really enjoyed the soup. I had Yellow Split Peas on hand and used them, they worked great. I would recommend this recipe to anyone. Very Good.

So many options to customize this great basic recipe. Used roasted pork hock for simmering and garnished with diced, smoked pork belly. Totally decadent version! Also, inspired by a local crepe restaurant’s version, put out some dry sherry along with the sour cream garnish.

I followed the directions... In the end the soup was a little watery, and the smoked pork hocks wasn’t meaty (more fat).... soooo next time around I would make adjustments and look for “ham hocks” as the recipe states because clearly there’s a difference 

Reminded me of how my grandma made pea soup, which was the best

This is pretty much the way we make split pea soup with smoked ham hocks, but we don't saute the veggies first. We just throw all the raw ingredients into the slow cooker and let it cook all day, until veggies have disintegrated and are almost as smooth as if pureed. Fast, delicious, and extremely easy. The ham hocks add sufficient fat to the soup without needing to add oil.

Wonderful soup. Made exactly as written. Adding to the rotation 

Perfect.  Added s&amp;p before it finished so it could be absorbed. Also used broth (not stock) &amp; less oil.

Great recipe. This was my first time using ham hocks and I'm glad I doubled them; they were from a chain store and not overly meaty. I simmered for about two hours. Will make this easy dish again.

Add a bay leaf &amp; a bit of garlic and voila!  I serve this wonderful soup in bread bowls  ;)

Great base recipe.  I added some celery to mix.  Added about 4 oz split peas over what the recipe called for based on the amount of stock I added to the pot - was afraid it would be too thin with only 1# of split peas.  Worked out great!  Can't wait to make it again and tweak it some more.  A keeper for sure!

Nice recipe. I basically used it as a base and really went out on my own. Instead of using olive oil to brown down the onion, I threw the smoked ham hocks in the pan, bare, over med-hi heat, and let the some of the fat come off of them. Then I put the onions in and let it all sweat together for a while, letting the hocks brown on the pan. Then I threw in 4cups chicken stock and 2cups of white wine (pinot grigio) to deglaze the pan, and added fresh thyme, 3 bay leaves, some garlic and salt and pepper, the carrots and celery. I let that cook for an hour, basically making a stock, then added the split peas and let them cook down in a simmer for another hour. I removed the hocks, let them cool a bit and picked off what was left on them and returned it to the pan. Really good.

No way you need 2 inches of stock or water on top of the ingredients, I ended up with a ton of liquid that did not get absorbed by the split peas. What a waste

My Mom wanted split pea soup.  No ham bone, and I wasn't cooking a ham!  I  bought two ham hocks at the store and followed the recipe, only adding a some garlic powder and potaotes the last 45 minutes of cooking.  This receipe is a keeper

Omg, this is so delicious! It tastes so rich and it's so healthy! It was so easy to make, I threw it together with two toddlers running around! Yum, a new staple!

I followed the recipe exactly, and it's delicious!  : 

I loved this recipe very much, even though it's our family's traditional soup and was made a million times before. I made this soup in June of 2009, and wrote the recipe down and kept it in my cooking files. I loved this particular recipe by Dave especially, because of it simplicity and good ingredients, and quickness of cooking and great taste ! I usually use smoked cooked ham bone with it's meat. I use hot water and chicken low sodium broth mixture, and add some finely chopped garlic for a flavor. At the end, I add some whole grain oats instead of barley (that I used before. Like many other folks, I omit salt, but add a bit of sugar when soup is cooked. My soup was ready in 1 hr 30 min, on simmer; I cooked it in my heavy aluminum pot with tight lid.

This was amazingly simple and very delicious. I used about 2 lbs of ham hocks because the ones I got at the store were so big and it was great as I got a little more meat off of them for the soup! This is a winner!

Excellent! Mine took twice the amount of time to cook (2 hrs., but it's probably because I let it simmer really low. I added some canadian bacon to the shredded ham hock meat just before serving and also garnished with some home-made herb croutons. Nothing like a big bowl of hot soup to warm the soul (and tummy on a cold winter night!

This was soooo And easy to make!!  The ham hock i had was a lot bigger and needed more stock/water that i ended up adding another bag of split peas and also more veggies after about an hour.  It was really delicious and hearty..  my fussy husband who does not do leftovers had the soup for 3days in a row.  This was an awesone recipe for a novice cook like myself.  I will definitely bemaking it again!

