This delicious vegan split pea soup is hearty, comforting & really healthy. Packed full of flavour with herbs, veggies & green split peas, it's fibre and protein rich too.
Split pea soup has been widely associated with ham, famous ham and split pea soup.
If you've never attempted making vegetarian or vegan split pea soup for that exact reason, then this recipe is here to prove that you can have delicious, smoky, hearty, "stick to your ribs" soup without any ham whatsoever.
It is also my homage to Polish split pea soup known as Grochówka I used to eat growing up or rather its plant version.
If you enjoy hearty soups with added legumes make sure to check out my
Carrot and Swede soup too!
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✔️ Why you'll love this recipe
- Comfort food at its best.
- Super nutritious, packed full of plant protein and heaps of fibre.
- Perfect for making ahead and batch cooking.
- Freezer friendly.
- Makes perfect lunch but is also filling enough to have as dinner.
- Great staple meal made using simple and inexpensive ingredients.
📝 Ingredients and substitutes
Here's what you will need to make my Vegan Split Pea Soup:
Split Peas - Both green and yellow split peas will work great here.
Cabbage - Any type of cabbage or even kale will work. I used savoy cabbage.
Carrots
Parsnip
Celery
Potatoes
Onions & garlic
Bay Leaves
Fresh Thyme (or dried)
Allspice Berries - They give out lovely aroma and a little goes a long way with them.
Smoked Paprika - Perfect for adding that smoky flavour. If you happen to have some liquid smoke in your larder, you might want to add few drops as well.
Marjoram - Widely available yet underused herb in my opinion but as it's always been a staple in my mum's Grochówka I simply had to use it here. It gives this soup wonderful flavour and aroma.
Feel free to use oregano, savoury, sage, mixed herbs or Herbes de Provence if you don't have marjoram to hand.
Soy Sauce or Tamari
Vegetable Bouillon or Veggie Stock Cube
🔪 How to make vegan split pea soup
Ingredient quantities & detailed instructions to be found in recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Start by preparing onions, garlic, celery, carrots and parsnip as per recipe card below.
In a large casserole style pot (dutch oven) or a stock pot heat up couple of tablespoons of oil. Add chopped onions, garlic, celery, carrots and parsnip and sauté until softened (approx 10 min). If you vegetables start to stick a bit help them along with a splash of water.
Next, add all your herbs and spices, mixed them in and fry for another minute.
Add split peas followed by the stock and give everything a good stir.
Cover, bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium and simmer (stirring from time to time) until split peas are tender 30-35 minutes.
In the meantime, peel and cube potatoes and thinly slice or shred the cabbage.
Once split peas are tender add potatoes and cabbage and stir them in.
Cover and cook for another 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
Next, adjust seasoning by adding soya sauce and some extra smoked paprika and marjoram (if required and according to your taste).
Remove bay leaves, allspice berries and thyme stalks before giving the soup a blend with stick (immersion) blender until you reach desired consistency.
Feel free to have it as smooth or leave as chunky as you want.
Taste again and season with salt and pepper if required.
You're soup is now ready to serve, enjoy!
🥡 Storing
Once cooled, store in the fridge in the airtight container for up to 5 days.
This soup is also great for freezing in the freezer friendly container or reusable freezer bag for 2-3 months.
Quick Tip: When freezing, make sure you allow for the slight liquid expansion and never fill your bag or container all the way to the top.
💭 Pro Tips
Soak your split peas. I highly recommend soaking as it significantly reduces cooking time plus makes them easier to digest.
Rinse, rinse, rinse. Whether you are soaking your split peas or not make sure to rinse them really well to get rid of any impurities and/or debris that might have gotten mixed up with them.
Adjust liquid according to your preference. I use 2 litres (8.5 cups) of stock in my soup and find it to be spot on. It's quite a thick soup but that's how we like it. Feel free to adjust the amount of stock you use but I would start with 2 litres and go from there. You can always add more stock later.
Consider making this soup ahead. For some reason it always taste better the following day after reheating. Having said that, it is lovely on the day you make it too.
Peel and cut your potatoes just before you need them as they quickly turn brown due to oxidation. Alternatively, you can always keep peeled and cubed potatoes covered in water until required.
🍴 Serving suggestions
Even though vegan split pea soup is substantial enough as a meal in its own right it always go really well with bread.
Try it with my no knead wholemeal, soft crust white, Irish or vegan soda bread.
If you're more of a bread roll person, these easy bread rolls should hit the spot.
Another obvious choice would be adding some sort of topping. My homemade croutons, crispy air fryer chickpeas or sprinkle of vegan parmesan are always a hit with any soup.
If you're intrigued by the topping you can see on the photos, it's cubed tempeh that's been coated in some smoked paprika, salt and pepper and pan fried until crispy. Highly recommend!
❓ FAQs
No it isn't but I would highly recommend it as it shortens cooking time and makes them easier on the stomach.
Absolutely! Green and yellow split peas are very similar and can be used interchangeably. You could even use mixture of both here.
No you don't but pureeing it a little bit thickens the consistency and makes it really comforting too. I tend to use my trusty immersion blender and pulse it just a few times as I don't want my soup completely smooth.
Feel free to puree your soup as much or as little as you want.
Have you tried my Vegan Split Pea Soup?
Please consider giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in recipe card below and share your views or tips in the comments.
📋 Recipe
Vegan Split Pea soup
Ingredients
- 500 g green or yellow split peas soaked overnight, drained and rinsed (see notes)
- 200 g onion (1 large) peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic peeled and finely chopped or minced
- 260 g carrots (3 medium) peeled and roughly chopped
- 100 g parsnip (1 medium) peeled and roughly chopped
- 80 g celery (2 sticks) roughly chopped
- 260 g potatoes (2 medium) peeled and diced,
- 190 g cabbage (half a small) thinly sliced or shredded; any cabbage will do here, you can a also use other greens like kale or spring greens
- 1.5 tablespoon dried marjoram + extra to taste if required at the end of cooking
- 2 tablespoon smoked paprika + extra to taste if required at the end of cooking
- 4 bay leaves
- 5 allspice berries
- few sprigs of fresh thyme feel free to substitute with couple of teaspoon of dried
- 2-3 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
- 2 ltr vegetable stock can be homemade, stock cube or veg bouillon
- 2 tablespoon rapeseed/olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prepare onions, garlic, celery, carrots and parsnip as per above.
- In a large casserole style pot (dutch oven) or a stock pot heat up couple of tablespoons of oil. Add chopped onions, garlic, celery, carrots and parsnip and sauté until softened. (approx 10 min)If you vegetables start to stick a bit help them along with a splash of water.
- Add all your herbs and spices, mixed them in and fry for another minute.
- Add split peas followed by the stock and give everything a good stir.
- Cover, bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium and simmer (stirring from time to time) until split peas are tender 30-35 minutes (timing for soaked peas, it will take longer if you haven't soaked them).
- In the meantime, peel and cube potatoes and thinly slice or shred the cabbage.
- Once split peas are tender add potatoes and cabbage and stir them in.
- Cover and cook for another 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
- Next, adjust seasoning by adding soya sauce and some extra smoked paprika and marjoram (if required and according to your taste).
- Taste again and season with salt and pepper if required.
- Soup is now ready to serve, enjoy!
Notes
- Nutritional information is approximate, per serving based on 6 servings and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
- I highly recommend soaking split peas before cooking even though it's not strictly necessary. Soaked peas cook much quicker and they are also easier to digest. If you decide not to soak your split peas your cooking time will be longer.
- Store in the fridge in the airtight container for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Please leave a comment & rating if you've made my recipe! Feel free to ask questions too, I reply to all!