Yellow Split Pea Vegan Soup
Looking for some easy vegan recipes for beginners? This yellow split pea soup is a recipe is quick, easy and healthy. Seriously. It’s loaded with vegetables: yellow split peas, carrots, celery and potatoes. It’s warm and comforting: the perfect vegan recipe to cut your vegan teeth on. Give it a try!
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried yellow split peas rinsed and debris picked out
- 1 tbsp extra virgin oilve oil
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 medium Yukon gold potatoes diced
- 2 carrots washed and sliced into 1/4" coins
- 1 celery stalk diced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 qt low sodium vegetable broth
- 1 handful fresh baby spinach
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse and drain the yellow split peas. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a medium-sized sauce pan. Add the yellow split peas and simmer until the split peas are soft. About 30 minutes. You might need to add more water.
- In a large stockpot, heat up the olive oil until shimmering. Add the diced onion and, stirring occasionally, sauté on medium-low heat until browned. About 10-15 minutes, being careful not to burn.
- Add the garlic and sauté for an additional 1-2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and increase the heat to medium. Allow the tomato paste to caramelize until it is a dark red.
- Add the celery and potatoes and stir to coat. Add salt and pepper to season. Start with 1 tsp of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper. You will likely want to add more as you taste and cook.
- Add the vegetable broth. Simmer until the potatoes are able to be easily pierced with a fork.
- In the final 10 minutes of simmering the yellow split peas, add the carrots to the pot with the yellow split peas.
- When the split peas and carrots are soft, there should only be a small amount of cooking water remaining. I like to add that to the vegetable broth when I add the carrots and split peas. It usually amounts to ~1 cup of cooking water. If you have more than that, you can drain the excess water before adding.
- Add the fresh lemon juice and any additional salt and pepper.
- Blend the entire pot with a few pulses of an immersion blender. I like to leave some larger pieces in the soup.
- Add the baby spinach and stir until slightly wilted. Serve immediately.