So simple yet soooo good.  I like to simmer a big ole' ham bone with the peas and add extra ham, leftovers from the ham dinner...  I like to simmer this soup all day, really low heat...take out bone, gather the meat, add it and extra meat if you want and simmer for 30 more minutes.  Big bowl of soup and crunch bread.....delish!  

Everyone loved this version. I have friends asking for this recipe. I love that it's super simple. I will add, the family loves the water version. Not big fans of the stock version. Too rich for the kids.

Sounds great, but....I would add a couple of chopped leeks. Also I cannot believe that any chef or home cook will add the sauteed veggies at the same time as the peas and then boil it. I find it much better to add the vegetables (sautéed or not AFTER the peas and pork hocks have been 3/4 of the way cooked. That way there is still some substance to the veggies, which I prefer. And it is not all turned into baby food. PS: I do not sautée the veggies. Don't need the added cals of butter or olive oil.

Simple and delicious. I did a rustic chop on my veggies for more texture. I used all chicken stock, no water. I let it simmer for an additional hour...Perfection! I will make this again and again.

Wonderful recipe!  Very simple, costs about 10$ of ingredients.  I signed up on foodnetwork just to rate this.  I simmered 3 hours to meet my taste.

Absolutely delicious. I cooked it quite a bit longer, more like 4 hours, as like the peas softer.i couldn't find a ham hock so I used a sliced ham. It was thick, delicious and very filling. Will definitely make this again. Thank you

Loved this. It was perfect with a handful of flavored croutons added to the top.

This soup had great flavors, but the ingredient list was not that helpful.  In particular, this soup would have  benefited from more specific guidance on chicken stock to water ratio.  Mine came out too salty, and I couldn't dilute it properly without throwing off the aromatics.  

This was fantastic.  I didn't have any ham hocks, so I used ham shanks I found at my local grocery store.  I also had some bacon that needed to be used.  So I diced the bacon and cooked till crisp and removed.  Then sauteed the onion, celery and carrots in the bacon fat.  I added home made chicken stock (which is the best, IMO instead of canned/boxed.  Added the shanks and simmered for about 1/2 hour then added the split peas and cooked according to the rest of the recipe.  Used some of the bacon bits for garnish.  My husband was on cloud nine with this one.  If I could rate it higher than a 5, I would!

This was great!  The glaze from the ham gave it a slightly sweet taste, which made it even more complex and delicious.  I used an immersion blender a little bit to give it a thicker texture.....delicious!!!!

Woo! I have been a pea soup hater since childhood -- but no more! This soup is divine! I cooked according to the recipe, but added about 1 tsp of herb de provence and a pinch of thyme. I also used some leftover shredded carrots and chopped them up - perfection. I am completely in love with this soup. It tastes hearty, yet light - and honestly doesn't seem like a pea soup. You can chef this up and be the belle of the soup ball!

This was very good.  I also added a tablespoon of liquid smoke and it turned out fantastic!  Also added just a few black beans for color and used an immersion blender.  Delicious and nice green treat for the holidays!

Really good soup! Easy to make and very tasty. I added sweet potatoes also.

My Dad never wrote a single recipe down.Then,here is Dave L.'s recipe and the Memories evoke a tear~full reminder of every bowl He ever served up.Lovingly rolling every bean in his fingers and rinsing to be "sweated" in water over~night.The fresh Ham Hock{s}were placed gently into the "pot liquor" to not ruin the Beans,turning them to mush.A redolent vapor waffted throughout the House.Additions of whatever suits that Moment.End result? The Best.

This was disappointing.  Split pea soup just tastes plain good, however you make it.  It warms the soul.  But the smoked ham hocks, as smokey as the smelled in the package, did not distribute that smokiness to the rest of the soup.  The ham hocks are very salty themselves, but do not make the soup salty.  There is plenty of meat on the ham hocks for the soup but not sure you want to eat it.  I have made better split pea soup from leftover holiday ham.   

Extremely easy to make and probably the best pea soup I have made. Doesnt last long in the house. Although great the same day it does taste better the next day - especially with the Ham Hock left in overnight before being pulled apart for the meat.

