INSTRUCTIONS
1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery and saute 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1 minute longer.
2. Pour in chicken broth and water. Add split peas, bay leaves and thyme. Season lightly with salt and with pepper to taste (I like to wait to add more salt until the end to see how salty the ham has made the soup).
3. Nestle ham bone into soup mixture. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce to low. Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally until peas and ham are tender, about 60 - 80 minutes.
4. Remove ham from soup, let rest 10 minutes then shred or dice meat portion into pieces, cover.
5. Meanwhile add carrots* to soup. Cover soup and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until peas have mostly broken down, about 30 minutes longer**.
6. Stir ham into soup, season with more salt as needed. Serve warm garnished with parsley if desired.
Notes
*If desired you can add in a couple of yellow or red potatoes when adding the diced carrot to soup to make it even heartier.
**If you notice soup isn't thickening up how you'd like while cooking you can let it simmer uncovered for the last 30 minutes.
Note that soup will thicken as it rests and cools slightly. If needed it can be thinned with more water.
source: https://www.cookingclassy.com/split-pea-soup/
CROCKPOT METHOD
Reduce water to 2 cups (not as much liquid will evaporate from the slow cooker as it will a pot).
Add all ingredients (except parsley) to a 4 - 6 quart slow cooker and cook on low heat about 7 - 8 hours.
Remove ham and shred or dice into pieces then return to soup.
INSTANT POT METHOD
Press "saute" setting on Instant Pot. Add oil, celery and onion, saute 3 minutes, add garlic and saute 1 minute longer. Press "cancel" on the Instant Pot.
Pour in broth, 2 cups water (instead of the 4 cups listed), split peas, carrots, thyme, bay leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add ham bone.
Cover and press "manual" mode then set to 15 minutes.
Once time is up allow pressure to release naturally for 15 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.
Shred ham from bone into pieces and return to soup.