Ham and Split Pea Soup - Instant Pot

This hearty ham and split pea soup is flavorful and satisfying. Made with a smoked hambone, split peas, potatoes and carrots, it’s a full meal soup!

I love baked ham, especially when it has a brown sugar/mustard glaze and pineapples! But my favorite part of that meal comes after most of the cut ham has been eaten, when I can use the bone to make soup. There’s always plenty enough meat left on the bone and the bone itself adds the most wonderful flavor to the broth. 

Before I bought my Instant Pot, this soup would take a couple of hours in a pot stovetop or, occasionally, I’d use the slow cooker to make the base broth and the hambone would simmer for six to eight hours. Either way, this soup was worth it. 

Enter the game changing Instant Pot! Now I can enjoy my ham and split pea soup in under an hour and you can too. 

Ham and Split Pea Soup - Instant Pot

This soup is one I often make after Christmas and Easter if baked ham was on the menu but I must confess that this time, I bought and baked a ham because I really wanted the bone for this soup. Call me crazy. I don’t mind. We enjoyed the ham in myriad ways but this is the best one.

Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 hambone (with some meat attached) from a spiral cut baked ham

4-5 cups or 946-1180ml ham, chicken or vegetable stock 

1 large russet potato, peeled and cubed

2-3 carrots, peeled and small cubed

1 lb or 450g green split peas

Method

Use the sauté function to cook the onion in the olive oil for a few minutes. 

Add the hambone and enough stock to almost cover it. Cook on the soup setting for 30 minutes, then use a quick release. 

Fish the hambone out with a slotted spoon and set it on a plate to cool. 

One of the handy features of the Instant Pot is the volume measurements on the side of the pot. For 1 lb or 450g of split peas, we’ll need 6.75 cups or 1.6L of liquid to cook them in for soup. After the ham bone removal, I had 4 cups or .95L of liquid left. 

I hate to make you do math in the middle of a recipe but 6.75 minus 4 = 2.75 so this means we need to add 2 3/4 cups or 650ml more water or stock in with the split peas. Depending on what you have left behind, you may need to add less or more, remembering that your goal is 6 3/4 cups or 1.6L for 1 lb or 450g split peas.

Add in the cubed potatoes and carrots as well. I always cut the potatoes larger than than the carrots because they cook faster and I don't want them to cook to mush. To give you a size perspective, the carrots are about the size of small garden peas, the ones that are called petit pois.

Cook on high 15 minutes, followed by 15 minutes of natural release, then quick release.

While the split peas and veggies are cooking, remove all the edible ham from the bone and discard the bone, gristle and fat. Cut any larger pieces in cubes. 

When the soup is ready, add the ham back in with a few generous grinds of black pepper. 

Serve hot and enjoy! This is soooooo tasty! I wish I had another bowl (or three) now. 

It’s almost St. Patrick’s Day so my Sunday FunDay friends and I are sharing some of our favorite Irish recipes. This ham and split pea soup is one of mine 1. because it’s delicious and 2. because it’s green! Luck o' the Irish to ye!  Check out all the other St. Patrick’s Day recipes below. Many thanks to Amy of Amy’s Cooking Adventures for hosting. 

• Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Irish Soda Bread & Leprechaun Traps
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Dingle Pie
• Our Good Life: Irish Nachos
• Palatable Pastime: Bangers and Mash
• Sneha’s Recipe: Irish Scrambled Eggs With Chaffles
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Irish Stout Tea-Infused Truffles
• Food Lust People Love: Ham and Split Pea Soup (Instant Pot)
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Colcannon | Irish Mashed Potatoes with Kale
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Irish Potato Farls
• The Mad Scientist’s Kitchen: Easy Irish Soda Bread

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Ham and Split Pea Soup!

 .