Delicious and hearty, this Quebec-Style Yellow Split Pea Soup cooks low and slow with vegetables and a ham hock, for a filling soup that’s perfect for lunch or dinner.
Fall’s cooler weather has definitely arrived here , so I’ll be embracing soup season, starting with this Quebec Style Split Pea Soup. This classic French-Canadian soup is warming and hearty and the perfect thing for cooler days.
This soup features split yellow peas, together with vegetables and spices and a ham hock or bone. The long simmer infuses such great flavour in the soup. This is a great soup to enjoy throughout the year, but is especially handy as as use for your left-over Christmas or Easter ham bone.
This pea soup is definitely hearty enough for a dinner soup, especially with the bits of ham in it. Serve with a salad and a crusty bread and you’re all set. If you’re a fan of Habitant™ soup, you’ll love this one!
Ingredients
Ham Hock: Many grocery stores carry frozen ham hocks now, so be sure to look in the frozen meat section for ham hocks if you can’t find fresh! I prefer a fresh ham hock, as you will get just pure pork flavouring in the soup. If you love smoked flavours, you can use a smoked ham hock.
Dried Yellow Split Peas: Look for these in the dried pea and bean section at your grocery store. Even though these peas are dried, you don’t want to start with a package that’s been in your cupboard for a long time, as even dried things can dry out more and become less than ideal. I always buy a fresh package from the store. Prepare your dried peas by rinsing well in a colander under cold running water, then picking through the peas and discarding any odd looking ones.
Chicken Broth: I try to use a low-sodium chicken broth for this soup and add salt myself at the end of cooking. Many people feel that extra salt in the simmering liquid will hinder the beans from cooking. For a vegetarian option, replace the chicken broth with vegetable stock. Alternately, you can skip the broth altogether and just use the same quantity of more water. I prefer the extra flavour from the broth, personally.
Additional Ingredients: Carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf, dried savory (spice), dried thyme, water, salt and pepper.
FAQ
What makes this soup “Quebec Style”? This soup is in the style of classic, Habitant, French-Canadian pea soup, that is made with yellow split peas, a ham hock and small pieces of vegetable. It is a thick, somewhat smooth-textured pea soup.
Can I use a smoked ham hock? If you want! Obviously, the smoked hock will add a distinctive smoked flavour to the soup. If you like that, it’s certainly fine to go ahead and use it. You will probably need to add less salt at the end of cooking.
Don’t I need to soak the peas before cooking? No. Unlike their dried bean counterparts, dried peas will cook quite quickly and easily without soaking or pre-cooking. Dried split peas will generally cook to tender in as little as 30-45 minutes without soaking.
Why didn’t my peas ever soften? I have never had this happen myself, but if your peas never got tender after cooking for several hours, it could be that the peas were old/too dry. It could also be related to your water. If your water is really, really hard, it can prevent dried peas and beans from softening.
Can I cook this soup in a slow cooker or instant pot? I’m sure you can, though I don’t have any real direction for you in that respect, as I’ve not done it myself. I would generally try to mimic the simmer rate and general time for the stove-top recipe for the slow cooker. I am not a regular Instant Pot user, so I don’t have any advice for you there. (If you have tried this recipe in a slow cooker or instant pot, I’d love if you’d come back and leave some information for others who may want to try it that way :)
How can I make this soup vegetarian? Simply omit the ham hock and substitute vegetable stock for the chicken broth. If you like, a crumble of veggie bacon on top would be a nice addition to this soup.
Is this soup gluten free? Most likely, yes. Be sure to make sure your chicken broth is labeled as gluten free, as some are not. It’s also worth checking the dried beans as well and seeking out ones that specify gluten free.
What if I can’t find ham hocks? If you can’t find ham hocks, you can get a little bit of that flavour by stirring a little cooked ham into the soup during the last half hour of cooking.
Why aren’t there any cloves in this soup? While it’s true that some French-Canadian Pea soup often is spiced with cloves, I am not a big fan of cloves and I don’t think I’m alone. It’s quite a powerful spice and can be divisive in terms of taste. I felt it safer to leave them out of this recipe. If you are used to cloves in pea soup or are a clove lover, you can certainly add some with the spices.
Cook’s Notes
I like to give this soup a super quick blend with the immersion blender. Not enough to puree it. Just enough to blend a bit of the peas in to the broth, for a thicker soup. Alternately, you could remove a cup of the soup and blend it in a blender. Or you could just leave it be. Your call :) Just be sure to remove the bay leaf before you do any blending.
I prefer to add all of the additional salt and pepper at the end of cooking, as I’m adding some salt with the broth and the ham hock already. Saving it until the end prevents an overly salty soup. That said, do be sure to taste and season well, if it needs it. It will help to bring together all the great flavours in this soup.
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Get the Recipe: Quebec-Style Yellow Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb unsmoked ham hock
- 2 Tablespoons butter, or cooking oil
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced
- 1 rib celery, finely diced
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 1 3/4 cups dried yellow split peas, rinsed well and sorted through
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon dried savory
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 4 cups chicken broth, or vegetable broth
- 3 cups water
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Trim off and discard skin from ham hocks.
- In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add carrots, celery and onion. Cook, stirring regularly, until softened, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in dried split peas, bay leaf ,savory and thyme. Cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes.
- Stir in chicken broth and water. Add the ham hock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover the pot and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the peas are very soft and soup is thickened, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. *NOTE: You may need to add additional water or stock if soup gets too thick.
