← Back to scoops
Pea and ham soup — cartoon recipe illustration
Soup

Pea and ham soup

Serves 6–8 Prep 10 min Cook 8–10 hr slow cooker (or 2.5 hr stove) Total 8–10 hr

Pea and ham soup sits in our soup collection for cool nights, sick days, and freezer stock-ups. We keep the voice practical — what to buy, what heat to use, and how to tell when it is done. Plan on 8–10 hr from starting prep to plating for 6–8. Prep is about 10 min; the active cook or oven time is closer to 8–10 hr slow cooker (or 2.5 hr stove). Read the whole method once before you turn on the heat. The character of the dish comes from dried split peas, ham hock or meaty leftover ham bone and ¼ tsp salt. Check quantities in grams where listed — volume is fine for many liquids, but baking and batter ratios behave better on scales. Use it for cool nights, sick days, and freezer stock-ups, then ladle into warm bowls with bread or toast soldiers. Soups freeze well — cool fully before portioning into containers. Metric spoons here mean a 20 ml tablespoon and a 5 ml teaspoon. We write soup recipes so you can cook from your phone on the bench: large checkable ingredients, numbered steps, and notes you can skim while the pan heats.

Ingredients

Method

  1. Place peas in slow cooker; push ham in. Scatter remaining ingredients around; pour over water.
  2. Cook 8–10 hours on LOW or 6 hours on HIGH (stove: about 2½ hours on low simmer).
  3. Remove ham bone; shred meat. Discard bone and fatty skin. Remove bay leaves.
  4. Blitz 2–3 times with a stick blender for a thicker but still chunky soup.
  5. Return ham; stir. Adjust salt. Serve with parsley and crusty bread.

Tip: No stock needed — the ham flavours the water. Freezes perfectly.

Notes

  • Putting it together for Pea and ham soup: work clean, taste as you go, and do not rush browning or reduction steps if they appear in the method. If you are cooking for mixed diets, plate sauces and toppings separately where practical. Keep this page bookmarked if it becomes a household regular — we update wording when cooks report a confusing step. Metric consistency across Scoops & Dishes means once you trust the cups and scales here, breakfast through dessert behaves the same way.
  • Shopping and mise en place: read the full ingredient list once before you start. For Pea and ham soup, dried split peas and ham hock or meaty leftover ham bone are the items that decide whether the dish tastes flat or properly seasoned. Weigh where grams are given — volume cups are fine for liquids and some dry goods, but baking ratios are tighter if you use scales. Australian cups are 250 ml; a tablespoon is 20 ml and a teaspoon is 5 ml.
  • From our tested tip, expanded: No stock needed — the ham flavours the water. Freezes perfectly. Treat that as the non-negotiable. If something still feels off — too wet, too pale, too tight — adjust one variable at a time (heat, liquid, or bake time) rather than changing three things at once.
  • Before the heat goes on, line up dried split peas, ham hock or meaty leftover ham bone and ¼ tsp salt and anything perishable from the list. Soften butter, bring eggs off the fridge if the method needs them room-temp, and preheat so you are not waiting mid-recipe. For a soup cook of this size (6–8), a clear bench saves more time than any gadget.