Substituting Chicken Broth in Split Pea Soup

See no reason why not, all you will do is add more flavour. Which is never a bad thing if you ask me. Adding the ham bone will not have any adverse effects either. The recipe you are following will not have used chicken stock/broth to either make it vegetarian or for simplicity.

Personally any time I make soup or broth at home I will use chicken stock as a base even if its just an oxo cube. At work ill use vegetable stock to keep those non-meat-eaters happy.

From personal experience I understand that it makes no difference to the soup. The use of waterwill make the flavor DIFFERENT, not "bad" or unappetising, just different. Honestly, lentils, pulses, split peas & beans & legumes are the main source of protein for majority of the people in my country of origin. Partly because they are vegetarians by choice or following their faith, partly because many choose to eat what is suitable climactcally, & also, some just cannot afford the meat. In my family, one of my children simply refuses to eat any meat or eggs. So we make the lentils/split pea soup or any other soup with just plain water. All the veggies & spices added to it & the sauteing of the ingresients imparts the flavor. They are perfectly palatable & nutritious too. You are planning to add the ham bone. That too will be imparting the flavor.

It really depends on what you mean by "ruin the taste of the soup". Peas are, to my mind, a fairly delicate flavor and while using chicken stock instead of water would make the soup more flavorful, it would also make it less of a "pea soup" and more like "chicken soup with peas". Pea soup with a ham hock is a pretty classic combination, you might want to try the soup with water and the ham bone first and see how you feel about it.

Well - if your recipe calls for water and you are substituting chicken broth then of course it will work and add more flavor I have found the taste of the broth of the soup either as an ingredient or the result starting with water after everything has simmered together IS the important part of the soup's taste So of course it's really important that your broth as an ingredient is really good tasting to begin with - same thing if your using water I like to use filtered water - like with a Brita filter for my cooking and I certainly do this when making a bone broth Chicken bones however tend to render a less remarkable flavored broth than pork, ham or beef bones - which is understandable since chicken bones are for the most part not a big or dense I read many recipes for split pea soup on the internet which use chicken broth - no doubt because if you go to your average store/market your broth choices will be chicken, vegetable or beef Which means if you want anything else you'll have to make it yourself and that may be a blessing because I have found a much better brew making bone broths myself anyhow - especially a ham bone broth AND the split pea soup especially tastes way far better with a really good ham bone broth than any other split pea soup - I know so well from experience how the broth is that key to the very best tasting soup So I recommend you make some really good ham bone broth if you are really looking for the best tasting split pea soup

Careful what type of broth you use. I bought a different broth than what I would normally use and it ended up sort seizing the beans and they would not soften. I'm guessing the broth was too acidic.