Save money and eat a delicious nutrient-dense meal with my personal recipe for pea soup, a fun and spicy twist on a Quebec foodie tradition usually made with whole peas. But in my world, whole peas take way too long to cook. So I cheat a little using split peas instead, which soften in a quarter of the time.

This Recipe for Pea Soup Costs Pennies a Bowl to Make

It costs roughly $0.40 per bowl of split pea soup made from scratch, a savvy grocery budget strategy rich with macro- and micronutrients that tastes good enough to reach for seconds. The trick is to buy dried split peas and to purchase in bulk. Dried beans and legumes are much cheaper than canned, and bonus, they have no added sodium. I buy 10lbs bags at a time. that one bag makes 50 generous, filling bowls of split pea soup for a total of $20 with all other ingredients factored into the cost.

This exact recipe covers one batch of nutritious pea soup, which yields about eight hearty-sized servings. This soup also freezes well so don’t be shy to make a few batches at a time.

One last thing. Don’t skimp on the ginger*. In fact, add more. It works wonders with stomping out magical fruit issues, if you get my drift (no pun).

**The medical community notes mild to moderate safety concerns surrounding the ingestion of ginger in patients diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart conditions as well as with pregnant and lactating women.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 75 minutes

Total Time: 95 minutes

Yield: 8 large bowls

Ingredients

• 5 cups dried yellow split peas
• 15 cups cold water
• 1 cup diced onion
• 2 cups chopped carrots
• 10 to 15 teaspoons chicken (or vegetable) soup mix
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
• 2 to 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 4 chopped garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Rinse the dried yellow split peas until the water comes out clear using a colander. Add cold water and split peas in a stove pot and set stove to high heat, reducing to low heat when water reaches a boil.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT add any salt until the split peas are soft. Adding salt too soon causes the split peas to stay hard longer, unnecessarily lengthening—sometimes doubling—the amount of time it takes for them to soften.

Allow pot to simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring sporadically to ensure split peas do not stick to the bottom of the pot. Once the split peas are soft, add garlic, onions, carrots, spices, bay leaf and soup mix.

Add up to 3 cups of water at this point if the cooked split peas are too thick. Stir every 5 minutes or so. Add salt, pepper (or cayenne) and adjust thickness to taste.

 Variations

• Add 1 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil if fat is not a concern for an anti-inflammatory boost in each served bowl.
• Add one cup or more of cubed potatoes for more bulk.
• Add one cup of cubed ham for a heartier soup or go traditional and throw in a ham hock (removing the skin and excess fat first). Let the ham simmer until the meat is ready to fall off the bone. Then simply remove the hock from the soup, shred the meat o and then throw the shredded meat back in the soup).
• Add celery salt instead of salt.
• Add cayenne pepper for a spicier version of pea soup.
• Add 1 to 3 tablespoons olive oil if fat is not a concern for an anti-inflammatory boost in each served bowl.