Pretty darn good and super easy! Did double the recipe and added two bay leafs, used an emersion blender and turned out awesome!

I made this exactly as written (with chicken broth), and it was fantastic. I am a split pea lover and this has been one of the best. Very easy receipe and would recommend topped with coutons. 

MOUTH WATERING &amp; DELICIOUS!!!! This was my first time making split pea soup and I tweaked the recipe a tad. I added 32oz of chicken broth and 32oz of water. I also added some garlic powder a bay leaf and some chopped ham when the beans went in and then used a hand blender to puree the soup when it was finished. Make sure to remove the bay leaf before you puree. I added some additional chopped ham in after I finished pureeing. I served the soup with some texas cheese toast and it was an easy, delicious &amp; affordable dinner!

This recipe is a hit with my family. I use ham instead of ham hocks. I've been making it twice a year for the past couple of years and my family always looks forward to it. It freezes well, too. Just add water to thin it out. 

A very tasty soup - perfect for the snowy weather we are having - simple too.  I did it with an unsmoked hock first but the second one that was smoked was lovely.

I just finished making this soup..OMG it was great. I had it with croutons that I made from sundried tomato bread from Panera Bread. Yum. 

I live in Colorado and ski/snowboard. I made a batch of the GREAT soup and we brought it up with us.It was the best we had and i tell you after a long day of sking this was a treat.It goes really well in a sourdough ball used like a bowl.I really enjoyed how easy it was to make. Thanx David!!! We now have a soup tridtion that will ALWAY'S be good- Chris  

This is the second time I have made this soup.  The first time was delicious, but the hocks just didn't yield very much usable meat.  So, I went with some ham shanks from a butcher, not the pre-packaged hocks or shanks you can find at the chain grocery stores.  They were still very cheap, yielded some amazing flavor and were loaded with meat.  It took some work to strip down the shank, but it was completely worth it.  Also, I absolutely have to add garlic when I cook and it only adds to the flavor of this soup.  This is such a simple and delicious recipe for pea soup!

It's a cold and rainy day today and I really wanted some soup for dinner. I don't get home in time, so I asked my husband (who never cooks anything more than a frozen pizza) to make this for us. It looked simple, and it is. Classic Split Pea Soup, just the way it should be. YUM!

I have tried this receipe before and it always comes out great.

I love this recipe.  I am a pretty novice cook and have managed to use this recipe as my base to create my own. =)

After making many different split peas soup recipes, this one is the winner and actually overtakes Alton's Curry Split Pea soup - that's really saying something. And it was so easy and very delicious! I used 2 quarts of low sodium chicken broth - no water.   Think I'll try it again using leftover ham.

I've never made Split Pea Soup from the ham hock, but this receipt synched it. I always give it my spin on an existing recipe, so I added sliced Zuchinni and yellow and red bell peppers. My spices of choice were Adobo and a pinch of oregano.  Just before turning off the flame, I used the back of a latel to smash some of the peas.  I also thought about putting the soup in the blender to get that rich green creamy soup, or using an emersion blender.  Try it with my spin and see if you lik eit!

If using a frozen bag of peas the recipe doesn't take that long at all. I also used left over ham from the holidays. I simmered the soup for about 30-40 minutes (though didn't need to) only so that the rest of ingredients would absorb the ham flavor. When I took out the ham from the pot, I too, as suggested by another reviewer, pureed the remaining ingredients all together in a blender then placed back in the pot (a hand blender would've worked better, but didn't have one). I cut up the ham into small cubes and placed back into soup. DELICIOUS!  Oh yeah begin the recipe as follows, but instead of using peas, replace with leftover 2-3 cups or so of mashed potatoes, and you've got potato soup! Add cheese, bacon bits, or chives on top of soup.

If chicken broth is used (instead of stock on recipe), use ONE can (49 oz.). Two quarts (2 cans) makes too much liquid and the result is..."soupy". Just keep turning the ham bone to make sure all sides get cooked. Be sure to buy the Low Sodium chicken broth to cut down on the salt. (It's plenty salty as it is and none need be added.) This recipe was very easy to prepare and did not need any other seasonings. I added extra ham that I had saved and frozen (then thawed) as the meat off the bone was clearly skimpy. My husband and I loved this soup and plan on usint the recipe again. Delicious!

