Split pea and ham soup can be canned safely, but only in a pressure canner, and only if you follow one tested method all the way through. It is a low-acid food. A boiling-water bath never gets hot enough to destroy Clostridium botulinum spores in a jar of peas, ham, and vegetables.
Two published paths exist. The Ball Blue Book and Bernardin Habitant soup recipes cook the peas, pack the finished soup, and use longer times. The USDA soup procedure rehydrates the peas, fills jars only halfway with solids, and uses shorter times. Those methods are not interchangeable.
Why a pressure canner is required
Split peas, carrots, onion, and ham are all low-acid. Botulism spores survive boiling water. They are controlled only when the coldest spot in the jar is held at pressure-canner temperatures, about 240°F (116°C), for a tested length of time.
A thick pea soup heats more slowly than a thin broth. That is why density, jar fill, and processing time are part of the safety design, not just texture preferences. Shortening the time, lowering the pressure, or packing the jar denser than the recipe allows can leave the center under-processed even if the jar seals.
Steam canners and atmospheric water-bath canners are not substitutes. An electric pressure cooker or multi-cooker is also not a substitute unless the manufacturer has published canning directions for that exact model and you follow those directions.
Two tested methods, and why they should not be mixed
Most ranking pages present one blog recipe and call it “the” method. The practical choice is between a tested full-soup recipe and the USDA general soup procedure.
Ball and Bernardin split pea soup
Ball’s Split Pea Soup (Blue Book Guide to Preserving, and the same formula published by Bernardin as Habitant Soup) is a specific tested recipe, not a free-form formula.
The published ratio is:
- 16 ounces (about 2 cups / 454 g) dried split peas
- 8 cups water or stock
- 1½ cups chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup diced cooked ham
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt and pepper to taste
Peas and liquid are simmered until the peas are soft, about an hour. Carrots, onion, ham, and bay leaf go in for another 30 minutes. If the soup is too thick to ladle freely, it is thinned with boiling water before it goes into jars. Headspace is 1 inch. Pints are processed 75 minutes and quarts 90 minutes.
That longer time is tied to this pea-to-liquid ratio. Adding extra peas, packing the jar solid, or leaving out the thinning step takes the product outside what was tested.
Ham may be left out. Omitting it does not shorten the time. Green or yellow split peas both work. Dried spices can be adjusted. Broth may replace water. Flour, pasta, rice, cream, milk, and other thickeners cannot be added before canning.
USDA general soup procedure
The National Center for Home Food Preservation, following the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, gives one procedure for vegetable, dried bean or pea, meat, or poultry soups. It is not a split-pea recipe. It is a construction method with strict limits.
Dried peas must be fully rehydrated first: for each cup of dried peas, add 3 cups water, boil 2 minutes, remove from heat, soak 1 hour, heat to a boil, and drain. Meat is covered with water, cooked until tender, cooled, and deboned. Vegetables are prepared as for a hot pack. Solids are combined with broth, tomatoes, or water to cover, then boiled 5 minutes.
Jars are filled halfway with the solid mixture, then topped with liquid to 1 inch headspace. The soup is not thickened and, under this procedure, not pureed. Noodles, rice, flour, cream, milk, and other thickeners are excluded. Pints process 60 minutes and quarts 75 minutes. Seafood, if used, needs 100 minutes.
This half-and-half fill is deliberate. It keeps heat moving through the jar. A jar of dense, fully cooked split-pea puree does not meet that fill rule, so it should not be processed on the shorter USDA schedule.
What belongs in the jar
Cooked ham, cubed, is the meat used in the tested split-pea recipe. A ham bone or hock can flavor the cooking liquid, then has to come out. Bones do not go into the jars. The USDA meat step is the same idea: cook until tender, cool, remove bones.
Carrots and onion are in the Ball and Bernardin formula. Celery, potato, garlic, and extra vegetables are common in stovetop split pea soup, but they are not part of that tested formula. Under the USDA soup procedure, only foods that already have their own canning recommendations are used, and they are still packed half solids and half liquid.
Salt is for flavor. It is not what makes the soup safe. Dried herbs and spices are fine in small amounts. Fresh dairy, a flour or cornstarch slurry, rice, barley, and pasta are serving additions, not canning ingredients. They change thickness and heat penetration, and some of them break down into an unpleasant texture in the jar.
How to can the Ball-style soup
This follows the published Ball and Bernardin formula, not a denser family recipe.
- Sort and rinse the dried peas. Combine them with the 8 cups of water or stock, bring to a boil, then simmer covered until soft, about 1 hour. Add water if the pot threatens to scorch.
- For a smoother soup, puree and return the puree to the pot. Keep it pourable. A paste that will not ladle is too thick for the tested pack.
- Add carrots, onion, cooked ham, and the bay leaf. Simmer about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Thin with boiling water if the soup will not pour freely. Remove the bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.
- Keep jars hot. Ladle hot soup into hot pint or quart jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Slide a nonmetallic tool around the inside to release bubbles, then recheck headspace.
- Wipe rims clean. Food on the rim is a common cause of seal failure with this soup. Apply lids and screw bands fingertip-tight.
- Place jars on the rack in a pressure canner with the water level your canner manual specifies. Lock the lid, vent a steady stream of steam for 10 minutes, then bring the canner to the pressure for your gauge and altitude. Start the timer only after that pressure is reached.
