How to Make Insanely Delicious Split Pea Soup with Bacon Stand Out
Split pea soup with bacon is a go to meal and gut healthy recipe that is so quick and easy you can throw it together in under 15 minutes! This really is the best split pea soup recipe and can be made in your Instant Pot or on the stove!
Split pea soup with bacon is gluten free! If you’re vegetarian or vegan, lose the bacon and you’ll have a delicious vegan split pea soup! The Instant Pot makes this a fantastic and EASY one pot meal. If you are busy on the weeknights or just want to binge the latest season of Yellowstone, throw this together and press “soup.” Yep! It really is that easy!
This post is all about Split Pea Soup with Bacon!
healthy Micro Superheroes featured in Split Pea Soup with Bacon
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How Much Effort Will It Take to Make Split Pea Soup with Bacon?
- First, cut the vegetables.
- Second, on a baking sheet with parchment paper, bake the bacon in the oven. Easy clean up and no splatter!
- Third, sauté bacon and vegetables in the instant pot (in that order).
- Then, remove the bacon and add the dried split peas, stock, and seasoning.
- Close the pot. Press soup.
- When the soup is finished, use an immersion blender to blend the soup into a chunky puree.
- Serve with crumbled bacon and fresh bread. Enjoy!
Insanely Delicious Split Pea Soup
Make split pea soup ahead of time and let the Instant Pot keep it warm until you’re ready for dinner. Best part, this gut healthy recipe can feed a family of 6 for under $12! Don’t have 6 people to feed? Store the leftovers for a gut healthy lunch idea later in the week!
How to Make Split Pea Soup
Start with, you guessed it, split peas! Split peas are a plant based protein and part of the legume family. Green split peas are sweet while yellow split peas are more mild in taste.
Split Pea Soup Ingredients
Split pea soup ingredients include green split peas, carrots, onions, celery, vegetable stock, and seasonings. It’s pretty straight forward to make and tastes delicious!
Split Pea Soup Nutrition
Add to your split peas recipe, carrots, onions, and celery. These three vegetables combine to create a savory puree that everyone at your table will enjoy. The gut healthy veggies in split pea soup with bacon are so good together, they actually have a name! Mirepoix.
You Will Love this Split Pea Soup Recipe with Mirepoix
Saute olive oil, two parts onion, one part celery, and one part carrots and you have the foundation of a gut healthy French meal.
Gut Healthy Benefits to Vegetarian Split Pea Soup
Making a vegetarian split pea soup or vegan split pea soup has so many gut health benefits. With plenty of healthy vegetables and plant based protein, this split pea soup recipe will be one you’ll pull on again and again. You can keep or lose the bacon in this recipe and make it your own!
Carrots Support Healthy Eyes and a Healthy Gut
Carrots are an excellent source of beta-carotene which your body converts into vitamin A. Moreover, cooked carrots have MORE GUT HEALTHY benefits than raw carrots (Ghavami et al., 2012; Livny et al., 2003; Edwards et al., 2002). Top among these is their ability to help keep your eyes healthy over time (Meyers et al., 2014).
Split Peas Nutrition is Insanely Good For You!
Natural split peas contain phytonutrients, which I have written about in my post on kale and peach salsa. Phytonutrients are game changers for your immune system, help reduce your risk of cancer, and protect your bone health (Polizzi, 2021).
Save Room for Seconds! Split Pea Soup Calories are Low
Split peas are low calorie with plenty of protein and little fat or cholesterol. At this point, you might be thinking, go on…They have plenty of vitamins and minerals all of which help your metabolism and breaking down fats.
Split Green Pea Soup Can Protect Your Heart Health
Eating plant based proteins including beans, split peas, chickpeas and other legumes can support you heart health! The fiber in split peas can lower your blood pressure which in turn can help prevent heart disease and other chronic heart related illnesses (Viguiliouk et al., 2019). Similar to chickpeas, which I wrote about in A Complete Guide to Chickpeas Benefits and Side Effects You Need to Know Today, the benefits of split peas for your health make them a great option for an easy weeknight dinner.
Inflation Buster
Feed a Family of 6 for Under $12!
Yes, you read that right! Split pea soup is an easy gut healthy dinner recipe that can feed a family of 6 for less than $12!
Buy green split peas in the bulk section of the grocery store for less than $3!
Add a bag of 4-5 onions, a bunch of celery, and carrots from Aldi (each about $3).
The most expensive part of this meal is the bacon, and it is optional!
This Split Pea Recipe Can Help Lower Your Blood Sugar
The fiber in split peas does not spike your blood sugar levels. Instead it slowly releases into your body allowing you to feel more energetic throughout the day, more full, and have less spikes and crashes.
