When I was a kid, my very favorite soup was split pea soup. My mom would make it using the ham bone from Christmas dinner. Through the years, I’ve made my own split pea soup, sometimes with the Christmas ham bone for flavoring, and other times with smoked sausage.
I think I actually prefer the smoked sausage. The sausage that I use is Conecuh smoked sausage. Unlike other sausages such as Kielbasa, this sausage needs to be cooked before using it in a dish. Part of the reason for cooking it is to get rid of most of the fat. It’s a bit time consuming, but well worth it!
Ingredients for Split Pea Soup with Smoked Sausage
Having said that, I used the following ingredients: Smoked sausage, chopped onions, chopped celery, dried green split peas, salt, thyme, pepper and water.
Preparing the Smoked Sausage
First, I sliced the sausage and cooked it over medium heat in my pressure cooker. I always use the pressure cooker because I don’t have to soak the peas first and the cooking time is greatly reduced. Also, I tend to cook the sausage in two batches.
Finishing the Split Pea Soup
After the sausage was fully cooked, I drained it well on paper towels and used extra paper towels to remove as much grease as possible. I poured out all of the fat from the pan and quickly wiped the inside with paper towels.
Then, I added the onions and celery to the pan and cooked them over medium heat for about five minutes. The liquid that was given off helped to loosen a lot of the “fond” or little roasty bits from the bottom of the pan after cooking the sausage.
Next, I added the remaining the ingredients, starting with the split peas, sausage and seasonings. You can see here how different the cooked sausage looks!
Finally, I added the water.
After giving the soup a good stir, I secured the top of the pressure cooker and turned the heat up to high until full pressure was achieved.
Once full pressure was reached, I reduced the heat to maintain the pressure, and cooked the soup for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, I removed the pan from the heat and allowed it to depressurize. When I removed the top of the pressure cooker, the resultant soup didn’t look very good because the solids were at the bottom and the liquids were on top.
Not to worry. I used my “smart stick” that Susan got me for Christmas and gave the mixture a quick blend.
I served the soup with some toasted French bread. It was amazing. Yum!
If you like this recipe, you should check out some of my other amazing soups:
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup: Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup is amazing in its simplicity and taste. As the cooler weather has finally started arriving, a healthy and delicious soup such as Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup will likely become one of your family’s favorites.
- Hearty Minestrone: Hearty Minestrone is a healthy soup that chocked full of delicious vegetables. It’s comfort food at its best in the cold winter months, but equally satisfying when things warm up. Hearty Minestrone is easy to make, freezes well, and makes terrific leftovers.
- Red Lentil and Roasted Tomato Soup: What better way to warm yourself on these cold winter days than with a hearty soup. Red Lentil and Roasted Tomato Soup totally fits the bill. It’s full of healthy ingredients, easy to make, and amazingly delicious!
- Split Pea Soup with Ham: Split Pea Soup with Ham cooked in an Instant Pot is a snap to make, and awesome to serve. In addition, the leftovers are just as good the next day, or frozen for an anytime lunch or dinner.
- Lentil and Sausage Soup: Lentil and Sausage Soup is both hearty and delicious. This one pot meal is a snap to make, freezes beautifully, and is packed full of vegetables and protein. It’s definitely comfort in a bowl!
- Easy Creamy Tomato Soup: Easy Creamy Tomato Soup is a perfect starter to an elegant meal. It is equally perfect for a light dinner when paired with Caesar salad and crusty french bread.
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Split Pea Soup with Smoked Sausage (Pressure Cooker)
Ingredients
- 1 pound (16 ounces) smoked sausage sliced thin (See Tip 1)
- 1 pound (16 ounces) green split peas, picked over and rinsed
- 1 large onion 2 cups, chopped
- 3 ribs of celery 1 cup, chopped
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 8 cups water See Tip 2
Instructions
- Cook the sausage in a large pressure cooker. Remove and drain well on paper towels. Pour all fat from the pressure cooker and wipe down with paper towels.
- Add the onion and celery to the pressure cooker, and cook 5 minutes, stirring to loosen the browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Add the split peas, sausage, salt, thyme, pepper and water. Stir well.
- Lock the lid of the pressure cooker in place. Over high heat, bring the highest pressure. Reduce the heat just enough to maintain the high pressure and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat; allow the pressure to come down naturally. Remove the lid; stir well, taking care to blend in the peas and other ingredients that have sunk to the bottom of the pan. Correct the seasonings. Yield: 6 servings.
Chula's Expert Tips
- May use 2 cups of diced ham in place of the smoked sausage. If using ham, combine the ham, onions and celery. Cook for 5 minutes and proceed as above.
- For a richer flavor, use chicken broth in place of the water