Looking for a delicious and comforting soup? Look no further than this traditional pea and ham soup. Made with frozen peas, it's sure to fill you up and warm you up on a cold day.

This soup requires nothing more than a little time…
I've been wanting to make a version of this soup ever since I can remember.
For whatever reasons, I couldn't find smoked ham hocks so when I spotted them the other day I snapped them up to experiment.
My research revealed that there's numerous versions to making pea and ham soup from scratch.
Related: Try my carrot and orange soup for something different
Email This Recipe

I went with making the stock first. I let it simmer in peace and quiet to extract the maximum "porky goodness" from the ham hocks.
Once I was satisfied with the flavour, I made the soup using my favourite stand-by ingredient-frozen peas.
The end result was a rich, hearty soup perfect for the cooler evenings. (even though it hardly feels like winter in Sydney this year).
I accompanied it with some home made "no knead" spelt bread (recipe coming soon-it's a beauty!) and enjoyed it in peace.

📖 Recipe

Traditional Pea and Ham Soup
Conversions
Ingredients
For the stock:
- 600 grams ham hock, smoked and cured
- 2 litres cold water
- 1 leek, white part only
- ½ brown onion
- 2 carrots , chopped into even chunks
- ½ celery , stalk only
- a bouquet garni made up of 2 bay leaves, 5-6 peppercorns, 4 sprigs fresh thyme, 4 stalks parsley
For the soup:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 500 grams peas, frozen
- salt and pepper to season
Instructions
- Place the ham hock along with the water, vegetables and bouquet garni in a tall, stock pot. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.
- Cook for approx 2-2.5 hours until the ham hocks are soft and nearly falling off the bone.
- Remove the ham hocks and set aside to cool. Discard the bouquet garni and using a hand blender blend all the veggies and stock. Set aside.
- In a separate pot heat the olive oil, add the onions and garlic and allow to soften for a few minutes. Add the peas and the ham hock stock and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
- Blitz with a hand blender and add the shredded ham meat (discarding any fatty bits) to the soup. Season with salt and pepper.
⬇ SAVE THIS RECIPE
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Souvlaki For the Soul






Spanish Recipes says
Now it's starting to get hot here Peter, but soups are always welcome and peas are such a sweet legume, I love them :D. I bet the soup tastes great even cold. By the way, have you seen my new blog? I'm so proud of it and would love to have your opinion... please... I know what you mean by needing to be disconnected but your opinion is so important to me. Will you, please? Thank you darling.
Rosa says
So comforting. A tasty and soul-uplifting soup.
Cheers,
Rosa
Jane's Adventures in Dinner says
Totally true about ham hocks-they are not easy to find and need to be snapped up whenever possible. Love the soup, I usually make mine with dried, split peas but I love this fresher version so much more.
Lizzy (Good Things) says
Gorgeous recipe, Peter... I always freeze the ham bone from our Christmas ham and then use it in Autumn or Winter to make this or a lentil version. Delicious! A question.... do you home deliver? ; ) Hope you are feeling better now.
The Hungry Australian says
I love this soup and made it the other day actually. So delicious and warming. Your version looks beautiful and I love the styling here, Peter. Feel better xx
Sylvie Shirazi says
That soup sounds like just the thing to warm you up and fight off a cold. Hope you are on the mend!
AmandaChewTown says
I'm not usually a fan of pea and ham soup but yours looks too good to pass up. That hunk of ham in the middle is calling my name.
Sara (Belly Rumbles) says
I like your 'fresher' take on this soup. I am NOT a pea & ham soup fan, but it is funny what happens when you have kids, and the kid I refer to says "mum my favourite soup is pea and ham". (Sara grumbles). So once a year I make a traditional P&H soup.
I love the fact you have used frozen green peas instead or dried. My brain has automatically gone 'oooooo', and can mentally taste the difference.