Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup is a delicious and warming soup recipe that will warm you up on the chilliest of days. Add some smoked sausage slices or leftover ham for a meaty treat that will make tummies happy.
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A hot and steamy bowl of soup is a great lunch or a small cup is perfect as a dinner appetizer. For lunch, pair it up with a Homemade Sweet Dinner Roll and your good as gold.
🥣 Slow Cooker Soup
Making meals in the slow cooker is so convenient. If I need to leave the house for a few hours, the slow cooker can still do its work and have my soup ready by the time I get home. There is nothing more comforting on a chilly day than coming home to a hot and flavorful soup for dinner.
I grew up eating a lot of legumes. With Mom being vegetarian, she would fill us up on lentils, navy beans, and split peas. I ate a lot of lentil soup in my lifetime and I still love it today. It had been a while since I had eaten Split Pea Soup and wanted to make some that I didn't have to babysit on the stove. So, I pulled out the crockpot and slow cooker Split Pea Soup was dinner.
🥘 Ingredients
Dried Split Peas: These can be found on the shelf in the grocery store where the dried beans can be found. Usually, in the same aisle, the canned goods are.
Chicken stock or broth: I love this brand. I like to use bone broth to get the best benefits I can from the bone, the collagen, and extra protein.
Smoked Sausage or Leftover Ham: I used smoked sausage in this recipe, but have been known to make split pea and ham soup with leftover ham. Try making this Cider Bourbon Glazed Ham for a Sunday dinner, then make soup with some of the leftovers.
Veggies: Onion, carrots, celery, and potatoes are common. If you don't have one, then just bulk up with the other. Potatoes, however, are pretty important in this soup, so don't skip those!
Spices: Bay leaves, garlic powder, and oregano. All shelf-stable items most people already have in their pantry.
Slow Cooker: I just use a basic slow cooker. Nothing fancy. I like to at least have a low, high, and warm setting on mine.
🔪 Instructions
- In a 5 quart slow cooker, combine the peas, water, sausage, bouillon, carrot, celery, potatoes, garlic powder, oregano, bay leaves, and onion.
- Cover, and cook on High for 4 to 5 hours. Remove bay leaves before ladling into bowls.
Top Tips
This slow cooker Split Pea Soup is a great recipe to make and forget until it's time to eat. I like to cook it on low for several hours, but you can cook it on high and have it ready in a shorter amount of time. Below are some important things to remember when making this slow cooker Split Pea Soup with sausage.
- Be sure to rinse the split peas well. However, don't rinse them until you are ready to put them in the slow cooker. They will stick to each other in chunks if you do.
- Since split peas are starchy, there is no need to thicken this soup with a thickening agent. It may not be as thick the day it is made, but it will be thicker the next day as it continues to thicken the longer it sits.
- Soaking is common with many people, but it's not required. I do not soak my split peas. I rinse them then add them right to the pot.
- Split pea soup freezes well. This is a big batch, so unless you have a big family, then you might want to freeze some so you don't get tired of eating it every day until it is gone.
- Thermos meals are great for those who work outside in the cold and this split pea soup can be a welcome packed lunch!
📖 Variations
- Use lentils in place of split peas.
- Leave out the sausage and add a ham hock to the soup while it is cooking. When done, remove the meat from the ham hock and discard the bone and fat.
- If you have leftover ham, add the ham bone and meat to the soup. Remove the bone before serving.
- Make the soup in the instant pot instead of a slow cooker. Just add all of the ingredients as you would for the slow cooker recipe and set it on Manual for 15 minutes. Allow it to naturally release for 15 minutes before serving.
- If you want to make it on the stovetop just add all ingredients to a large pot. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 30-40 minutes, or until the peas are tender, stirring occasionally.
Serving Suggestions
Split Pea Soup can be a meal on its own. However, it's sometimes nice to serve it with a small side. Homemade Soft White Bread, Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits, or a Homemade Sweet Dinner Roll would be a perfect side.
It is a sandwich you are hankering for, then these Pimento Tea Sandwiches or Grilled Tomato and Brie Sandwich would work.
Sliders also are a good idea. White Castle Like Sliders are made in the oven for ease or these oven-baked Ham and Swiss Sliders are also ideal.
More Slow Cooker Recipes
*If you made this Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup with Sausage, please leave a star rating*
📖 Recipe
Slow Cooker Split Pea and Sausage Soup
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Ingredients
- 1 pound dried split peas
- 10 cups water
- 1 pound gluten-free smoked sausage of your choice sliced
- 5 cubes chicken bouillon
- 1 ½ cups chopped carrot
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 2 potatoes peeled and chopped
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 onion chopped
Instructions
- In a 5 quart slow cooker, combine the peas, water, sausage, bouillon,
carrot, celery, potatoes, garlic powder, oregano, bay leaves, and onion. - Cover, and cook on High for 4 to 5 hours. Remove bay leaves before ladling into bowls.