- Process pints 75 minutes or quarts 90 minutes. When time is up, turn off the heat and let pressure return to zero on its own. Forcing the cool-down can siphon liquid out of the jars and break seals.
- Wait about 10 minutes after pressure reaches zero, then remove the lid away from your face. Cool jars undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. Remove bands, check seals, wash jars, and store.
Yield from the base recipe is about 5 pints, or a little over 2 quarts. Doubling is fine if the pea-to-liquid ratio stays the same and the soup stays pourable.
Processing pressure by altitude
Time does not change with altitude. Pressure does. Confirm the gauge type on your canner before you start. A dial gauge should be checked for accuracy periodically; many Extension offices still offer that service.
For the Ball and Bernardin split pea soup, at a weighted-gauge canner use 10 pounds up to 1,000 feet and 15 pounds above 1,000 feet. At a dial-gauge canner use 11 pounds up to 2,000 feet, 12 pounds from 2,001 to 4,000 feet, 13 pounds from 4,001 to 6,000 feet, and 14 pounds from 6,001 to 8,000 feet. Process pints 75 minutes and quarts 90 minutes.
For the USDA general soup procedure, times are shorter because the fill is different: 60 minutes for pints and 75 minutes for quarts. Weighted-gauge pressure is 10 pounds up to 1,000 feet and 15 pounds above that. Dial-gauge pressure is 11, 12, 13, and 14 pounds across the same altitude bands as above. If the soup contains seafood, both jar sizes process 100 minutes.
Do not apply the 60- and 75-minute schedule to a jar of thick cooked split-pea soup. Do not apply the 75- and 90-minute schedule to an untested raw pack of dry peas.
Why the soup thickens in the jar
Split peas keep absorbing liquid after the jar is sealed. A soup that ladled easily often looks closer to a porridge on the shelf. That is expected with this recipe. Thin it with broth or water when you reheat it.
Losing some liquid during processing is also common. As long as the seal is good and at least half the contents remain covered, the jar is still usable. A large liquid loss can mean the canner pressure fluctuated, the jars were overfilled, or the cool-down was rushed. Those jars should be refrigerated and used soon rather than stored.
Cream, milk, or a pat of butter can go in at serving. They do not go in before the canner.
Mistakes that show up in popular recipes
Raw-packing dry split peas into jars and covering them with broth is widely posted and is not a tested method. Dry peas absorb the liquid in the jar, swell, and can form a dense mass. USDA guidance is explicit that dried peas must be fully rehydrated before canning so they do not change the water measurement of the product. Ball and Bernardin cook the peas soft before packing, then use a longer process matched to that density.
Other failures follow from the same heat-penetration problem:
- Water-bath processing, or “just an extra hour” in boiling water
- Cutting the pressure-canner time because the jars are small
- Ignoring altitude and running a weighted gauge at 10 pounds above 1,000 feet
- Stirring in flour, potato flakes, rice, or pasta “to make it more like the stove recipe”
- Pureeing the USDA-style soup into a paste and still using the 60- and 75-minute schedule
- Canning a ham bone, or packing raw ham instead of cooked ham
- Leaving the bay leaf in a jar if it sits against the lid and interferes with the seal
If a jar does not seal, refrigerate it and use it within a few days, or freeze it. Reprocessing is only reasonable if it happens promptly and you still have enough hot soup and headspace to redo the full process. Quality drops with a second run.
Storage and reheating
Store sealed jars without the screw bands, in a cool, dark, dry place. Quality is best within a year. A jar that stays sealed can remain safe longer, but peas darken and the flavor flattens. Before opening, check that the lid is still concave, the seal holds when the band is off, and the contents look and smell normal. Discard any jar that spurts, smells off, or shows mold. Do not taste it to check.
To serve, empty the jar into a saucepan, loosen it with water or stock, and heat through. An immersion blender at this stage is the simplest way to get a smooth bowl if you skipped the puree before canning. The canned soup is a base. Lemon, vinegar, mustard, or a splash of cream are serving choices, not canning ingredients.
Frequently asked questions
Can I can my usual stovetop recipe if I pressure can it long enough? No. Extra potatoes, barley, roux, or a heavier pea load change how heat moves through the jar. Use the Ball or Bernardin formula as written, or build a soup under the USDA half-and-half rules. Add the missing pieces when you open the jar.
Do I have to soak the peas overnight? Not for the Ball and Bernardin method. Those recipes simmer dried peas in the measured liquid until soft. The USDA soup procedure uses its own short rehydration step, then drains the peas before they are combined with other ingredients. Overnight soaking is optional for cooking quality, not a separate safety step, and peas that were soaked still need to be fully rehydrated and handled by one of the two tested methods.
Can I leave out the ham to make it vegetarian? Yes. Processing time and pressure stay the same. Use water or vegetable stock. Do not add untested thickeners to replace the body the ham provided.
Is a little liquid loss unsafe? Not by itself, if the seal is solid and the jar did not boil dry. Large losses are a process warning. Refrigerate those jars and eat them soon.
Can I use leftover holiday ham? Yes, if it was handled safely and is fully cooked before it goes into the pot. Trim it, cube it, and stay at about 1 cup per batch of the Ball formula unless you are using the USDA method and still filling jars only halfway with solids. A glaze heavy with sugar will not make the soup unsafe, but it can darken and sweeten the jar more than most people want.