I love making soups and stews, especially on cold & rainy days. Not only are soups perfect for winter weather, but they are also the best way to condense a lot of vegetables in one plate:). One of my favorites is this easy Yellow Split Peas Soup with Spinach! I made this yesterday in instant pot for meatless Mondays, but it can be done in any pressure cooker & on the stovetop or crockpot too.
I made the soup with just vegetables, but if you feel like adding broth or any protein, feel free to do so. You can definitely customize it as needed! Split peas in general are very high in protein and dietary fiber. That’s why this soup is naturally very high in protein and fiber.
Some links in my posts may be affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you purchase items by clicking on these links. I will always disclose when a product in a post has been gifted by a company as well as when a post or product is sponsored.
Soaking the Split Peas?
When cooking split peas in any type of pressure cooker, I don’t soak them in water. However, I do soak them for an hour or two before I cook them in the stovetop. It shortens cooking time.
Pressure Cooker, Stovetop or Crockpot
Soaked split peas will cook in about 40-45 minutes in stovetop or about 30 minutes in Instant Pot (to make them creamy) or a bit less if you like the peas to be a bit more al dente. In slow cooker split peas take about 5-6 hrs to cook on low.
Yellow Split Peas Soup with Spinach Recipe Tips & Notes
I make split peas soup often and I tend to swap certain ingredients occasionally. Also, it’s easy to eye ball the quantities in this soup. That’s why I believe there are so many delicious versions of this soup. This plant based soup is hearty and packed with nutrients.
- the below recipe is for 8 people. If you want to make it for more people without buying a whole bag of split peas, you can add a potato cut in cubes & more water. Consistency will remain the same and it will still taste delicious.
- you can add broth instead of water, in that case lower the amount of olive oil.
- you can also use beef or ham if you are not vegetarian/vegan
- add spinach or other favorite vegetables, this soup allows for a lot of hidden veggies:) which makes it the perfect plant based meal.
- Leftover taste delicious, store them in refrigerator for few days. I have yet to freeze this soup, so I don’t know how long it can last frozen.
See below all the ingredients together before I started cooking for a more visual idea of everything that goes into this soup.
Easy Yellow Split Peas Soup with Spinach
Equipment
- Pressure cooker (or Instant Pot)
Ingredients
- 14 ozs yellow split peas
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 3 soft plum tomatoes or 1 can diced tomatoes
- 3 celery stalks
- 2 big carrots
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- 0.5 tsp pepper
- 8 cups water (or broth)
- 6 tbsps olive oil
- 5 ozs chopped baby spinach
- salt to taste
- pinch of paprika
- 1 lemon (optional for garnish)
Instructions
- Chop onion, saute in instant pot with olive oil. Reduce amount of oil used if you are going to use broth instead of water.
- Add chopped celery and carrots and keep sauteing the vegetables together. Mix occasionally so vegetables don’t stick to the bottom and cook evenly.
- Use a food processor to crush the tomatoes. Add them to instant pot too after about 5 minutes.
- Clean split peas, make sure there are no broken ones or impurities like small stones etc. Add split peas to instant pot.
- Add water, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper and paprika. Change instant pot setting to soup and close the lid carefully. Set on high for 30 minutes. Please allow for 5-7 minutes for instant pot to reach the correct temperature before the countdown from 30 minutes start.
- Once done, give it about 10 minutes to cool down, release steam valve carefully and lift the lid. Add chopped spinach and let it cook for about 5 minutes in warm setting. Spinach cooks fast.
- Serve as desired. My family likes it with toasted baguette or toasted bread and some lemon.
Video
Nutrition Label
Nutrition
If you like my recipe and want to save it for later, please pin it in Pinterest. Thank you for following along:). Feel free to contact me in social media or below in comments with any questions, or tag me if you made this recipe.
Instagram: mediterranean_latin_love or Facebook: Mediterranean Latin Love Affair.
My Other Instant Pot Recipes
Feel free to check out some of my other instant pot recipes:
- Albanian Meat & Potatoes Stew
- Albanian Bean Soup – Fasule
- Instant Pot Leeks, Potatoes and Butternut Squash Soup
- Red Kidney Beans Soup
Marsha
What size of canned diced tomatoes would you recommend?
admin
Hi Marsha, I think it was 14 ozs. Let me check my notes on which can size I used to make sure.
Anu Ganesh | Simple Blissful Life
Yum! As a South Asian, we use lentils a lot and I love any recipe that includes protein filled lentils.
admin
Thank you Anu!
Taunya
I’m slowly venturing over to the plant based eating. I will add this to my list of thing to try. 😀
Linda Witte
Yellow Split Pea soup is a favorite of mine! I have never put spinach in it though. I don’t have an instant pot, but I can definitely make on the stove! I can’t wait to try this Yellow Split pea soup!
Sonila
I’m trying to add spinach or kale lately to almost everything so I can increase the amount of veggies and greens we eat daily. It was really good, spinach welts fast and it didn’t change the flavor.
Trish Veltman
We often do a split-pea soup with carrots and ham. I’d never thought of including spinach, but I love the stuff so will be doing this next time.
Lorraine
Looks mouthwatering. Reminds me of the Indian dhall we cook, would love to try it this way. Thanks for sharing Sonila!
admin
I would love to know how you cook dhall:)). Maybe we’ll both try each other’s foodz
Trina Welch
Split Pea & Spinach soup never look more appealing! I believe that I must try this. Making my mouth water!
admin
It’s very easy and customizable. If you try it, let me know what you think.
Hollysbirdnest.com
Om my goodness, this looks fantastic! I can not wit to try this!! I have all the ingredients..so I will be trying this soon!! Thank you so much for another awesome recipe!!
admin
I appreciate you so much Holly:)), you encourage me to keep posting and creating new recipes. Thank you 😘