Easy Split Pea Soup with Homemade Heart Shaped Croutons!
Split Pea Soup is an absolute classic soup, with lots of great hearty flavor and is so simple and inexpensive to make.
There are many variations of split pea soup and there is no right or wrong way to make it.
You can easily make it with meat, vegetarian or gluten-free without really changing the taste of it.
A great time to make split pea soup is after you have made a ham and you have a ham bone left-over. But don't think that this is the only time you can make this delicious soup. You do not need to add meat to split pea soup to make it great. Really the only thing you need to make split pea soup are the peas, water and seasonings, the rest is really optional.
So lets get started with this quick and easy (and very inexpensive) version:
INGREDIENTS:
2 PACKAGES OF SPLIT GREEN PEAS (32 ounces total)
2 ONIONS
5 LARGE CARROTS
2 TABLESPOONS OIL
2 CHICKEN BOUILLON CUBES
16 CUPS OF COLD WATER
SALT AND PEPPER
6 QT POT WITH LID
Ok, so first thing I want to say is that this is going to make a lot of split pea soup (approximately 12 servings). If you would like to make less, just cut the recipe in half. The reason I chose to make this amount is because this is what will fit in my 6 QT pot. If I'm going to make something, I like to make a lot of it and freeze it and have it on hand. I find it so much easier and cost efficient to cook this way.
First thing you want to do is place your split green peas in a colander and rinse well.
Next you will chop up your onions and carrots.
In your stock pot add your oil, carrots, and onions and begin to saute.
While your carrots and onions are sauteing take your 2 bouillon cubes and crumble them up into your carrot and onion mixture (I like the knorr bouillon cubes because they are soft and you can crumble them, some bouillon cubes are very hard and you can not crumble them. That's ok if that's the kind you have, just add them later on as your soup cooks).
Bouillon cubes are loaded with sodium, that's why I only add two. But because you are making a lot of soup, you will still need to add some more salt. I like to do that while the soup is cooking, tasting it along the way so I don't overdue the salt.
Of course if you have homemade chicken stock you would use that instead of the 16 cups of water and chicken bouillon cubes.
Continue letting your carrots and onions saute, getting them nice and tender and even a little golden brown.
Next you will add in all of your rinsed green split peas and saute them for approximately 5 minutes with the carrots and onions before you add the water (most people don't do this step, so if your pressed for time you could skip the sauteing and just add the water)
After everything has been nicely sauteed, add in 14 of the 16 cups of cold water. Reserve the last 2 cups of water and add them in while the soup cooks and only if some of the liquid evaporates.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer covered or loosely covered for approximately 2 hrs.
Don't forget to taste the soup while its cooking and add salt and pepper to your liking. I don't like a lot of salt, so you will probably definitely need to add salt.
That's it, of course you can jazz up your soup with some delicious homemade heart shaped croutons!
ENJOY!!!
