Split Pea Soup in the Instant Pot

Oh my goodness, time has really gotten away from me.  I've been very busy and hubby is still working his part-time job, which he is going to retire from soon!

My Mom was recently in the hospital for a couple of days, so I wanted to cook something that she and my Dad would both enjoy.  This soup recipe is one that we got from a former neighbor back in the early 1970's and we have always enjoyed it!

I just received my brand new Instant Pot, which is a electric pressure cooker and thought this would be a wonderful recipe to try.  Boy does the house smell so good today and it is also on the cool side here in my part of the world.

Instead of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of prep and cooking time, it only took one hour or even less for this soup to cook!  An yea!! it doesn't heat up the kitchen either :)  Will be great for the coming winter months.

I ordered my Instant Pot off of Amazon, I signed up for a credit card and got $30.00 off plus FREE shipping too!  So far I'm liking this new way of cooking!!  You can find hundreds of recipe on the web as well as videos too.

Split Pea Soup

1 pound dried split peas
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 cup diced ham (I used 1 pound smoked sausage, ring kind, sliced)
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 large carrot, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
6 cups water

Select saute, add butter, olive oil, onions, celery and carrots, for about 5 minutes.  Then add garlic and cook for one more minute.  Add water, chicken bouillon cubes, salt, sugar and split peas, stir.  Put the cooker lid on and seal.  Turn Steam Release handle to Sealing.  Select High Pressure and set timer to 10 minutes cook time.  When beep sounds made after the 10 minutes are done, turn the pressure cooker off.  Wait for 10 minutes and use the Quick Pressure Release, turned to the Venting position.  I used my long handle tongs to move the button over so I wouldn't scald my hand.  When the valve drops down, remove the lid away from you.  Now add your sausage and you can either let it warm from the temperature of the soup, which is what I did, or you can select Simmer on the pot and let simmer until sausage is the desired temperature.

Makes around 6-8 servings.  Would be great to have some thick slices of French bread or saltine crackers.

If you don't have a electric pressure cooker, you can prepare this recipe in a large pot, big enough to hold all the ingredients.  Bring to boil, then lower to a simmer, for two hours.

Enjoy!  Mary