This cozy Split Pea and 'Ham' Soup is the perfect soup to come back to after a long walk in crispy Autumn leaves or a great way to warm your bones after a frosty evening when Winter really starts to bite.
This hearty soup is such a great inexpensive recipe to have up your sleeve to make all winter. It can be made with either green split peas or yellow splite peas and can be easily adapted accorting to your own tastes.
If you're a fan of comforting soup, you need to try out one of my all time favorite soups Tomato Lentil Soup. Or if you love a more blended style soup, my classic Pumpkin Soup made without Cream is perfect for fall.
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🍲Ingredients
Here are the simple ingredients you'll need to make this delicious split pea soup.
- Yellow Split Peas: You need dry split peas. I prefer yellow ones just because I like their colour, however you can use green peas instead if you like.
- Carrots: A couple of fresh bouncy carrots add sweetness and flavor.
- Onion: Either a yellow or white onion, again this adds flavor to the soup.
- Smoked Paprika: This enhances the smoky flavor that is remeniscent of ham hocks in the original non-vegan soup recipe. You can also add a little liquid smoke.
- Good Extra Virgin Olive OIl: It adds to the overall flavor and finish of the soup.
- Bay Leaves: Their flavor is subtle and they always make me feel like I'm connected to every soup make ever wondering if they do anything while I'm adding them. At this point I can't NOT add them.
- Boullion or Vegetable Stock: If you have your own home-made vegetable broth or stock you can use that. Or use a good quality shop-bought veggie stock or boullion cube or powder.
- Flakey Sea Salt and Black Pepper : To season!
FOR THE TOFO 'FACON' Ham croutons
- Smoked Tofu: This is a firm tofu that's been smoked! If you can't find any, use regular firm tofu and add some liquid smoke and paprika to the soy sauce.
- Soy Sauce: This adds a little umami savory note to the tofu which enhances the ham-style flavor.
See recipe card for quantities.
👩🍳Instructions
Before you start, finely chop your onion and carrot and chop the tofu into small cubes.
1. Add the tofu cubes into a bowl with some soy sauce (and liquid smoke if using). Allow to marinate for a while.
2. Fry the cubes in a little oil until golden and crispy. 3. Set aside.
4. In a large pot or casserole gently heat the olive oil and add the onion and carrots and sautee until softened and the onion starts to caramelise to increase the depth of flavor. OPTION: add half the tofu cubes here.
5. Add in the split peas and stire.
6. Add the veggie broth/ stock, bay leaves and season. Allow to simmer until the split peas are soft and start to disintegrate. If the soup is getting to thick add more water or broth.
7. Once the soup is thick, you can choose to either blend it or keep it as a chunky soup.
Serve topped with the crispy tofu 'bacon' croutons and some fresh parsley, plus lots of hearty bread to mop up the juices.
Hint: Keep an eye on the soup as different peas absorb water and cook at slightly different times depending on how old they are. Make sure to top up with extra water as needed.
🌶️Substitutions & Variations
Here are some easy ways you can switch up this hearty vegan soup.
- Other veggies- different versions of split pea soup add small cubes of potato, celery or even parsnip and sometimes also add in garlic cloves. You can choose to add in whatever you desire.
- Faux Ham Hock- Choose to use cubes of the cooked tofu mixed in about halfway through, or add in uncooked at the begining. The uncooked tofu creates a softer texture while the little fried cubes add a lovely chewy hammy texture.
- Blended and Creamy-for a creamy version of this soup, blend half or even the whole soup then reheat to serve. You might need to add a little hot water to correct the texture to the desired consistency.
- Add a little lemon juice or a small dash of white wine or apple cider vinegar to balance the flavours just before serving.
🔪Equipment
You will need a good sharp knife, a small frying pan and a large pot or dutch oven to make this recipe. If you wish to blend the soup an immersion blender is also useful.
🫙Storage
Store leftovers of this vegan split pea soup recipe in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or portion the soup into one or two person servings and freeze for up to 3 months.
Top tip
Adding some of the cooked vegan 'ham/bacon' cubes into the soup helps deepen the flavor and creates a lovely texture contrast. You can also add these in after you have blended the soup if you wish for a blended soup.
❓FAQ
Split peas will cook from dry in under half an hour so they do not need to be pre-soaked.
As the peas cook and start to break down they release starches making a naturally creamy texture soup without any added cream or butter.
More Soup?!
Love Soup? Why not try these hearty soup recipes?
Salad for Winter
A bright salad made with winter veggies is perfect to serve as a side with this soup.
📖 Recipe
Cozy Split Pea and 'Ham' Soup - Vegan
Equipment
- Blender optional
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
For the Soup
- 500 g (2¼ cups) yellow split peas (dried uncooked.)
- 125 g (½ cup) smoked tofu (half a pack, you'll use the rest later! )
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 large white onion
- 2 tablespoon vegetarian bouillon (or 1 stock cube) dissolved in 1 litre water (or 1 litres good veggie stock )
- 3 fresh or dried bay leaves
- 3 drops liquid smoke (optional, but adds a little extra smokey flavour)
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- You might need more water!
For the Tofu Croutons
- 125 g (½ cup) smoked tofu (The other half of the packet used in the soup recipe)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
Instructions
For the Soup
- Very finely chop the carrot, onion.
- Sautee the onion and carrot in olive oil in a large pot & cook on a medium heat until the onion is translucent.
- Add the split peas, smoked paprika stock (or bouillon and water) and the bay leaves.
- Finely chop the tofu and add to the soup. (optional)
- Simmer for 45 minutes. Add extra water if needed.
- Once the peas are super soft & dissolving, give it a taste. Add a few drops of liquid smoke, if you like.
- OPTIONAL BLENDED VERSION: Let the soup cool for a bit, then ladle into a blender or use an immersion blender. Blend all or half the soup. (Or leave it unblended for a chunkier style soup)
- Add the blended soup back into the soup saucepan and heat up as needed!
For the Smokey Croutons
- Finely chop the smoked tofu and leave to marinate in the soy sauce for half an hour.
- In a little pan, fry off the tofu in a little olive oil.
- Serve the soup in big bowls with a sprinkle of croutons & some crusty bread. You can also add some of the tofu into the soup and mix it in just after blending or near to the end of the cooking time.
Notes
Blend the soup or leave unblended. Add garlic, cubed potatoes and /or celery to the soup as desired.
