Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Erwtensoep (Snert)
A thick winter split pea soup simmered with pork until the peas collapse, finished with slices of smoked rookworst sausage.
Dutch · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 150 min
~584 cal · 39g protein · 15g carbs · 41g fat · 3g fiber · 4g sugars · 14g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Erwtensoep, known in winter as snert, is the Dutch split pea soup treated as a full meal rather than a starter. The peas are cooked long and low with pork until they break down completely into a dense, spoon-coating base. Dutch tradition holds that a proper snert should be thick enough to stand a spoon upright in it.
The soup is built on green split peas, a piece of pork such as ribs, hock or belly, and winter vegetables: onion, leek, celeriac, carrot and often potato and celery. The pork and the connective tissue give the soup its body and savour over a couple of hours of gentle simmering.
The finishing touch is rookworst, a coarse smoked pork sausage that is warmed whole in the soup near the end and then sliced across the top of each bowl. The best known style is Gelderse rookworst, the smoked sausage from Gelderland. Snert is traditionally made a day ahead, which thickens it and deepens its flavour, and served with dark rye bread and butter.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg- and nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
500 g green split peas, rinsed
2.5 litres water
600 g pork ribs or a smoked pork hock
200 g pork belly or streaky bacon, in one piece
1 (about 300 g) rookworst (smoked pork sausage)
1 large onion, chopped
2 leeks, sliced
300 g celeriac, diced
200 g carrots, diced
250 g floury potato, cubed
3 sticks celery with leaves, sliced
2 bay leaves
to taste salt and black pepper
Instructions
1
Put the split peas, water, pork ribs (or tofu), pork belly and bay leaves in a large pot. Bring slowly to a boil, skimming off the grey foam that rises.
2
Reduce to a bare simmer, half-cover, and cook for about an hour, stirring the base every 15 minutes so the peas do not catch.
3
Lift out the pork, add the onion, leeks, celeriac, carrot, potato and celery, and simmer another hour until the peas have broken down completely and the soup is thick.
✎ Chef’s note
Snert should be thick enough to stand a spoon in; if it stays thin, simmer longer and stir often.
4
Strip the meat from the ribs and dice the pork belly, then return the meat to the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
5
Lay the rookworst on top, cover, and warm through gently for about 12 minutes, then slice it into rounds.
6
For the best snert, cool and refrigerate overnight, then reheat gently, loosening with a little water. Serve with the sliced sausage on top and dark rye bread.
Dutch winter tradition; rookworst originates in Gelderland.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Gelderland. Two dishes barely leave the province. Kruudmoes is a Veluwe porridge of barley and buttermilk cooked with herbs, and the Achterhoek has pot deur mekare, everything through each other, served with nagelholt, beef cured with cloves. Stamppot by contrast is national and appears in Dutch cookbooks by 1661.
🗺️
Netherlands. Herring here has a season and a ritual. Hollandse Nieuwe is the young catch, lightly cured rather than pickled, sold with chopped raw onion and eaten by holding it up by the tail. The rest of the year the Dutch answer to winter is stamppot, potato mashed through kale or endive or sauerkraut with a sausage laid over the top.
🌍
Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Netherlands
Stamppot BoerenkoolKale mashed straight into potatoes with a well of gravy and smoked sausage, the Netherlands’ winter engine.
WentelteefjesStale bread turned in cinnamon-sugar custard and fried in butter until golden, the classic Dutch way to use up an old loaf.
UitsmijterFried eggs over ham and cheese on buttered bread, the Dutch open-faced lunch plate served any time of day.
Browse all Netherlands recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Netherlands meal
PoffertjesDessert
UitsmijterLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Erwtensoep (Snert)?
A thick winter split pea soup simmered with pork until the peas collapse, finished with slices of smoked rookworst sausage.
Where does Erwtensoep (Snert) come from?
Erwtensoep (Snert) is a Dutch dish from Gelderland, Netherlands.
Can Erwtensoep (Snert) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Erwtensoep (Snert) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Erwtensoep (Snert) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Erwtensoep (Snert) take to make?
About 170 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 150 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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