This delicious and easy slow cooker split pea soup comes together fast with just a few ingredients and simmers all day for a hearty meal everyone will love!
It seriously does not get ANY easier than this delicious, hearty split pea soup. My family loves it so much that we have started buying whole spiral-cut hams on a regular basis just so we can make it more often! It actually ends up being a pretty good value, though, since an eight pound ham will provide at least 1-2 dinners, a week’s worth of lunch meat, and then another 12-15 hearty servings of soup.
But the true beauty of this soup is how ridiculously simple it is to make. Simply throw the ham bone in the crock pot along with your split peas, onion, celery, carrots, and water, let it simmer for at least 8 hours, then remove the bone and you are done. That’s IT. Simple, frugal, and delicious….what more do you need?
Easy Split Pea Soup Recipe
Here is what you need:
1 meaty ham bone 1 1lb bag split peas 1 small onion 1 bunch celery hearts 8 oz baby carrots ( half a 1 pound bag) 6-8 cups water pepper, to tasteDirections:
Step 1: Rinse peas; set aside ( if peas come with a flavor packet, you can go ahead and discard it—we won’t use it.)
Step 2: Chop onion; slice celery and carrots.
Step 3: Place ham bone in crockpot; add split peas.
Step 4: Add onion and vegetables.
Step 5: Add water; cook on low for 8 hours or overnight.
Step 6: Carefully remove ham bone; place on plate and separate out the fat and bone from the meat. Return meat to soup; discard fat and bone.
Step 7: Serve soup immediately or store in refrigerator to reheat later. Soup will continue to thicken; keeps well for at least one week in refrigerator.
Other Soup Recipes You’ll Love:

Easy Slow-Cooked Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
- 1 meaty ham bone
- 1 1 lb bag split peas
- 1 small sweet onion
- 1 bunch celery hearts
- 8 oz baby carrots half a 1 pound bag
- 6-8 cups water
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse peas; set aside ( if peas come with a flavor packet, you can go ahead and discard it---we won't use it.)
- Chop onion; slice celery and carrots.
- Place ham bone in crockpot; add split peas.
- Add onion and vegetables.
- Add water; cook on low for 8 hours or overnight.
- Carefully remove ham bone; place on plate and separate out the fat and bone from the meat. Return meat to soup; discard fat and bone.
Serve soup immediately or store in refrigerator to reheat later.
Recipe Notes
Soup will continue to thicken and keeps well for at least one week in refrigerator.
PIN FOR LATER:
TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOUR HOME LIFE
Ever feel like you just can't keep up? Our Living Well Starter Guide will show you how to start streamlining your life in just 3 simple steps. It's a game changer--get it free for a limited time!
If you love this resource, be sure to check out our digital library of helpful tools and resources for cleaning faster, taking control of your budget, organizing your schedule, and getting food on the table easier than ever before.
Can you use broth instead of water
I cannot cook peas with anything but PLAIN WATER. Use NOTHING else, no salt, no ham NO NOTHING. I don’t know how this recipe can possibly work, with all the salt that’s in a ham. If you take Tha ham out and try to pulverize everything in the blender you might be able to save it. However in the future NEVER use anything with the peas particularly any salt. Once the peas are cooked then mix in all the other stuff and simmer for a long time for flavor.
Two days later my peas are still hard. Why?
Made the soup today
Next time I’ll decrease the water, but the peas were still firm even after 9 hours on low. Other than that the flavor was good
I had this happen, then the next meal I made was not done either. I found I needed a new crockpot. It wasn’t heating properly any longer. New crockpot fixed the issue
Hi. We love this soup. I will use the ham juices after our first meal when it was oven baked, just separate fat from the juice. (That is easy to do if the juices are cooled.)Then add water to just cover the hambone. The juices add so much extra flavour. If too watery then add some cooked rice. I also take out the bone then use my submersible blender and roughly chopped/blend the soup. That will usually thicken it. Then add back some chopped or shredded ham.