Easy-Peasy Vegan Split Pea Soup

Split pea soup is easy to make, satisfying, and ridiculously inexpensive. And it certainly doesn't have to contain ham or bacon. This vegan version is made with dried green split peas, onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, and vegetable stock, and is flavored with bay leaf, fresh thyme and parsley.

All of the ingredients in this soup are inexpensive. I estimate that the total cost of ingredients I used in this soup was around $7.25, which made four servings for my very hungry fiance and me. That means that this meal cost about $1.81 per serving! I used organic vegetable broth from a carton to make this soup, but you could easily save a few dollars by using homemade vegetable stock.

Easy-Peasy Vegan Split Pea Soup (makes 4 meal-sized servings):

What You Need:

• 1 1/2 cups dried split peas, rinsed, pebbles and whatnot removed
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 4 carrots, cut into chunks
• 1 russet potato, cut into chunks
• 4 cups vegetable broth (give or take, depending on how thick you like your soup)
• 2 dried bay leaves
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme
• big handful of fresh parsley, chopped
• juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)
• salt and pepper, to taste

How to Make It:

1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil on medium. When the oil is hot, add the diced onion and celery and cook until the onion is translucent, 5-10 minutes.
2. Add the carrots, potato, peas, vegetable broth, bay leaves, and the leaves from the sprigs of thyme. Stir. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the peas are tender and falling apart and the vegetables are soft - about one hour. If the soup seems to thick, add more broth or a little water. Season with salt and pepper to taste as the soup cooks.
3. When the soup is cooked, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the fresh parsley and lemon juice, if you are using it. Remove the bay leaves from the soup before serving. Enjoy!

The ingredients in this soup cost less than $2.00 per serving, but they bring a lot to the table (so to speak) from a nutrition standpoint. Split peas are about $1.00 per pound, and just one cup of cooked split peas offers an impressive 65% of the recommended daily amount of dietary fiber. Each bowl of soup contains about one whole carrot, which provides 157% of the vitamin A you need for the day. And although parsley is usually thought of only as a garnish or a flavoring, it contains significant amounts of vitamins A and C, and just one tablespoon of this leafy herb offers 77% of the RDA for vitamin K.

This healthy, delicious, affordable soup will likely remain in my repertoire through the fall and winter. Next time, I might try adding some of that tasty Field Roast smoked vegan sausage!