Spilt pea soup
Spilt pea soup is one of my favourite soups. It is full of aroma, warming and satisfies hunger fantastically. Without a doubt, this is an iconic soup that I remember well from my childhood. My father used to cook it back home, he was proud of the fact that he learned how to make it during his military service, during which he worked in the kitchen. So as a child, I ate this proverbial military spilt pea soup made by my dad. The recipe for spilt pea soup that I am sharing with you below is my version with some of my dad’s instructions.
Start preparing spilt pea soup by soaking the peas. This is a very important step, because if you do not do it, the peas will cook for a long time. In this soup, I use dry yellow peas, or more precisely their halves. I pour cold water over the peas and leave them for a few hours, usually in the evening, which allows them to stay in the water all night long. The next day, I rinse the spilt peas in clean water and cook until soft. I cook the vegetables in a separate pot, and in a pan I fry the bacon with sausage, onion and, at the end, also with garlic. At the very end, I put all the soup ingredients into one pot, the one in which I cook the vegetables, season and cook the soup until all the ingredients are soft. I serve spilt pea soup with meat as the main dinner dish, although due to the fact that this soup is very filling, it is often the only dish I serve for dinner.
What to serve spilt pea soup with? The simplest addition to spilt pea soup is a slice of fresh bread. It can be rye, wheat or whole grain bread. In general, any bread, whether fresh or even in the form of croutons, works well as an addition to spilt pea soup.
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Ingredients for spilt pea soup.
- 250 g dry yellow spilt pea (halves)
- 2,7 l cold water
- 600 g potatoes
- 150 g onion
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- 1 tablespoon of dried marjoram
- 250 g carrot
- 150 g parsnip
- 350 g smoked sausage
- 250 g raw bacon
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 big cloves of garlic
- 1,5 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
How to make spilt pea soup.
Pour the peas into a bowl, cover with cold water and set it aside for at least 8 hours. After that time, pour the peas into a colander and rinse with cold water. Next, put the peas in a pot, pour 500 ml of water, bring it to a boil and simmer over a low heat for about an hour or until the spilt peas are almost soft.
Put the diced bacon into a frying pan, add oil and fry over a low heat for 8 minutes. Following that, add the diced sausage and onion and continue frying for about 20 minutes. At the end of frying, also add the mashed garlic.
Pour the remaining water into a large pot, add diced carrots, parsley and bay leaves. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Then add the potatoes cut into large cubes and cook for 10 minutes. Add the spilt peas with the water in which they were cooked, salt, marjoram, pepper and the fried meat with the onion to the vegetables boiling in the pot. Cook together for about 20 minutes or until all ingredients are soft. I like to serve spilt pea soup with a dollop of sour cream and bread, but you can serve it only with bread.
Good to know when making spilt pea soup.
I cooked the spilt peas for a little over an hour. I suggest checking the boiling peas whether they are soft enough or not yet. When added to the remaining ingredients, the peas may be almost soft, as it is best to cook them for some time with the remaining soup ingredients. Personally, I like it when the peas almost fall apart in the soup, because they thicken the soup nicely.
The soup can be prepared with meat stock, for example ribs or poultry stock.
Do you like dishes with sausage? If so, try our recipe for Baked white sausage.