- PICK OUT AND DISCARD BAY LEAF and remove the ham hock to a plate. *Note: I prefer a thicker soup, so I blend just a bit of the soup with an immersion blender or blender. Just do a quick blend (or blend just a cup of the soup. You don't want a completely pureed soup. You want it to retain most of it's texture, but the bit of pureed soup will incorporate with the broth for a thicker soup.)
- Let ham hock cool slightly, then remove any meat on the hock and add it back to soup. Discard the fat and bone from the hock.
- Stir to combine meat with soup. Taste and generously season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Notes
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Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
I’ve never made home made pea soup before. (I love pea soup)… this is by far the best pea soup I have ever had! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It will be added to my regular list of soups I will make at home. :)
So glad to hear, John! Thanks :)
Just finished making this and what an amazing recipe! Growing up in Montreal, I’m picky with pea soup but this was fantastic! I wasn’t able to find a ham hock so I used a piece of smoked ham with the skin cut off and the soup had such an amazing flavour. Even my 2.5 year old just polished off two bowls for dinner. Definitely will make this again! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it, Hayley! Thanks :)
When you mention a tsp of savoury, what herbs are used in savoury? Thanks in advance for your reply.
Hi Bev, Savoury is a single herb (“Summer Savory”). You should be able to find it with the spices at the grocery, or if you don’t want to go that route, you could substitute thyme.
Jennifer,
Love this recipe! My husband grew up in Montreal, where pea soup Friday was a thing, with taverns & restaurants serving homemade pea soup. He has enthusiastically stated this recipe is as good as, or better, than what he remembers from those days. To that end, I am at least quadrupling the recipe (requests from friends & family) and was wondering how well the soup freezes. Thanks much.
So glad to hear, Pam! Thanks :)
This recipe looks delicious! Do you think it can be made in a pressure cooker/instant pot?
Hi Christie and yes, I do. I haven’t done it myself, but I have done my bean and bacon soup in the instant pot and it was really good. I haven’t got any timing advice for you, but if you are familiar with cooking dried beans and peas in the instant pot, it should be fairly easy to adapt.
I love this soup! Is this freezer friendly?
Hi Richelle and thanks :) I haven’t frozen it myself, but feel like it would do just fine being frozen.
Hello Jennifer I used the ham bone from Christmas Eve absolutely delicious can’t stop eating it!
Hi Jill! Such a perfect use for that ham bone. So glad you enjoyed it :)
I made this today !!!! This was the easiest recipe I’ve ever made! I think I have to do soups more often. The pea soup came out fantastic. We all loved it. I did discover while making it I do not like removing skin from ham hocks, so maybe nest time I will try anoter form of ham. Or even panchetta. Excited to try your other recipes!
So glad you enjoyed it, Alison :) Thanks!
This has become a staple in our household. I’ve made it every Sunday for the last month and need to make double batches to keep up with the demand for it. Love love love love this recipe!
So glad to hear, Christiane! Thanks :)
I swapped peas for split red lentils and it has turned out amazing! It’s about time to butcher my pigs and I plan on making lots of this with them. I would like to try it with smoked pork hocks.
Sounds good, Caleb! Glad you enjoyed it :) Thanks!
I made this soup and though it was very tasty, it wasn’t as thick as I expected. I think next time I might add some split peas for a different ratio. Though this is Canadian split pea, I (an American) was making it for my Dutch husband where they expect the split pea soup to hold the spoon up in the middle of it. He still liked the soup a lot and cleaned the bowl with his bread! I think sauteing the vegetables and peas first gives it more flavor and no other recipe had that. We live in South Africa right now and I had to use smoked pork chops to give the soup some of that ham flavor. I used one in the soup as it was cooking and cut up some more and put them in at the end to cook a bit.
Thanks Janet :) I think you could easily increase the amount of split peas in the recipe (and keep the same liquid) to make a thicker soup, for sure.
It’s that time of year again..crisp autumn??. I made my first homemade soup this evening. I chose your recipe (minus the ham ;I have to distance myself from pork right now) and it came out delightful!?? thank u!
Thanks! So glad you enjoyed it (and loving your emojis :)
Hi there – I’d like to try this recipe but I must admit I don’t know if I have the right kind of ham bone. My mother in law sent us home from Easter with a whole bunch of ham including a big bone with lots of ham still on it. But the bone looks hollow in the middle at one end but not at the other. Is this ok to use?
Hi Julie, I will usually use ham hocks to make this soup, just because I don’t cook a ham all that often and my grocery sells the ham hocks frozen, so they are always available to use. That said, the bone from a ham will work just as well. It will impart the same flavour and as a bonus, will usually have more meat attached that you can pull off and add to your soup. So yes, you’re good to go! Enjoy :)
I was looking for a split pea soup recipe and found yours. I tried it today and it was divine! Thank you so much.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Natalie :)
Just made this soup, as an antidote to the January rain. My kitchen smells like home comforts. Thank you!
I can almost smell it, too :) Thanks Pauline! So glad you enjoyed it.
Wow, your photography is really stunning!!!
Thanks so much, Camila :)
I did a Pork Shoulder Ham for dinner on Boxing Day and the bone is simmering in a big pot of Split-Pea soup right this minute. With the outside temperature currently at 10f, a piping hot bowl of this soup with dinner (in a couple hours from now) should be a fine way to kick off New Years eve.
Happy New Year.
A perfect use for your ham bone! Enjoy :)