When my mom says she’s making paleo split pea soup, the rest of our family literally cheers. Not a normal response to soup, you say? That may be true but this ain’t no ordinary soup! And–to be honest–this is saying something seeing as none of us even really like peas all that much.
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This split pea soup certainly got all the makings of of a great paleo soup recipe: a bone broth base with ample gelatin, some bio-available, colorful veggies, and a hearty texture. As an added bonus, kids love this soup because it’s a fun green color. The only thing wrong with this soup is that there never seems to be enough of it!
Ingredients:
- 6 quarts water
- 2 large bones from either a smoked ham or smoked turkey, preferably pastured (the smoked part is crucial to this recipe…and don’t go out of your way to scrape the bones so that you get the fall-off-the-bone-tender-meat benefits in this soup)
- 1 bag split peas, soaked overnight
- 1 large onion (any color), sliced
- 1 large carrot, shredded
- 6-8 white mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tablespoons grass-fed butter, bacon fat, or lard
Steps:
1. Place your bones in a large dutch oven or heavy pot. Add in the 6 quarts of water.
2. Bring you bone broth to boil and then turn down to simmer, covered, for 4-6 hours.
3. Add your soaked split peas to your pot and continue to simmer, covered, for another 2-4 hours.
4. Towards the end of your second simmer, melt your butter/bacon fat/lard in a medium-sized pan over medium heat.
5. Saute the onion, carrot, and white mushrooms in the butter/fat of choice until the vegetables have softened, mixing occasionally. This will take around 5-8 minutes.
6. Add in the vegetables to your broth/split pea soup and mix well. Simmer, covered, for another 15-20 minutes.
7. After you’re done simmering your soup, you’ll want to taste it to see if it needs any added salt. More than likely, the smoked ham/turkey that you used will contain enough salt that you won’t need to add any extra but just taste your soup and see what you think.
This recipe is great for freezing and reheating but good luck saving enough to make that happen!