An Instant Pot Split Pea Soup that Answers What’s For Dinner
For Loved Ones: If you are looking to make dinner for a loved one who has health issues, split pea soup is a great choice.
For Athletes: If you are looking to eat a healthy dinner the night before a race that will keep you full without weighing you down, split pea soup is a win!
For Kids: Do you have kids that get hangry or grouchy between meals? Try split pea soup with bacon to keep their bodies happily full and nix the temper tantrums.
But Wait, There’s More!
Split peas are so high in protein they can help you stay fuller, longer. Again, similar to chickpeas.
If you are trying to lose weight, this split pea soup recipe is a great way to get healthy protein that will fill you up and keep you full longer!
Dr. Kait
Go To Meal Train Recipe
Split pea soup is a go to meal train recipe! It is easy to make in large quantities without breaking the bank. Additionally, with the gut healthy benefits in split pea soup, you can feel good about giving it away!
How to Make Split Pea Soup on the Stove
Prep the Soup Ingredients
- Dice the onion.
- Slice the carrots and celery.
- Place a large pot on the stove and turn to medium heat.
Cook the Bacon
- Add 2 pieces of bacon to a large pot with 1 tbsp olive oil and sauté.
- When bacon is crispy, remove from the pot. Leave the bacon grease for flavor.
Make the Soup
- Add diced onion and sauté for 1 minute.
- Then add celery and carrots, sauté for 2-3 minutes.
- Add 2 ½ cups of dried green split peas. Stir to combine.
- Add chicken stock (or bean stock if you have any left over from your refried beans recipe). Stir. Bring to a boil.
- Boil for 3 minutes and then turn heat to low.
- Add the bay leaf and the thyme. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer on Low and Make Your Home Smell Amazing
- Place the lid on the pot. Simmer on low for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours.
- When the time is up, open the lid and check the soup. The peas should be very soft and turned yellow green.
- Remove the bay leaf.
- Use the side of a spoon to mash up the split peas until they are mostly blended. Leave a few chunks of carrots and celery.
Top with Bacon and Enjoy!
- Top with bacon bits and devour. This one is REALLY GOOD!!
Pro Tip
How to Bake…Bacon!
This one is a game changer. If you love a clean stove but you also love bacon, read on to learn how to cook crispy, perfect bacon without all the grease spatter!
1. While the soup is cooking, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
1. Twist raw bacon pieces and line them on your baking sheet. Bake for 17-20 minutes.
3. When cooking is completed, remove and put bacon on a paper towel to drain grease. Pat dry. After cooled you can chop up the bacon to serve over your soup.
Are you Ready to Make the Best Split Pea Soup Recipe?
This super easy split pea soup recipe with bacon includes gut healthy ingredients to make your next weeknight meal an instant success.
The simplicity of ingredients, which also happen to be the building blocks of 1000 years of French cooking, provide a delicate balance of flavor for your tastebuds and micro superheroes for your gut health. Our kids LOVE adding crumbled bacon to their soup and eating it with a warm piece of homemade bread on the side. Try it tonight and it will become a regular in your weekly gut healthy meal rotation!
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Take Care! Dr. Kait
How to Make Insanely Delicious Split Pea Soup with Bacon Stand Out
Equipment
- 1 baking sheet
Ingredients
Soup
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 2 1/2 cups green split peas
- 1 large Spanish onion
- 3 large carrots sliced
- 4 stalks celery stalks sliced
- 1 handful fresh thyme leaves only, throw away the stem
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 cups vegetable stock can substitute bean or chicken stock
- Mediterranean sea salt to taste
- ground pepper to taste
Toppings
- 1 package bacon uncured with no sugar added
Instructions
Make the Soup
- Dice the onion.
- Add 2 pieces of bacon to the instant pot with 1 tbsp olive oil and sauté.
- When bacon is crispy, remove from instant pot. Leave the grease.
- Add onion and sauté for 1 minute.
- Then add celery and carrots, sauté for 2-3 minutes.
- Add 2 ½ cups of green split peas. Stir to combine.
- Add stock. Stir. Turn off saute.
- Add the bay leaf and the thyme. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Close instant pot. Turn valve to sealed. Press soup and set for 30 minutes. Manually or automatically vent the instant pot when time is completed. Remove the bay leaf.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the soup. Do not make it fully blended, leave a few chunks of carrots and celery.
Make the Bacon
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Farenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Twist the bacon pieces and line them on baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes.
- When cooking is completed remove and put bacon on a paper towel to drain grease. Pat dry. After cooled you can chop up the bacon to serve over the soup.
Serve
- Ladle soup into bowls. Serve with bacon pieces and fresh bread. Enjoy!
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