Green vs. yellow split peas: What’s the difference?

Dried green and yellow peas have been a common ingredient in many cultures’ cuisine since long before recipes were invented, but they’re still relatively unused in most American kitchens. Plenty of us are pretty familiar with green split pea soup, usually made around the holidays with the ham bone left over at the end of a family dinner, but how else is this nutritious, delicious, and inexpensive legume enjoyed?

Uses for split peas

Dried split peas have been used all around the world for centuries. A staple of the Iranian diet is a stew called khoresh, in which yellow split peas is the main ingredient. The Greeks also feature yellows in their common small bite appetizer called fáva. In the Netherlands a typical cold-season soup made with green splits is erwtensoep, and the with-ham holiday favorite mentioned earlier dates all the way back to medieval Europe.

We also love using split peas in fresher dishes and snacks that are suited to the warmer seasons, such as salads, cold soups, and even smoothies.

Similarities between green and yellow peas

Both green and yellow peas come from the same plant, the Pisum sativum, which means 'cultivated pea'. They share growth habits and ripen along the same timeline, and when they’re ready to be eaten the preparation and cook times are quite close. Nutritionally they are similar, with both types being high in protein, fiber, and complex carbohydrates while staying low in sugar and fat. Like other dried grains and pulses, split peas have a long shelf life when stored correctly.

How do dried green and yellow peas differ?

While they are frequently used nearly interchangeably in recipes, there are differences in flavor between yellow and green splits. Yellows have a heartier, earthy flavor and as an ingredient are a bit more starchy and tend to hold their shape. Greens are slightly sweeter and disintegrate more readily into soups and other dishes (this also means they’re done cooking about five minutes earlier!), so they’re typically easier to blend or emulsify.

Our Palouse Brand Green Split Peas are farmed by the Mader family here in Whitman County in eastern Washington State and are the last crop we put in the ground during spring planting. Our Clear Creek Yellow Split Peas are family grown in Montana.

Which should you choose?

Both our green and yellow split peas have high levels of necessary nutrients, are filling and tasty, are straight forward to prepare and delicious to eat, and have an excellent volume for cost ratio. At the end of the day it's not so much green VERSUS yellow; it's green AND yellow! Try them today and see how this little legume will change your menu in all seasons.

Fun facts about peas

• Pea pods are technically a fruit, because they contain seeds and develop from the ovary of the flower
• The ‘splitting’ we see in dried peas happens naturally, along the cotyleden down the center of the seed (okay, to be fair some are stubborn and need to be manually helped along…)
• Dry peas are among humanity’s oldest crops and have been cultivated since the Neolithic times
• The pea plant was studied extensively by Austrian scientist Gregor Mendel, called the Father of Modern Genetics, when he set out to discover dominance and recession in genes and traits in the mid 1800s
• National Split Pea Soup Week is the second full week in November every year (which is the 9th through the 16th in 2025!)