I literally threw this together just before leaving to get my babies from daycare and it was ready when we got home. I didn't add any salt and used the low sodium broth - I think it would have been too salty otherwise. My family went back for thirds!!! Definitely put all the ham you are going to use in from the beginning, it gets nice and moist. I also added two cloves of garlic and one bay leaf. I have saved it and will use it again.

Great recipe. I picked it because I had all the ingredients in my fridge...including a hamhock from Christmas (which was too big to fit completely in the soup!). I had to use half chicken stock, and half water with a chicken bouilin. It made the soup a little too salty, but still delicious. I ended up blending all of the soup, because I prefer it that way. Does anyone have any advice on using a hamhock twice? I wasn't able to submerge mine fully in the soup, nor did I use all of the meat. I'm hoping to use it to make another batch. Any suggestions?

There are 6 people we have to feed everyday and cost does not alway equal flavor.  This is one of the best low cost meals we make.  On weekends, the kids love to help me in the kitchen and soup is always on the menu.  This recipe is quick, fun, and tasts great.

I had to add thyme, and bay leafs. I blended 1/2 of the soup to make it creamier and added a cubed up ham steak after I took out the ham hocks, there isn't enough meat on them to make it worth dealing with them, but I cut them up anyway as treats for my dog, he loves me :)  After all is said and done it was Perfect. so I tweaked it, but the foundation was good enough to make a Great soup.

It may be a function of the hocks I used, but there wasn't as much ham flavor as I would have liked.   Like someone mentioned , I used an immersion blender to smooth the soup, but that's more of a preference.   I'd definitely recommend this recipe.

I just whipped this soup up for lunch today. It didn't occur to me until after I was halfway through the bowl that I hadn't added any salt. I used reduced sodium chicken broth and between that and the smoked ham hock I felt the soup was salty enough, if not bordering on too salty.  Absolutely delicious and definitely one I'll keep in the freezer for those quick lunches or suppers.

Definitely use low sodium chicken stock!  I used regular chicken stocken and between that and the ham hock, the end result was too salty for me.  However, I will try recipe again.

So easy to make, tasty and a realy family pleaser.  I used left over ham instead of the ham hocks and it came out wonderful!

I tryed this recipe for the first time my family and I loved it. It is easy and quick and the flavor is outstanding.

Who knew that such a simple recipe could produce such a tasty dish. This soup was a hit with my entire family and it's healthy too.

I made this soup with a left over ham bone.  It was easy to make and very tasty.  I did let it cook longer than suggested in order to let the peas break down more - this made the soup thicker and creamier.  Will definitely make this one again. Hint - The ham and broth provided plenty of salt, so no need to add more.

This is absolutely hands down the best soup I've ever had!!  Easy to make and perfect on a cold winter day.

I love soups in the winter time, and this split pea with ham hocks is a classic.  Lots of flavor and easy to make.  I love finding meaty ham hocks to use, but have also used grilled ham slices in place with just as much flavor - I like to do a 50/50 split with yellow and green splits for something different too.  My dad was a chef and his split pea was one of the best I've ever had, this was pretty darn close.

This soup is easy and so tasty!!!   I agree with others though, if you like a thick split pea soup cut down on broth.  Also I had to use ham steak because local store doesn't care ham hocks, still turned out wonderful!

My family loved this recipe. It was quick and easy to make. I used a smoked turkey legs instead of ham hocks.

This soup was easy and delicious. I can't believe it only took an hour for such a rich and creamy soup. I will absolutely make this again. I recommend this recipe to everyone!! Tastes like grandmas!!

Very easy to make, great flavor.  Just a hint if you are like me and you like your split pea soup thick don't add so much chicken broth.  Another thing I read a review that said he would add more hamhock, DO NOT LISTEN!!!!. Use the required amount, the more hamhock you use the saltier the soup.

The soup came out perfect.  I used a 12 oz ham hock and it was plenty.  Soup was thick and had great flavor!

The soup was very easy to make came out great!

I must say this was one of the best split pea soups I ever tasted. It was simple to make and tasted even better the next day. After I took the ham hock out I used an immersion blender to make it smooth and then added the ham plus additional ham I had. I will definately make this soup again.

split pea soup with ham hocks

Servings: 5

Author : Dave Lieberman

Ingredients

Instructions

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