Soup could be on my daily meal plan. There are so many options, how could I not want it on the regular? My go to soup is split pea. Why? Because it’s tasty, filling, and SO easy to make. And it’s really yummy with cornbread. I’ll have to work on my own cornbread recipe, but for now, it’s really easy to have James make us the stuff in a box.

As I’m sitting here typing this up, I realized that I used to always do split pea with ham. The ham of course has a smoked flavor. Next time I make this, I’ll have to try adding a couple drops of liquid smoke. I bet it will give it a little kick.

Onto the recipe shall we?

Vegan Split Pea Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of dried peas
• 7 cups of water (or use a veggie broth and skip the McKay’s
• 7 tsps Mckay’s chicken style instant broth
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped 
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 bay leaves 
• Salt & pepper to taste 

1. Add all ingredients, except salt and pepper, to the instant pot and stir them well.

2. Put on the lid, make sure the release valve is sealed. 

3. Turn on your Instant Pot to manual, or pressure cook, on high for 15 minutes.

4. Once the timer beeps, let the soup sit for 10-15 minutes. Then release the pressure carefully, if it hasn’t already released naturally.

5. Stir soup and remove the bay leaves. Then salt and pepper to taste.

One of my favorite additions to split pea, or any bean soup, is cornbread and honey. Something about sweet and savory that sings to my tastebuds. I really like the Krusteaz Honey Cornbread & Muffin mix. It’s my go to. Instead of an egg I use a “flax egg” and instead of milk I use coconut or oat milk. They always come out super moist. If you know of a gluten free option, I’d love to hear about it!