Brrrrr! It’s gittin’ cold outside! What you need is a nice, hearty, dee-lish-us pot of Lentil and Yellow SplitPea Soup with Sausage and Potatoes! It warms my heart just thinkin’ about it! So, take off that wool coat and those gloves and grab yourself a big soup spoon and dig in! YUM!
Lentil and Yellow Split Pea Soup with Sausage and Potatoes
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Southern
PREP TIME
10 min
COOK TIME
110 min
TOTAL TIME
2 hours
INGREDIENTS
1/2 Cup Each Dried Lentils
1/2 Cup Dried Yellow Split Peas
2 Slices Of Bacon
1 Smoked Ham Hock (Or Smoked Turkey Leg Or Wing)
1 Onion (Chopped)
3 Cloves Fresh Garlic (Minced)
2 Carrots (Finely Chopped)
2 Celery Stalks (Chopped)
3 Yukon Potatoes (Peeled & Quartered)
1 Cup Chicken Broth-8 Oz. Can (Or Homemade Chicken Stock)
1 Pound Sausage (Kielbasa Or Andouille/ Cut Into 1 /2 Inch Slices)
2 Teaspoons Kosher Salt
1 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 Bay Leaf
1 Tablespoon Vinegar
INSTRUCTIONS
Cover the lentils and yellow split peas in a pot with water the night before. Place a lid on the pot and soak overnight. The next morning, git out your colander, put it in your sink, pour the peas into the colander and rinse the peas.
Git out your big ol’ cookin’ or soup pot with a lid. Put the bacon slices and the ham hock into the pot and turn the burner on a medium heat. Place the lid on the pot while it’s cooking. The bacon doesn’t have to completely fry. What you’re looking for here is for the bacon and ham hock to exude some of their flavorful fat. We will then use that flavorful fat to sauté the vegetables.
Lift up the lid after a minute or two and check your bacon. Stir it around or flip the bacon if needed. You should have some of the bacon fat in the bottom of the pan by now. You don’t have to remove the bacon, even if it’s not completely cooked through.
Add and sauté the chopped onions, garlic, celery and carrots to the bacon fat, stirring occasionally to allow them to cook evenly. Keep cooking the vegetables until the onions are translucent and the celery has softened a bit.
Next, pour in the lentils and yellow peas from the colander, into the pot of bacon, vegetables and ham hock. Stir the peas around for about 1-2 minutes to allow them to absorb all the flavors you’ve already got goin’ in the bottom of the pot.
Now, add the chicken broth to what you have in the pot and stir that around to blend.
There will not be enough juice in the pot, so cover the whole mixture with a few cups of water. Add the salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, oregano and cumin and bay leaf and stir to blend. Place the lid on the pot and bring it to a boil and let it boil for 10 minutes.
While the peas are being brought to a boil, git out your skillet. Heat some olive oil over a medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the cut-up sausage and fry it in the skillet, turning, until it has barely browned on both sides. Then, get a slotted spoon and transfer those sausage pieces to the pea soup in the pot and stir to blend. Add the vinegar, at this point, and give it a stir.
Turn the pea soup with sausages down to a simmer and let it cook for another 30 minutes, uncovered. Then, get a spoon and taste and see if you need a little more seasoning.
At the end of 30 minutes, add the potatoes to the soup and stir to incorporate. If it has cooked down too much (we don’t want a stew, but we want a soup!) you can add another cup or two of water.
Let this cook for one hour, to an hour and 10 minutes, uncovered or with the lid tilted on top of the pot to let off steam. Keep checking every 15 minutes to see if you need a little more water or extra seasoning.
By now, the potatoes will be soft, the sausage cooked through, and you’re ready to eat! Remove the bay leaf and the bacon (if you haven’t already eaten it!), and serve up this hearty, dee-lish-us soup with some hot cornbread smothered in butter. YUM!