Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup
67 CommentsUpdated Jul 14, 2025
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Creamy, smooth, and easy to make, this Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup with ham is a classic recipe you must try in the slow cooker.
Recipe Highlights
- My perfect recipe for crockpot split pea soup is heaven in a bowl. My version is thick and dreamy!
- This soup has a quick prep time and long cooking time – perfect for work days
- A one pot meal and the slow cooker does all the work
Key Ingredients
- Dried Split Peas – A bag of dried split peas
- Vegetables – Diced carrots, onions, and celery make the perfect base.
- Ham – Diced ham can be freshly bought or you can use leftover ham.
- Dried Herbs – Dried thyme, fresh rosemary, and a bay leaf go great with split peas.
- Chicken Broth – This will flavor the soup well over vegetable broth
- Seasonings – Minced garlic, salt, and black pepper ensure the taste of this soup is well-balanced.
How to Make Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup
- Load every soup ingredient into the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low until the peas soften and everything melds together.
- Stir the soup to thicken, and it’s ready to serve up hot.
Sarah’s Tips & Variations
Split peas do not need to be soaked before cooking. The slow cooker will cook them up perfectly.
Yellow Split Peas can be used in place of the green – they work just the same.
Ham type swap: You can use a ham bone or ham hock instead of diced ham! I always do this if I can find them in the store (can also use leftover slow cooker spiral ham bone).
Too Thick? Once the lid is open, split pea soup will continue to thicken. Just add a splash of broth or water and stir to thin out.
Freezer meal: This is one of my favorite freezer meals! Just add the uncooked ingredients to a bag (except the water). Then thaw, and cook when ready.
Vegetarian: Just omit the ham and use vegetable broth.
Best Ways to Serve Split Pea Soup
- Toppings: Keep it plain or add shredded cheese, extra sauteed ham, sour cream and freshly ground pepper. For crunchy toppings, top with saltine crackers or croutons.
- Sides: Cornbread is hands down the BEST side for pea soup. This can be found pre-made in a tray in the bakery section if you are short on time.
Featured Comment
This came out oh-sooo-good, thank you!!
– monica
Very simple and quick to prepare, and super flavorful. I’ve added this to my favorite recipes. 🙂
Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup Recipe
How to Video
Ingredients
- 16 oz. dried green split peas, sorted and rinsed (about 2 ¼ cups) DO NOT SOAK
- 2 cups cubed ham
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 rosemary sprigs or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 2 thyme sprigs or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Parsley, chopped, for serving
Instructions
- Add the split peas, ham, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, chicken broth and water.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 4 hours, or on LOW for 8-9 hours.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste (you may not need salt at all, depending how salty your ham is).
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Can I use Hurst’s Hambeens Spilt Pea Soup Mix in this recipe?
- Yes, though Hurst’s Spilt Pea mix package size is 20 ounces compared to the 16 ounces of split peas that I use in this recipe. Add 1 more cup of water if you use Hurst’s Split Pea Mix.
- Omit the chicken bouillon if you use the included ham seasoning packet. Be sure to wait until the end of the cooking time to add the ham seasoning packet.
More slow cooker soup recipes like this one:
Warm up with Slow Cooker Split Pea Stew, Slow Cooker Zuppa Toscana, or classic Ham and Beans for hearty comfort any night of the week.
Craving cozy flavors? Let Slow Cooker French Onion Soup or creamy Ham and Potato Soup do the simmering while you relax. My Black Eyed Peas Recipe is perfect over cornbread, a must try.
Spice things up with Mexican Chicken Rice Soup or keep it smoky with Black Bean and Kielbasa Soup for an easy weeknight win.
I haven’t made the soup yet but I would like to know the difference in taste between all the alternate spices that could be used in the comments: marjoram, bay leave, thyme or oregano – thank you
It will taste like the spice you use. I prefer thyme for this recipe over all the others.
