Hearty Split Pea Soup With Bacon Recipe (2024)

This is a lovely recipe except for one bit of the instructions: use a blender or food processor... Using an immersion blender is the way to purée right in the pot with no mess or fuss, no transferring of hot soup, and no clean up of other containers (or hot soup exploding all over the kitchen, which happened to me once). Immersion blenders are not expensive, and I've had mine for years & years. Anyone who cooks very much will use it often. They work great for smoothies too!

I really wish NYTimes recipes could quit listing indeterminate amounts like "1/2 bunch fresh thyme leaves." Or, at least follow it up with something measurable like "approx 1 1/2 tablespoons." What, after all, is a bunch? I buy my herbs loose so that I can get the amount I need, not some arbitrary bunch or whatever the grocer puts together.

Stripping leaves of thyme can be a pain , I place the amount needed in a plastic bag then freeze Then when needed rub the still frozen stems (while still in the bag) leaves fall off easily..

I loved the flavors used - bay and fresh thyme make this split pea soup special. But 3 quarts of stock must be a misprint, I used 2 quarts and after blending with a stick blender it seemed perfect. The result was much thinner than my usual split pea soup, but a winner. I suggest starting with less stock, use excellent bacon, and remove the bay leaves before blending!

What is a half bunch of thyme leaves; a tablespoon, 1/4 cup or ? The soup came out great. I don't want to sound like a nit picker, but thyme is an intense herb, more or less makes a difference.

I've been cooking split pea soup for decades and never changed it from the Jewish way my mom cooked it until the other day when I tried this recipe. OMG, it is so delicious. Use good smoked bacon and you, too, will love it. I added an extra carrot and celery.

Splendid recipe. But a full pound of bacon? I used a half-pound slab of wonderful, smoky bacon that yielded a FULL CUP of fat -- the kind of cooking that did in my French-Canadian grandparents, bless their clogged hearts! I spooned out all but a couple tablespoonfuls of fat and it was plenty for sauteing and coating. Saved the bacon bits as garnish, along with garlic croutons. Definitely want to use an immersion blender. Great soup I'll make again and again, with above modification.

Thank you! We've updated the recipe to reflect a 2 to 3 quart range of chicken stock so readers can make it according to their preference.

Nice just plain nice. I made some changes; 3/4 lb home cured smoked bacon, about 1/4 lb smoked ham/lardon, cracked black pepper and kosher salt. This soup brings back memories. I sampled about 1 cup and will wait for tomorrow to try out with my wife. I find many soups are better a day or so after cooking giving the flavors a chance to meld.

I make mine with a good smoked turkey leg instead of bacon.

Delicious comfort meal with cornbread, apples, and cheese. Modifications: 2 quarts no-chicken broth (not 3), vegetarian kielbasa instead of bacon (pan sautéed and added at the end), more carrots and celery, diced potato. Did need to puree it - just the right smooshy consistency after 30 minutes (not 1 hour).

I veganized it, sauteed the veggies in a little water, used homemade fake chicken broth instead of stock (dried mushrooms give excellent depth of flavor for a homemade non-meat broth), and added some shakes of hickory smoked salt for the "smoke" flavor. Excellent! I may serve at Thanksgiving!

Yum. Just YUM! Used only a half pound of bacon, as that's all I had on hand. Had lots of celery and carrots, so used more than one of each. Had no fresh thyme, so went with dried. Still tasty. Fresh thyme might make it a level of magnitude better, which is hard to imagine. I must admit, we didn't get to eat it until 2 days after I made the soup... perhaps that's what made it so good. Either that or all that garlic! Oh, and don't forget the homemade croutons!

Please add “Remove bay leaves” before puréeing the soup!

Loved it though (I) immersion blender is right on and (ii) next time definitely removing some of the bacon grease.

FABULOUS. SIMPLE. DELICOUS. I had Peter Luger thick cut bacon inn the house and not a full head of garlic so I added a shallot too. YUM!

4quarts chicken broth add two first then as needed 1/4tsp red pepper flakes Lots of pepperSprinkle with bacon

Made with all recommended ingredients and also added a few small potatoes for body, more carrots and celery, cumin, Aleppo pepper, and lemon. Delicious…but then we both felt like we had a bag of cement in our stomachs—for about 24 hours. Never again will I put an entire pound of bacon in ANYTHING! Now I have to toss the rest of the gorgeous soup. I’d make it again but use either pancetta or a fraction of the bacon.

For Instant Pot-2Q broth is too much. I like 6-7 c. Used diced Italian sausage, browned on Sauté. Added 1 t smoked paprika. Pressure cook 18 min. 10 min release. Good!

Excellent! We’re kosher, so bacon wouldn’t work - instead, substituted flanken, which I cubed and seared in schmaltz (rendered chicken fat, to replace the rendered bacon fat). Removed before emulsifying and then used a fork to flake into the soup. Really, really, really delicious recipe.

Good base recipe. Instead of a full pound of bacon, I rendered a 1/4 lb of bacon and discarded the grease. I then substituted approximately a 1/4 cup of olive oil in which to saute the vegetables and added in a 1/2 lb of lean diced ham. I held true to the remainder of the recipe, but agree with those who commented that the immersion blending is unnecessary. Note that use of this much low-sodium chicken broth (2 to 3 quarts) can still result in a salty taste even without added salt.

More celery and carrot, less garlic (2-3cloves) and less stock. Reserve vm bacon for garnish.

The best split pea soup I've ever made. I held back on the bacon (1/4 LB) and it was still delicious!

Why do you need an immersion blender. I don’t get it

I followed this recipe exactly except I substituted one smoked porkchop for the bacon and used an immersion blender at the end. I needed only two quarts of stock, using one carton of reduced salt commercial + my own homemade chicken stock on hand (so the end result wasn't too salty for me). I resisted the temptation to cut the amount of garlic, using the entire head, and the end result was wonderful. A keeper soup recipe, for sure!

Tie twine around the bunch of thyme. The leaves will cook off, and the stems are easily removed then.

Delish & Easy! I used only a half pound of bacon and thought that was fine. I personally didn’t add any additional salt because of the bacon added enough for my liking. My only other note is use an immersion blender if you have one, saves yourself time and items to clean if you can just blend the soup in the pot itself!

Great simple recipe and uses pantry staples! I agree with others, that 1 pound of bacon is too much. I will scale it back next time and/or use ham, but put bacon sprinkles on top. Also, unless you like the smooth texture, there’s no need to purée. The slightly chunky texture was nice with a nice crusty bread.

I'll give this 5 stars, but highly recommend you cut a lot of the fat off your bacon before you fry it and/or dump some of the rendered fat--My bacon was too fatty and I ended up picking fat out of the soup before I blended it--about a cup worth. Otherwise, delicious. I only used 5 cloves of garlic as a full head seemed excessive.