Of all the soups you can make in this life, a split pea soup is one of those you will make several times. Healthy, delicious, and very nutritious, it is a staple meal in many households.
However, a soup like this can always become even better with the right side dish and, in this article, we have 10 simple sides you can serve with your split pea soup!
What are those? Check them out below after you find out why split pea soup is good for you!
What Are The Benefits Of Split Pea Soup?
It Reduces Cholesterol Levels
Split peas are high in soluble fiber with a small cup providing you with around 2.3 of your daily recommended fiber intake.
It Reduce Your Risk Of Developing Cancer
Split peas contain isoflavones, which decrease the likelihood of cancer, especially breast and prostate cancer.
Isoflavones are plant estrogens that act similarly to hormones produced by our bodies, which in terms of cancer development inhibits the development of bad tumors.
It Helps With Controlling Our Blood Sugar Levels
Aside from lowering the cholesterol levels, split peas’ high fiber content aids with the blood sugar regulation.
The soluble fiber in this low GI legume tends to slow the sugar absorption and thus promotes the slower release of glucose, helping avoid a spike in blood sugar.
Nonetheless, it offers an adequate and consistent amount of energy. As a result, it is beneficial to people with diabetes.
It Reduces Sulfite Sensitivity
Sulfite sensitivity can manifest through symptomatology such as racing heart, migraine, diarrhea, dizziness, and other similar signs after consuming foods that contain sulfites.
Sulfites are commonly used as additives in packaged foods like pastries, marmalades, tortilla chips, corn syrup, starchy foods, balsamic, and so on, with people suffering from asthma being more susceptible to this kind of sensitivity.
Split peas are high in molybdenum, one of the minerals that helps with detoxifying our body from sulfites, so enjoying a split pea soup can help you deal with such sensitivity.
It Enhances Cardiovascular Health
Split peas are beneficial to your heart because they significantly minimize plaque in your coronary arteries, thereby preventing heart diseases.
It Supports Weight Management
Split peas are high in fiber and protein and therefore can significantly assist you in losing weight significantly.
Just a small serving of this soup can fill you up and keep you satisfied and without any food craving for many hours!
A split pea soup is also low in calories, so even if you want to eat more than one portion, you will still be able to add it to your meal plan and manage your overall calorie intake.
Even though it is not very often that you will see a salad as a side option to a soup, a chicken salad like this one goes great with split pea soup.
This is not a leafy green salad but rather one made with shredded chicken, diced onion and apple, grapes, sliced almond, and a sauce with Greek yogurt, mustard, balsamic vinegar, and lemon juice.
You can add salt and pepper to taste and either have spoonfuls of it with your soup or stuff the salad in a bread roll and enjoy it as a side sandwich.
Toasties are a classic side dish to soups, especially in countries like the United Kingdom. They are essentially grilled sandwiches filled with cheese, cheese and ham, or other ingredients of your choice.
While in many restaurants or cafes you will typically see a split pea soup served with a grilled cheese toastie, if you are making your soup and toastie at home, you can play with the ingredients and add things like goat’s cheese, prosciutto, even pastrami.
The softness of a pita bread is the perfect match to a split pea soup for people who want to do the minimum when it comes to eating their food, especially when that means no chewing at all.
Pita bread is a great alternative to a white bread slice that you can have with any other food you want, and it is a common side dish for soups.
It is light and fluffy and very healthy, so you can enjoy a whole pita without guilt!
Sourdough bread is an artisan pastry delicacy that many people can’t bother making, so they choose to buy it from the bakery or supermarket.
Regardless of whether you are baking your own or not, having some sourdough bread slices next to your split pea soup is one of the best ways to enjoy your meal.
Healthy and gut-friendly, it is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, but once you dip it in your soup, it’s tender and yummy, especially when some butter spread is included.
If you are still not completely satisfied with the bread options we just shared, then a garlic bread is what you need to make and serve with your split pea soup.
Crispy and garlicky, this bread can add more flavor to your soup which will probably turn into a dip for this delicious bread you won’t be able to stop eating.
Simple to make and with as much garlic as your heart tells you to add to it, there’s no reason why you should skip on having some of it with your soup, unless you have a date night planned.
A big baked sweet potato or a couple of small ones are another fantastic option for a side dish to your split pea soup.
The sweet taste and soft texture of the potato is ideal for the soupy mouthfeel of the split peas, making this combination one of the best ones on this list.
While you can simply add some salt and pepper to your baked sweet potato, adding some extra butter on top and some spring onion slices, as well as other herbs of your liking, can make your meal burst with even more flavors!
White truffle oil mixed with olive oil, thyme leaves, garlic, salt, and pepper, can become the perfect mixture to cover your red potato wedges with and get the best roasted potatoes you’ve ever had.
The taste and aromas of these potatoes are another perfect match to the split pea soup flavor, making these potatoes a fantastic choice of a side dish to your soup.
Very different in taste from the baked sweet potato, these potatoes are slightly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, while the aromas and strong flavor of the oil and thyme make them too good to miss!
Gym goers know the importance of having good quality protein with every meal, and even though a split pea soup can provide you with some vegetarian protein, if you are serious about your intake, then adding some thin sliced chicken breast as a side dish is a must.
Low in calories, high in protein, and great in taste when marinated with spices like paprika and garlic and coated in breadcrumbs, thin slices of chicken breast can become a perfect accompaniment to your soup without outperforming it in taste.
dipping or snacking on some crispy vegetable chips while enjoying your warm bowl of split pea soup is just as good as it sounds.
When thinking of chips you might be wary of the extra fat and calories you will pack by frying them.
However, if you choose to bake some thinly sliced veggies with only a bit of oil and some salt, you can get some delicious and healthy vegetable chips.
There are no specific veggies that go better with this soup than others, so you can mix and match sweet potatoes and beets with zucchini, squash, white potatoes and even kale!
Sausages, regardless of what meat they are made of, are great as a snack or appetizer next to a bottle of beer.
Nevertheless, they are also unexpectedly great next to a bowl of split pea soup. The rich taste of sausages, especially when made with 100% meat, is ideal for a hearty veggie soup like the one made with split peas.
Baked sausages are also lower in fat than their fried buddies and they are juicier when cooked the right way.
The great thing with them, which can also be said about most of the side dishes we have included in this article, is that you can even slice them and add them in the soup.
This way, you can skip having to grab the spoon and then the fork, while you will also make every spoonful richer and more flavorful.
The Bottom Line
Now that you have these 10 side dish options for your split pea soup, give them all a try with your next split pea soup meals!
10 Simple Side Dishes You Can Serve With Split Pea Soup
Recipe by AubreyCourse: Sides
Servings
4
servings
Prep time
30
minutes
Cooking time
40
minutes
Calories
300
kcal
Split pea soup is one of the best, healthiest, and most nutritious soups you can have, and we have 10 side dishes you can serve it with for a complete meal!
Hi, I’m Aubrey, and I have been a chef for close to 8 years. Cooking has always been a passion of mine, as long as I can remember. I loved my play kitchen when I was a kid, and would offer my parents my own (albeit gross) cookie recipes to taste!
Here at ButterandSaltGatherings, I want to offer a wide range of ingredients, flavors, meals and recipes so that you can start living each day to the fullest, and enjoy only the best food.
