Cuisine: The Polish Palate
Course: Soups
Diet: High-Protein, High-Carb, High-Satiety, High-Fibre, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Collagen-Rich
Occasion: Batch Cooking, Comfort Food, Winter Warmer, Culinary Heritage, Milk Bar Classics, Supper, Dinner

Grochówka (Traditional Polish Split Pea Soup)

A wildly robust, smoky split pea soup packed with cured pork and root vegetables, designed to warm the bones.
Prep time 20m
Cook time 1h 55m
Total 2h 15m
Yield
6
Per serving:
680 kcal
58g Carbs
32g Protein
34g Fat
By Adam Dworak
Published: 14 August 2026
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Last Updated: 07 September 2026

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Ingredients

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Kitchen Kit

  • Large Heavy-Bottomed Pot
  • Frying Pan
  • Skimmer Spoon
  • Peeler
  • Chopping Board
  • Chef's Knife
  • Medium Bowl
  • Tongs
  • Ladle
A skimmer spoon lifting a portion of thick, hearty Polish split pea soup filled with tender potatoes and carrots.

Method

  1. Chuck the smoked pork ribs, bay leaves, and allspice berries into a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Pour over the cold water. Bang it on a high heat. It’ll take about 15 minutes to reach a rolling boil. Once boiling, drop the heat to a gentle simmer, skim off any grey scum that rises to the surface, and leave it ticking away for 60 minutes to extract that deep, smoky foundation.
  2. While the broth simmers, get your knife work sorted. Peel and dice the carrots, parsley root, celeriac, and potatoes into rough bite-sized chunks. Finely chop the onions and mince the garlic. Slice the smoked sausage into thick coins and dice the smoked bacon. Rinse the split peas under cold water until the water runs clear.
  3. In a separate frying pan over a medium heat, tip in the diced bacon. Let the fat render slowly until the bacon just starts to crisp—about 8 minutes. Chuck in the sliced sausage and chopped onions. Fry until the onions are soft and the sausage edges catch a bit of colour. Scrape the lot into a bowl and set aside.
  4. After the ribs have simmered for an hour, fish them out of the broth with tongs and set them aside on a board to cool slightly. Chuck the rinsed split peas, diced carrots, parsley root, and celeriac directly into the smoky broth. Simmer for 20 minutes—the peas will just be starting to soften and swell.
  5. Tip the potatoes, the fried bacon, sausage, and onion mixture, and the minced garlic into the pot. Rub the dried marjoram firmly between your palms to wake up the oils, and scatter it in. Strip the cooled meat from the pork ribs, discard the bones and cartilage, and chuck the meat back into the soup.
  6. Let the whole lot bubble away for another 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the peas have broken down enough to naturally thicken the liquid into a thick, velvety consistency.
  7. Now—and only now—taste it. The cured meats carry a lot of hidden salt. Add the salt only if it desperately needs it to balance, along with a heavy crack of black pepper. Stir well and ladle into warm bowls.
Chef's Note & Storage
Fridge up to 4 days. The starches will cause it to thicken considerably overnight; loosen it with a splash of water when reheating slowly on the stove.
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A close-up view of a metal skimmer spoon scooping up a rich mixture of split peas, diced potatoes, and root vegetables from a pot of Grochówka.

Grochówka: The Engine Room of Polish Comfort

Some soups are delicate, designed to tease the palate before a main course. Grochówka is not one of them. Born out of military kitchens and known affectionately as "grochówka wojskowa" (military pea soup), this is an absolute powerhouse of a dish built to sustain soldiers and field workers through blistering cold winters. It is heavy, unabashedly smoky, and thick enough to stand a spoon up in. You are essentially building a stew that relies on the natural starches of breaking split peas to form a rich, velvety suspension for cured meats and earthy root vegetables.

CHEF'S SECRET: The soul of this soup is the smoke and the fat. Do not trim the fat off the bacon or the ribs—that rendered pork fat coats the starches from the breaking peas, creating a silky, stick-to-your-ribs texture. Hold your salt until the very very end; the cured meats will leach a massive amount of salinity into the broth as they simmer.

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Building the Foundation

The crucial element here is the dried marjoram. It is the defining aromatic of traditional Polish cooking, especially when heavy pork is involved. Never just chuck it in straight from the jar. You must rub it aggressively between your palms as you drop it into the pot; the friction wakes up the dormant essential oils. Crucially, don't boil it for two hours—add it in the final 20 minutes of cooking so its herbaceous, slightly piney flavour punches through the rich pork fat without turning bitter.

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Cook’s Notes & Discussion

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