Crock Pot (Grain Free) Split Pea Soup

I found this recipe for split pea soup years ago on a blog called Simple.Healthy.Tasty. This is one of my all time favorite soup recipes. Before I started watching my carb intake I would make this soup with fresh home made French bread as a side. Talk about a carb loaded comfort meal. And while there is nothing wrong with carbs in general (depending on what you are looking to get out of your meal), I decided to tweak this recipe to make it grain free. So now it’s a comforting soup I can cook up no matter who is eating it (my vegetarian OR my grain free friends and family).

All I did was substitute cauliflower for the potatoes and barely, and I used less water. It turned out amazing. My daughter kept begging to eat it before it was done because she could smell it cooking in the crock pot all day. And my daughter is super picky. She even asked to bring leftovers in her school lunch the next day.

Here she is enjoying her bowl split pea soup. She asked me to take a photo to share. 🙂 Now we like to eat our split pea soup as a side with some sort of protein (like lettuce wrapped burgers).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dried split peas
• 1 head of cauliflower chopped small (mine ended up being 5 cups chopped)
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt. We buy our Redmonds Real Sea Salt from Thrive Market. 
• 5 cups filtered water or chicken bone broth or beef bone broth or combination of any of these.
• 3 chopped carrots
• 3 stalks chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley (this time I used 1/2 tsp dried parsley since I didn’t have fresh parsely)
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 TBS coconut oil

Directions:

Put everything into the crock pot. Cook 6-8 hrs on low or 3-4 hrs on high.

I cooked mine for 5 hrs on low, and 2 hrs on high, for a total of 7 hours. Like I said before my daughter was really wanting to try it, so I turned it from low to high to speed up the process.

Here is my pre cooked soup.

See Below for an update.. how to make this in the Instant Pot!

And after cooking…

UPDATE!!!

I recently made this recipe in my Instant Pot and it turned out fantastic! See below for the directions.

Directions for making in the Instant Pot:

1. Soak the split peas in water while chopping your fresh veggies (cauliflower, carrots, and celery).
2. Set the instant pot to sauté and add coconut oil.
3. Chop all the fresh veggies (cauliflower, carrots, and celery) and add them to the instant pot on sauté. Add minced garlic and sauté it with the veggies for a minute.
4. Add your filtered water or bone broth or combo of the 2 (I used 2 cups chicken broth and 3 cups filtered water this time around).
5. Add rinsed and drained split peas and all the salt, pepper, and spices.
6. Stir your mixture. Then put the lid on your instant pot.
7. Make sure to turn the pressure nob to the “seal” position.
8. Set the manual setting to pressure cook on HIGH for 15 minutes. It will take 45 minutes total for cook time PLUS depressurizing afterwards. If you would like to speed up the process a little you can use the quick release when it’s done cooking. Be very careful to keep your hands and face and other body parts away from the release valve as you quickly switch it to let out the hot steam (if using quick release). Otherwise just wait for the pressure seal to drop and it will be ready.

Once it’s done enjoy as a side or main dish. I had mine with leftover chicken tonight.

I often make this as a side with grass fed steak and sautéed mushrooms.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot or pressure cooker you might just want to invest in one. I can make a meal that would normally take all day in just minutes.

Note: You can always take an emersion blender to it if after it’s cooked if you like a smoother soup. I personally like the texture of all the of bits carrots, celery, and peas in the soup (and so does my daughter).

If you have any comments or questions feel free to write in the section below.

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