When this in the crockpot can you make dumplings and add them before the soup is done when I makes it on the stove I adds them half hour before it’s done.
Great, simple fool-proof recipe. Don’t have to stand in front of stove all day, as a old truck mechanic I give this recipe the highest marks!
I really love this recipe. It uses considerably less ingredients than the recipe I was using but it’s just as good or better.
For those who would like to substitute vegetable broth, I’d suggest buying a bag of Vegeta All Purpose Seasoning and Soup Mix. It’s a vegetable bouillon powder that’s widely used in Eastern Europe. You just add a level teaspoon to a cup of warm water and you have a cup of vegetable broth. I’ve compared it to vegetable broth made with Better Than Bouillon vegetable flavor bouillon and the broth I made with Vegeta was just as good or better and less expensive. I bought a bag of Vegeta on amazon.com and paid 17.99 plus a few cents tax for a bag weighing 4 pounds and 6 ounces. This amounted to 26 cents an ounce.
Thank you for the amazing recipe!!! So easy to make and so yummy!!!
Nice recipe! I love doing pea soup in a slow cooker, having been burned more than once when a drop of pea soup “lava” had unexpectedly popped out of a big pot of it cooking on the stove, just as I’d lifted the lid to stir it!!! That stuff can be absolutely treacherous! Slow-cooking it is really the way to go pea soup, and it turns out so perfect and wonderful too!
I often use 1/2 of a Polska kielbasa in pea soup instead of ham, or when I don’t have a ham bone, and freeze the other diced half for making another pot later on, or to use in an omelet, a loaded veggie & chicken broth soup, or a lentil soup. Kielbasa is very versatile and gives pea soup a wonderful flavor! I mostly use Hillshire brand of Polska kielbasa, because it’s easy to find at the store, but any Polish kielbasa would work.
I buy Johnsonville kielbasa because it’s 100% pork. I just bought several packages of smoked pork neckbones specifically for making soup but when I use them up I’ll give your suggestion a try.
Hi I’m 82 yrs old and in an assisted living facility which I love except that the food is yukky, so I’ve been making soups and am ready to try some new recipes. We don’t have kitchenettes (We have what I call “ettes” so about the only thing I can do is use my Crockpot for cooking. I’m interesting in cooking things other than soup, and there are 6 of us who count on my giving us real food at least once a week but its tricky cuz we only have a tiny little sink in the bathroom to wash up in. I’m interested in finding a Nacho recipe using my slow cooker cuz we all love nacho’s. We do have microwaves but without ovens Nachos seem sort of difficult to do. Can you help steer me in the right direction so that maybe we can still have nacho’s?
Hi Judy, this is my favorite recipe for “nachos”. Since you can’t brown the meat, I’ve heard of some people cooking the ground beef on high in the slow cooker (probably 2-3 hours), then crumbling, then continuing with the recipe. (or you can leave the beef out, it’s such a great recipe). https://www.themagicalslowcooker.com/slow-cooker-taco-dip/
I know of someone who often cooks ground beef in their microwave, breaking it up and stirring it around to help it cook more evenly, as they go along at 1 minute or 30 second intervals microwaving it on high, I think. I can’t actually recall the details, since I’d only witnessed it being done once, many years ago, but it had seemed to work ok. You might need to do it 8 oz. at a time, or possibly experiment with using 50% power instead of on High, to prevent over-cooking the beef, but it might be worth trying, at least. There are probably some microwaving tips online about cooking ground beef, also.
Hi, Judy! Maybe you already know? There r liners for slowcookers in grocery stores to buy! Might make cleanup easier since you have sm sink…enjoy! Minika
I only have extra large bullion cubes. Do you think one will be ok instead of two?
One should do it.
Thank you!
Do you think it would taste alright if I added some celery? Also can I use chicken stock instead of chicken bouillon cubes?
Yes! Will be great with celery. And chicken stock instead of water works great.
Thank you!!! Merry Christmas!!