Trying Pease Pudding For The First Time (And Making It From Scratch)
Date of experience: 31st December 2025 - New Experience Number 50.
Trying pease pudding for the first time and making it from scratch probably isn’t high on many bucket lists.
But my challenge to try 52 new things a year is all about experiences I’ve never had before.
I’d never even tasted pease pudding, let alone made it, so this seemed like the perfect culinary experiment.
What is Pease Pudding?
To be honest, I didn’t even know what pease pudding was until I spotted it on a Yorkshire recipes website. I’d certainly heard of it, but I had no idea what the ingredients were, how to make it, or what it tasted like.
Whilst it’s eaten all across Britain, it’s most popular in the North East of the country.
Research suggests pease pudding is usually a side dish, often served with gammon or ham. It’s a bit like mashed potato, but made from split peas (usually).
Variations of pease pudding can be found around the world. It’s often included in a Jiggs Dinner in Newfoundland, Canada, while similar dishes appear across Europe and even in Beijing cuisine.
Once I’d discovered what pease pudding actually was, the next challenge was finding a recipe that felt authentic.
Finding The Recipe
I had found a pease pudding recipe on the Traditional Yorkshire Recipes website. It looked straight forward, dated from around the 1900s, and it had just four ingredients. However, it also required a muslin cloth which I didn’t have.
So instead, I went to my go-to website for recipes – BBC Good Food.
This had a few more ingredients than the original recipe I’d found, but the method was just as easy.
The Pease Pudding Poem
Pease pudding hot
Pease pudding cold
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old
I’d definitely heard the poem before, even if I hadn’t seen or tasted the dish.
Apparently, according to Traditional Yorkshire Recipes, the nine days old part “refers to the time when a pot hanging over a kitchen fire would contain a huge dollop of the pudding that would last for days and would be served on bread or with hot or cold meats.”
Whilst at this point I was still yet to try it, the thought of it hanging around for 10 days was not the most appealing, and I really hoped we wouldn’t be having it with every meal for the foreseeable future.
The Ingredients For Making Pease Pudding From Scratch
You don’t need many ingredients to make pease pudding, and I already had some in my cupboards.
- Yellow split peas
- Olive oil
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- Bay leaf
- Fresh thyme
- Malt vinegar
- Butter
Trying Pease Pudding - The Method For Making It From Scratch
There were only 4 steps to making the pease pudding.
However, despite the process being straightforward, it needed more time than I had realised. Or at least this version did.
- Firstly, I had to soak the peas overnight. You definitely need to know in advance that you’re going to make the dish!
- After the peas had soaked overnight, I fried the carrot and onion in olive oil.
- Draining the peas, I added them along with the herbs and cold water to the pan, and simmered for two and a half hours.
- After adding some salt and pepper, I blitzed it all together with a blender and served.
So the process to make the dish were all fairly easy, but it’s not something that you can suddenly decide to make the same day.
The Appearance
You know the saying, ‘you eat with your eyes’? Well there’s a chance I might not have tried my pease pudding if that was the case.
It looked like a less appealing version of mashed potato, or like a very lumpy custard, or perhaps a thick and gloopy porridge
As we all know, looks can be deceiving.
The Taste - Trying Pease Pudding For The First Time
I tried a spoonful. It was surprisingly tasty, despite appearances suggesting some sort of sludge.
It was actually quite nice, with a slight hint of seasoning that made it seem comforting and an ideal accompaniment to a winter meal.
It was subtle and savoury, and would never overshadow the main component of a meal, but would rather complement some rich flavours.
Will I Be Trying Pease Pudding Again?
It was so easy to make, but I’m not sure I’ll make it again. It has potential, and I’m sure it could be zhushed up a bit if needed.
It worked well as an accompaniment, but I think I’ll stick to mashed potato which doesn’t need such a long lead up time.
Trying Something New Doesn’t Always Mean You’re Going To Like It...
…but, trying something new does mean you learn for yourself what you think.
It’s so easy to read reviews, hear other opinions, or see what other people think on social media without actually trying something for ourselves.
Trying new things means you get to form your own opinions. Sometimes you’ll agree with others, but what a wonderful thing to discover that you like something you’d previously dismissed because of a second-hand opinion.
I didn’t think I’d like pease pudding, but trying it reminded me exactly why it’s worth giving unfamiliar things a chance.
Want To Try It Yourself?
- Whilst you won’t often see pease pudding on the menu in a restaurant, it is easy to try.
- You can either make it yourself using the BBC Good Food recipe that I followed, or the Traditional Yorkshire Recipes method, or you could buy some pre-made in the supermarket.
Cost Of Experience
- If you need to buy the ingredients to make pease pudding from scratch, it would cost around £6, depending on where you shop.
- If you don’t fancy making your own pease pudding, but you are interested in trying it, you can buy it pre-made in some supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s and Morrisons for as little as 50p!
Recommendations
- Plan ahead. If you’re making pease pudding from scratch don’t forget you need to factor in overnight soaking time.
- Get creative. With such simple ingredients, this is a recipe where you could experiment and try adding some additional flavours.
- Enjoy a new tasting experience. Whether you try it or make it for the first time, let me know how you get on.