Hands down the best part of winter is my mum’s pea and ham soup. As soon as the weather gets slightly chilly, we all start asking the infamous question “mum when are you going to make the soup?”.
As to be expected If you love peas and ham then you will love this soup. It is lovely and thick with big pieces of ham mixed in. It is a crowd pleaser in my house. When we make it the soup never lasts long in our house with most people having multiple bowls in one sitting.
My slow cooker is quite large to make sure you pick and ham hock that can fit nicely in the cooker with the lid on top. If your slow cooker is quite small you can always halve the recipe and use a small ham hock. Make sure you add in three cups of water to every cup of split peas.
This recipe has been passed down from my Oma (grandma) to my mum and now to me. I hope you enjoy.
The recipes on this website have been tested with lactose free ingredients multiple times to ensure their success and deliciousness. As always, this recipe is lactose free providing you use the right ingredients. Always make sure your ingredients are safe.
Ingredients
Instructions
-
The first step is to prepare the vegetables. Dice the onion into small pieces. Grate the carrots. Peel and dice the potato. Place the vegetables into the slow cooker.
-
Add in the bay leaf and cloves. Place the ham hock on top of the vegetables.
-
Sprinkle the split peas around the ham hock.
-
Fill your slow cooker with water almost to the top (about an inch). My slow cooker took 11 to 12 cups of water to fill up. The peas need quite a bit of water to soak and soften. It may seem like a lot of water but as the soup cooks the water will decrease.
-
It will take a good 6 to 8 hours to cook the soup on a low heat. Every hour or two you will need to stir the soup. Make sure you get right down to the bottom and under the ham hock.
-
You will be able to see over time the water changing colour as the peas break down.
- Cook until the ham is lovely and tender with the meat falling off the bone.
-
Take the ham out of the soup. Place onto a chopping board. Lightly pull away the meat from the bones and skin. Lightly press on the meat to look for any hard pieces.
-
Roughly chop the meat into chunks. Set aside.
-
The next step is to blend the soup. First take out the bay leaves. You can then spoon it into a blender and process it like that or use a hand mixer. I found that the hand mixer was the easiest to use. Process until lovely and smooth.
-
Now that the soup is blended you can add in the ham pieces and mix into the soup. Season to taste. I love a decent amount of pepper sprinkled on top.
- Congratulations you have now made pea and ham soup. Serve with some lovely warm crusty bread.
-
Serve, devour and enjoy.
