This soup is SO easy and SO good.  I can say that with some authority because I haven’t always been a fan of split pea soup.  It reminds me of my days as a cruise staff member schmoozing on deck during Glacier Bay Day in Alaska.  As a cruise staffer I was required to point out the pretty glaciers and encourage passengers to partake in our warm split pea soup.  It was a really tough job.  Only trouble was…the soup kind of sucked (sorry, chef).  The spiked hot chocolate was fabulous though, so it wasn’t all bad.

My mom introduced me to the idea of yellow split peas last winter and I’ve been making variations of this soup ever since.  The bacon is my secret ingredient here, however, I imagine you could add a little more paprika for a vegetarian option.  This recipe is quick and easy (like most everything I come up with) because I don’t have a lot of time to mess with a long list of ingredients or endless preparation.

As always, this recipe was Kula Baby tested and approved.  I think he ate it for lunch three days straight.

Savory Split Pea Soup

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Savory Split Pea Soup

Course: Soup

Author: Kula Mama

Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow split peas picked over and rinsed
• 4 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 large sweet onion chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika or more if you want!
• 2 slices organic bacon cooked
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Saute onion with a little oil or butter in a pan until soft.  Add water/broth, split peas and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to simmer.  Add cooked bacon, paprika, salt and pepper and leave simmering for 30-ish minutes or until peas are soft.  Don't over cook them to mush please.
2. Transfer soup to blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  For a chunkier soup, only blend half and leave the rest chunky.  Kula Baby isn't always a fan of chunky so we puree to death over here.  Return soup to pan and taste.  You may need to mess with the flavor here by adding more salt, paprika or even a squeeze of lemon.

Secret Veggie Variations:

1. You can add chopped carrots to this--just add them in when you add the split peas.  Or for some greens, throw in some raw spinach before you put everything in the blender.  Your kids will never know the difference.
2. Perfect for a rainy (or snowy) day.  Enjoy!

Photo Credit: The Bitten Word