Transform leftover ham into this crave-worthy Ham Salad that’s loaded with flavor! This recipe combines smoky ham with crisp vegetables and a creamy dressing for an easy party snack or post-holiday sandwiches.
This recipe is an excellent way to use leftover Easter or Christmas ham. Looking for more sandwich recipes? Classic Chicken Salad and Curry Chicken Salad are easy, delicious choices!
Egg Salad on steroids. This is how I feel about Ham Salad.
It’s basically a kicked up, meaty version of egg salad with a little sweet pickle relish thrown in for good measure. The blend of smoky, sweet, salty, and tangy flavors is impossible to resist.
I can’t decide if I like it more as a cracker spread for a tasty party snack or stuffed in Hawaiian rolls for an easy meal. Full disclosure, if a bowl of Ham Salad is in our fridge, we find ourselves snacking on it at all hours of the day and night. Especially at night!
Ingredient Notes
- Ham: If you are using leftover cooked ham that has a sweet glaze, it’s best to give the meat a rinse under cool water and pat it dry before proceeding with the recipe. If ham isn’t on the menu, pick up a vacuum sealed boneless ham steak in the meat department. They are just the right size and available all year long.
- Vegetables: Onion and celery are classic choices for ham salad. I also add a little red bell pepper for great flavor and a pop of color.
- Hard-boiled eggs: I always use my method for easy to peel hard-boiled eggs for this recipe and others like my Bacon Horseradish Deviled Eggs and Old Fashioned Potato Salad.
- Ham salad dressing: The yummy, creamy dressing consists of mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, yellow mustard, fresh Italian parsley, freshly ground black pepper.
- Optional for serving: Ham Salad makes a great party snack spread on crackers, like Saltine or Ritz. To serve as sandwiches, it’s excellent on Hawaiian rolls or slider buns with pickles.
How to Make Ham Salad
- Mince the ham. Place the diced ham in a food processor and pulse until minced but stop short of making it paste-like. Transfer the ham to a large mixing bowl.
- Mince the veggies. Add the coarsely chopped celery, onion, and red bell pepper to the food processor and process it just until minced.
- Combine. Add to the bowl with the ham along with a diced hard-boiled egg and toss the mixture to combine it well.
- Toss with the dressing. In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, yellow mustard, parsley, and pepper to taste. Pour over the ham mixture and toss to incorporate dressing throughout.
Tips for the Best Ham Salad
Pickle relish: We love the sweet tang from sweet pickle relish but you can substitute dill pickle relish, if you’d like.
Texture: Using a food processor makes it easy to achieve the texture of a ham salad spread. If you’d prefer ham salad with more texture, just finely dice the ham and vegetables with a knife for a chunkier consistency.
Seasoning: Taste and season with salt, only if you think it needs it. Ham is quite salty so it’s likely it won’t need any salt.
Chill before serving: Allow the ham salad to chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving. The flavor of the salad improves with time and it will stay fresh and delicious for several days if stored in an airtight container.
More Leftover Ham Recipes
- Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup
- Easy Ham and Cheese Stuffed Crescents
- Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup
- Baked Beans from Scratch
- White Bean and Ham Soup
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Ham Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound fully cooked ham (leftover ham or a ham steak), diced ½-inch dice (about 2 ½ cups diced)
- ¼ cup white or yellow onion, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup red bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 rib celery, roughly chopped
- 1 large hard-boiled egg, finely diced
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Salt, to taste, and only if needed
Optional for Serving
- Hawaiian slider buns, pickles, Saltine crackers, or water crackers
Instructions
- Place the diced ham in a food processor and pulse until minced (but not to a paste). Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the coarsely chopped onion, red bell pepper, and celery to the food processor and process until minced. Add to the bowl with the ham. Add the diced egg and toss the mixture to combine it well. Set aside.
- In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, yellow mustard, parsley, and pepper to taste. Pour over the ham mixture and toss to incorporate dressing throughout. Taste and season with salt, only if you think it needs it. Ham is quite salty so it’s likely it won’t need any salt.
- Allow the ham salad to chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving. The flavor of the salad improves with time and it will stay fresh and delicious for several days if stored in an airtight container.
- Serve on Hawaiaan slider rolls with mayo, bread and butter pickles, and lettuce. Also delicious on crackers (Saltines or Ritz).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
More Ideas
This post was originally published on April 15, 2017. It has been updated with new text and images.
Great recipe. Good flavor. I add more pickle relish to make it a little more sweet.
I’ve never tried Ham salad, but, this looks wonderful! I have plenty of leftover ham, so, I am going to give it a try. By the way, your mobile site looks great!
Hi Beckie! It’s one of those recipes you only make once or twice a year when you’ve got leftover ham on your hands. I love those recipes! I’m glad you like the new site 🙂