French-Canadian Split-Pea Soup Recipe
Pea soup using yellow split peas.
Photo by Susan Zutautas
Yellow or Green Peas?
There are many variations on how to make pea soup, and French-Canadian pea soup is one of them. You can use either green or yellow peas for the following recipe. The traditional Quebec version calls for yellow peas. I just use what I have, as they both taste the same to me.
Split pea soup using green split peas
Photo by Susan Zutautas
Cook Time
| Prep time | Cook time | Ready in | Yields |
|---|---|---|---|
20 min | 2 hours | 2 hours 20 min | Will serve 6-8 people |
Ingredients
- Hambone with a bit of meat left on it
- 2 onions, diced
- 3 cups of green or yellow or green split peas, rinsed
- 10 cups of water
- 3 tablespoons dehydrated chicken broth
- 2 shakes of fine sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 4 –5 garlic cloves, pressed
Instructions
- Place the hambone in a soup pot, add water, and bring to a boil.
- Set burner to medium heat and let the bone cook for about ½ hour.
- Remove the bone and cut the meat off. Chop the meat into bite-sized pieces.
- Add onions, split peas, hambone, and chopped ham into the water.
- Add salt, pepper, and chicken broth, and stir. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium and cook for 60 - 90 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In the last 15 minutes of cooking, remove the bone, add the pressed garlic cloves, and stir.
- Serve with thick slices of French bread and a salad, or eat all on its own. ENJOY!
Does this sound good?
Ingredients for this recipe
Photo by Susan Zutautas
Notes
- I prefer to use the boxed chicken broth, but today I was out of it so I used the dehydrated. If you do use the boxed or canned broth, just decrease the amount of water that you use.
- This soup freezes really well and many times, I will double the amount I make so that I have soup on hand for boxed lunches. Ziploc bags work great for this, and you can pre-measure how much soup you want to reheat for a lunch or to put into a thermos.
- Sometimes I will add chopped carrots to the soup while it is cooking.
Questions & Answers
Question: I’d like to add mushrooms to this split-pea soup recipe. Which type would you suggest?
Answer: I've never thought about putting mushrooms in split-pea soup but my guess would be Enoki mushrooms. Please let me know if you do add the mushrooms as I'd be interested to know what you think.
© 2011 Susan Zutautas